Random Quote
“It's funny to think that just a year ago, I sat in that Knightsbridge Pub actually planning to murder her. And I might have done it, if I hadn't seen something that changed my mind.”
-Tony Wendice (Ray Milland)
from Dial “M” for Murder
from Dial “M” for Murder
Director: William Castle
Strait-Jacket (1964)
Joan Crawford as an axe murderer? Sign me up. I’m there. That is obviously the type of sentiment that William Castle was trying to exploit when he cast the aging star in Strait-Jacket in 1964. Castle was infamous for marketing his movies with corny gimmicks. Macabre (1958) was released with a $1,000 life insurance policy [...]
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
I first heard about Mr. Sardonicus when I watched a short documentary about William Castle, and already knew the gimmick that Castle, the King of Gimmicks, used to promote this film. Just before the ending of the film, Castle himself appears on the screen to conduct a “punishment poll”, supposedly counting glow-in-the-dark cards with a [...]
Homicidal (1961)
By 1961, William Castle had gotten used to living in the shadow of Alfred Hitchcock. When the Englishman launched his highly-successful TV program, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in 1955, his cult of personality was complete, as the director’s already well-known profile became known to millions of Americans, and his droll host segments in each episode made [...]
13 Ghosts (1960)
Most of Max Castle’s movies sound better in theory than they are in an actual viewing. 13 Ghosts tells the story of a financially struggling scientist, who has resorted to giving tours at The La Brea Tar Pit museum, and his family, who are in the process of having all their furniture repossessed. An eccentric [...]
The Tingler (1959)
The Tingler has to have one of the most ridiculous plots ever committed to film. Vincent Price plays Dr. Warren Chapin, a researching scientist who is also the city medical examiner, performing all the autopsies on executed prisoners. The doctor and his young assistant are also researching the effects of fear. The doctor hypothesizes that [...]