Broma macabra

Yes, good old William Castle is on the loose again, with a low budget and a creepy plot...and Joan Crawford, whose salary probably used up most of Castle's available cash.

You know you're in trouble from the first few scenes, with corny eyeball-shaped framing devices, then the intrusion of Van Alexander's completely out-of-place bouncy score, with its recurring principal theme of "Ninny nanny noo-noo." (Most of his credits are for 60s sitcoms, and it shows.) Then we're treated to exteriors of the Mannering house which are nothing more than Thomas Kincade- style paintings. (Virtually the whole film was shot on a sound stage, except for some rear projections.)

The plot itself is clichéd, but decently "executed." The casting is a problem, with Joan Crawford at age 60 trying to be the hypotenuse in a love triangle between 50-year-old John Ireland and some young bimbo (or we should say, ex-bimbo). Not much choice there. The two teenage girls are straight out of 60s sitcom land, and the younger sister joins the ranks of "most annoying child actors." There are some tense moments, including a ripoff of the shower scene from "Psycho" (except with a naked man instead of Janet Leigh).

And since we're already knee-deep in 60s sitcoms with the trite score and giggly teenaged actors, we're given an ending that would have been right in place on Dobie Gillis or the Patty Duke Show. Except with a dead body.

What do you say when terror calls? Just the average "hello," or something more terrified?

I'm sorry to say Joan does seem a bit stewed. She acts like a marvelous actress on a binge caught unawares. Her part is miniscule, but she gives it her off-kilter all. John Ireland is here, 10 years after being stung by Joan in "Queen Bee," which everyone has already mentioned. That film was infinitely scarier than this one, with Joan stopping just short of eating babies. Ooh, she was a bad one. In this film she's a bad one of a different sort--bad as in "not good."

Kit and Libby are the two silly acting teenagers that decide prank phone calls are a lovely way to spend an evening. They have several routines, but I don't remember hearing, "Is your refrigerator running?" "Yes." "Then you better go catch it." I guess they decided against using the classics. They go from mocking people ("Is this John Hamburger?") to girlfriend-accidentally-calls-wife skits ("Is --insert name-- there? Oh, this is his wife?!?"). When their creativity runs out (after about two phone calls) they decide to use a planned line--"I saw what you did and I know you are." Well, William Castle asks, what if the person you called actually did something and he thinks you saw him? Interesting idea--presumably taken from the book on which this film is based. Turns out, they ring up John Ireland, who has just committed a felony, and he thinks he had witnesses. Libby is the one that falls for him, I think, and she just gets all hot and bothered. She decides that she has to see a man that has a sexy voice like that, why, he must be just divine. She really fell hard--I felt sorry for her. She said his voice was something like him running his fingers up and down her spine. What has this girl been reading? She gets so frustrated (Freud's type of frustrated, I imagine) that she goes over to his house just to peek in the window. She gets all dressed up to do this, does her hair and puts on makeup, and the other girl (Kit?) is understandably confused. Libby is stomping on the flowers when she meets Amy, the drunken, sex-crazed, incredibly angry and pathetic neighbor.

At this point, things pick up considerably. We've got the rantin' and ravin' of Joan, the stammering and completely terrified girl, and John "Sexy Voice" Ireland. All our characters have reported for duty, and the plot has emerged. Everything is ready to go. I think this is where the film reaches its own little pinnacle of greatness. Joan confronts John (didja know there was also a John Crawford back then?) with the a bunch of incorrect information, but it's just enough to get him riled. From this point on, everyone's in trouble and who can save them now?

All in all, a very enjoyable film, although I don't think it's too terribly frightening. (Joan's hair is scary, as I think someone else mentioned, but that's about it.) It's what one would expect from William Castle. Laughs in a Halloween costume.

That's what the poster ads warned! UXORICIDE! (look it up). William Castle's "I Saw What You Did" is a great little suspense drama, with a perky cast and an intriguing story. Left alone one night while their parents are out of town, teen-aged Libby, her little sister Tess, and Libby's visiting friend Kit amuse themselves by making crank phone calls. They especially enjoy crooning "I saw what you did and I know who you are" to their victims. Unfortunately, one of their calls hits the bullseye--a homicidal maniac who has just murdered his wife. Tense and atmospheric, with delightful performances from Andi Garrett, Sarah Lane and Sharyl Locke as the kids, and strong ones from John Ireland as the psychopath, and the one-and-only Joan Crawford (straight from Castle's "Strait-Jacket") as his blackmail-minded neighbor, who's inexplicably in love with him. Though her part is a supporting one, just try to look away when she's on screen. A word, too, for the beautiful photography-no mean achievement in a low-budget film. Anchor Bay Entertainment released the movie on DVD and VHS back in 1999. The picture quality is sensational. Also included are two fun '' Teaser Trailers'' -one featuring Castle himself. Though the DVD is not ''anmorphic'' it is in Widescreen with no scratches or blemishes anywhere.It must have been taken from the original Universal negative.The one-channel soundtrack is equally strong, though a good DVD system will allow you to upgrade to two-channel,''Simulated Stereo'' which sounds even better. The Trailers are as well preserved as the film itself. Sadly, it's long out of print, and goes for big $$ on Amazon and EBAY. The 1988 Television remake is terrible. Avoid it and stick with the original!

Here's the plot: A teenage girl with her friend and younger sister(Andi Garett, Sara Lane, and Sharyl Locke) are left home alone one night by their parents, after the babysitter cancels. To amuse themselves, the decide to make prank phone calls(this was in 1965, long before caller ID or tracing existed) one phrase they use quite often to the people they call is "I saw what you did...and I know who you are." What they don't know is that one of the people they call, Steve Marek (John Ireland) takes them seriously, having just stabbed his wife to death!

This film was really scary or at least very suspenseful, considering the time period. I was pretty much on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. There are a few things that bring this film down, chief among them most inappropriate score I think I've ever heard. It was just corny. The acting in the initial scene between the two teen girls is bad, but gets better. This film comes highly recommended. 7/10

William Castle made a career out of monster and ghost stories, so even though the synopsis on my TV said this was a departure about teenage girls involved with murder I still expected the same kind of B-movie action. In truth though it was actually a pretty decent thriller.

A sixteen year old girl and her little sister who live in a secluded home a few miles away from anybody get the house to themselves for a night. The older girl invites her friend over for dinner and the three of them eventually resort to prank calling random people from the phone book to entertain themselves. Unfortunately for them they make the mistake of calling a man who's just committed murder and jokingly tell him, "I know what you did, and I know who you are." The man naturally assumes the voice on the line is serious and there is a witness out there who saw him disposing of his girlfriend's body. A variety of twists and intertwining characters eventually put the guilty man in the same room as our innocent kids.

The plot relies heavily on coincidence to stitch everything together and a major plot point hinges on an extremely stupid decision by our protagonists but in spite of it all, it still manages to build a lot of tension towards it's climax which although brief is handled very effectively. It also helps that this secluded home of there's is surrounded by forestry and continually deepening shadows as the night wares on with fog that's barely visible outside the moonlight, making for a very creepy and cool atmosphere. The acting is pretty good too, even our teenage heroes seem to exercise some decent chops all things considered. Good fun and good thrills.