William Castle (1914–1977)

Though the plot and dialogue are sometimes unsubtle to the point of silliness, it's pleasantly short and to the point for an ensemble piece. Despite the characters each being a sketch of a type, they all feel complete enough. The pair of twists at the end, while somewhat predictable, are reasonably seamless and don't feel shoehorned in. This review sounds like faint praise, but this is a pretty satisfying watch, especially because you can see the kernels of tropes that would later become horror staples.… (mehr)

Two teenagers - Libby (Andi Garrett) and Kit (Sara Lane) - spend an evening making nuisance prank 'phone calls. It's all good fun until they whisper to psycho killer Steve Marek (John Ireland): "I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are" and things take a turn to the murderous. This is a semi-decent William Castle thriller that manages to entertain despite being full of rather implausible plot developments and a couple of teeth-grittingly annoying teens. Castle manages to build some decent tension at the right moments and spice things up with the occasional scare and a vicious shower room murder. Nicely shot in black and white by Joseph Biroc who fills the set with some great ground fog for the shadowy climax of the film. The two teens Andi Garrett and Sara Lane are pretty poor; John Ireland is appropriately stoney-faced and Joan Crawford is enjoyably bonkers as the dolled-up hag who is hot for the killers body. She's in a role that serves no real purpose but is great lunatic fun despite that.… (mehr)