Mr. Sardonicus

Many consider William Castle to be a sort of used car salesman turned film-maker. Admittedly, he relies heavily on hype, and admittedly his hype has worn a little thin over the years, but Bill Castle has been involved with some memorable movies over the years. The Tingler, Rosemary's Baby, Strait Jacket, and Mr. Sardonicus are his most entertaining ventures. No doubt, Mr. Sardonicus will seem awfully tame to younger audiences seeking shock value and graphic gore, but to those who enjoy a more old fashioned style of horror film, Sardonicus has a definite appeal. The story line is very unique, the acting is good (especially by Guy Rolfe playing the title character), and the ending is great. Rolfe is great as the kindly, respectful peasant turned nasty, unfeeling aristocrat. Sure, the special effects are a little long in the tooth, but sit a young child down in front of this movie and watch his/her reaction when Sardonicus reveals his condition. I remember being scared witless watching this as a youth. Actually, I wouldn't recommend this movie for the very young, but it's a lot of fun for the young at heart. If you enjoy 1950s horror films, check out this little-known gem.

In the Nineteenth Century, in London, the prominent medical doctor Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) receives a letter from his former sweetheart Baroness Maude Sardonicus (Audrey Dalton) with the invitation to visit her husband Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe) and her at his castle in Gorslava. Soon Sir Robert learns that the notorious Baron is an appalling man that frightens the local population. On the arrival in the castle Sir Roberts sees Sardonicus's servant Krull (Oscar Homolka) torturing a maid with leeches in a weird experiment. He meets Maude and her husband that wears a mask covering his face. Sir Robert has a private conversation with Sardonicus and he learns that the Baron was the peasant Marek Toleslawski that lived in a poor house with his wife Elenka Toleslawski (Erika Peters) and his father Henryk Toleslawski (Vladimir Sokoloff), who gives a lottery ticket as a gift to Elenka and dies. Months later, Marek and Elenka learn that they have won the lottery; however the ticket was buried with Henryk. Marek decides to retrieve the ticket in his father's grave and when he sees the face of Henryk, he freezes his face with a horrible grimace. Sardonicus wants Robert to recover his face; otherwise he will destroy Maude's face. Will Sir Robert succeed?

"Mr. Sardonicus" is a creepy horror film directed by William Castle. The story is a sort of combination of the story lines of "Nosferatu" (or "Dracula"), "The Man Who Laughs" and "Les Yeux Sans Visage" among others. William Castle plays with the audiences asking for the fate of Sardonicus. The make-up of Sardonicus is impressive. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Máscara do Horror" ("The Mask of the Horror")

This film never had a chance of winning any awards or high praise from the critics and this is no surprise. Like many of William Castle's films, this isn't high art and it was meant to be very broad horror that would appeal to the common man and woman in the audience. In many places the plot seemed silly and tough to believe but because of Castle's style, it was still a lot of fun to watch--particularly the silly voting segment and subsequent evil ending of the film.

As for the unbelievable plot, a famous doctor is called by an old sweetheart to travel across Europe to help her. However, when he arrives, she behaves like there is nothing the matter! However, it soon becomes obvious that her husband is having major issues, as he walks everywhere with a mask over his face. It turns out that a great scare years earlier permanently contorted his face into a silly and unrealistic looking grimace and the doctor is threatened into treating the crazy afflicted man.

Throughout all this, there are tons of unnecessary but cool torture and mayhem--such as seeing the maid hung by her thumbs and having leeches pasted all over her face. Sardonicus is a jerk in this film and it's really hard to care about his facial anomaly.

By the way, IMDb doesn't mention this, but the mask that Sardonicus wears looks an awful lot like William Castle's face and I am sure that with the director's quirky sense of humor that this was intentional.

My younger sister and I saw this film when we were children and it terrified us - we still mention Sardonicus all these years later when looking for a word to describe a shocked reaction. My sister has just sent me a jokey text message in response to an insult I sent her, saying that she's so shocked that her mouth is in a "fixed Sardonicus grimace of shock" - this made me laugh so much I decided to look up info on the film and here I am!

The film would seem tame to my own teenage son now, but it has obviously had a lasting affect on my sister and me and it would be great to see it again on TV.

I saw this in the "show" when I was about 10, and seriously, I have never forgotten it. About 20 years ago, I noticed that it was on a station out of Toledo in the middle of the night, and even though I had to get up in the morning, and they had commercials every 10 minutes, I stayed up (after setting the alarm to GET UP) and watched the whole movie... I guess I am a William Castle fan, I have to admit it. (One other that still kills me is Homicidal, and woo hoo Richard Rust is in it, too, my favorite!) I play the lottery every day now, too, and that storyline about the ticket in the grave just GETS ME!! This is one odd film, like everything Castle does, but ya gotta love it!! It sticks with you, once you've seen it, you are hooked forever.