HOMICIDAL
(1961)Director: William Castle
Columbia/TriStar
HOMICIDAL
(1961)HOMICIDAL is William Castle's homage to Hitchcock's PSYCHO, and it's one of the director's sleaziest efforts and probably wasn't meant as Saturday afternoon kiddy fare like most of his previous efforts. Wanting not to cast a familiar face in the lead, Castle hired pretty blond actress Joan Marshall and changed her name to a more ambiguous Jean Arliss.
After a brief and rather straight-laced introduction by old Bill, we then see a flashback of a weird-looking boy nabbing a baby doll from his sobbing sister. Some 13 years later, a 20-year-old woman named Emily (Arliss) checks into a hotel and asks a bellboy to come up to her room. Flaunting a wad of cash, Emily offers to pay the bellboy to marry her on a specific date, making it known that the marriage will be annulled immediately. The guy is confused, but accepts the offer.
One late night, Emily and the bellboy go to a justice of the peace to be wed. After he marries them, she viciously stabs the justice in the stomach in a scene that was pretty damn gory for 1961. She then goes into hiding as the nurse of a mute, wheelchair-bound old lady (Eugenie Leontovitch). Emily's behavior arouses the suspicion of Miriam (Patricia Breslin), the old woman's niece who runs a flower shop nearby. Later, the police show up to the shop and alert Miriam to the fact that a homicidal murderess checked into a hotel using her name, so now she's convinced of Emily's shiftiness.
Back in town is Miriam's brother Warren, and he was the one that is thought to have hired Emily to take care of the old lady while in Denmark(?). Now, I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the film, but 40 years of cinematic conditioning will lead anyone today to realize that Emily and Warren are one in the same and played by the same actress. As a man, Arliss has her hair shortened, darkened, and matted, and she also sports some large false teeth and other face make-up. The actress is dubbed by a less than masculine man's voice! This makes for some pretty creeping viewing--and Arliss is actually convincing as a male, in bizarre kind of way.
Arliss is pretty chilling and disturbing in the role (the other performances are not too memorable) and a murder on a staircase is still pretty scary today. Robb White's screenplay is somewhat confusing (incorporating an inheritance as a murder motive), and unlike in PSYCHO, Simon "Vincenzo" Oakland is not on hand to explain what a transvestite is. During the final few minutes, there's the gimmick of the "Fright Break," a countdown clock that warns you before the camera goes behind a closed door with ensuing horrific events.
For the DVD of HOMICIDAL, Columbia has opted to go with a full frame transfer, unlike their recent discs for Castle's MR. SARDONICUS and STRAIT JACKET, which both boast anormaphic widescreen presentations. HOMICIDAL is not as impressive as those releases, but despite some minor grain and other blemishes, it's still a very nice transfer, and the black and white image looks solid. The mono sound is fine, with no noticeable defects. English and French Subtitles are present. HOMICIDAL was never before on home video and it rarely showed up on TV, so a DVD title like this from a major studio is most welcomed and much appreciated.
There's a short featurette called, "Psychette: William Castle and Homicidal," that contains interviews with film historians/fans such as David Del Valle, Donald F. Glut, Fred Olen Ray and Bob Burns. Their comments are fun to hear, and the featurette also has vintage footage of Castle interviewing satisfied theater patrons in front of the "Coward's Corner" (a booth for "scared" HOMICIDAL viewers). I can't complain too much since the film is out on DVD, but why couldn't Columbia include this rare footage separately in its entirety? Also the trailer footage for HOMICIDAL looks severely dupey in the featurette, and hence, there is no separate trailer for the film included on the disc. You do get trailers for MR. SARDONICUS and STRAIT JACKET though. (George R. Reis)