William Castle Double Feature Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

William Castle Double Feature Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 25, 2016

Important note: The included Blu-ray review of 'Mr. Sardonicus' is only reflective of the movie's Blu-ray release as it's been included in this set. The film was previously released, again only as part of a double feature with The Brotherhood of Satan, on May 7, 2013. With Mill Creek's track record of just, more or less, plopping movies onto Blu-ray and calling it a day, one wouldn't expect there to be any difference. Yet there is, as negligible as it may be. This release contains a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack rather than the previous release's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track (no subtitles are included on this version, either). Video bitrate is, on average, lower as well. As with the other release, however, no supplements are included.

For more screenshots for each film, please see the individual reviews:

• Homicidal:
• Mr. Sardonicus:

Homicidal
Score: 3.0/5.0

A woman calling herself "Miriam Webster" checks into the Hotel Ventura. She brings a young bell boy named Jim Nesbit (Richard Rust) to her room and offers him $2,000 to marry her, with the understanding the marriage will be annulled immediately after. Jim decides to go through with it, unable to resit that much money for such a simple task. They arrive for the nuptials late at night, wake the justice of the peace, and as soon as they're married, she murders the official. Turns out she's actually a young lady named Emily (Jean Arless) and Miriam (Patricia Breslin) is actually a woman she knows whose brother Warren has just returned from Europe. And it is Warren to whom Emily is secretly married. Miriam and her man Karl (Glenn Corbett) slowly piece together the shocking truth behind Emily and Warren's marriage and what it means for a large inheritance hanging in the balance.

The film opens with a slick, smart, and mysterious hook that leaves the viewer guessing. Director William Castle's reveals are slow, steady, and intriguing. There's always another layer to peel back, even as the film largely maneuvers through standard-fare procedural stylings. The plot threatens to become bogged down in excess complexity, but Castle's ability to pace the film is commendable. Performances are quite good, particularly from Jean Arless. Watch for this film's Castle gimmick, the silly "fright break" near the end, allowing squeamish audiences to leave before the big reveal.

Mr. Sardonicus
Score: 3.0/5.0

Curses can be ugly things, and when combined with an unimaginable lust for money -- and going to ghoulish extremes to get it -- expect something really nasty to happen. Mr. Sardonicus hails from a simpler time for Horror, a time when slow reveals, thick atmospheres, cheesy dialogue, and over-the-top performances dominated the landscape, not simple blood and guts but real, genuine terror. At least most of the time. Mr. Sardonicus isn't really all that terrifying, largely because it's wholly unbelievable. There's no real catch, few scenes of any real urgency, and a resolution that's a little too cleverly simple for its own good. Yet it's absolutely a product of its era, complete with silly Twilight Zone-inspired narrated bookends and a "punishment poll" at the end in which Director William Castle pretends to scan the audience, totaling the number of "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" votes to either show the villain mercy or throw him to the proverbial wolves. It's a movie in rather good taste considering its genre, offering mostly clean fun, and it probably worked a little better back in the day when audiences (and reviewers) weren't so desensitized to cinema terror.

Dr. Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) is one of London's most accomplished physicians. Working in the late 1800s, he finds himself on the cutting edge of medicine and technological breakthroughs. In fact, he's just received one of the first syringes with a hypodermic needle capable of delivering medicines directly into the bloodstream. That same day, he receives from a frightening one-eyed man an urgent letter from a long-lost love, Maude (Audrey Dalton), calling him to the Sardonicus estate, nestled in the darkest reaches of central Europe. He leaves posthaste and finds her married to the mysterious Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe), a man who mysteriously wears a mask when he's not locked away in his secret room. Cargrave finds the house's maidservant a victim of medical malpractice, and she warns him of the evil deeds within the mansion's walls. Cargrave soon learns the purpose for his visit: Sardonicus has become permanently disfigured, the result of a shock to the system so severe that it's left his face hideously deformed. The disfigured Sardonicus has called upon London's finest medical doctor to cure him of his ails, and he's prepared to go to any lengths to get what he wants.

Mr. Sardonicus oozes classic stylings. There's the foggy streets; the dark, dense, foreboding foliage; big screams; and "shocking" reveals. It's a film with some legitimately creepy moments, albeit moments that come too few and too infrequent. Nevertheless, the slower pace doesn't always hurt the movie; on the contrary, it allows for some solid character development and a deeper understanding of the world around Sardonicus, both his past and present. The perspective -- through the eyes of the good Dr. Robert -- feels a little unimaginative, but it's the best style for a movie of this sort, Cargrave kind of like the Jonathan Harker of the story, the outsider coming into a frightening new central European world. Indeed, the movie does have its moments when it feels like little more than a relaxed and, admittedly, drastically re-imagined Dracula, but basic pieces certainly favor the comparison. The picture's simple premise is just good enough to drag the movie along comfortably enough, dotted with a little bit of intrigue here and there -- what's so urgent that a doctor of Robert's caliber must travel so far, what's under Sardonicus' mask, why does he wear the mask, and can Robert's techniques save him -- that does keep the audience guessing all the way through to the rather anticlimactic conclusion.

Of course, the film plods along through some unintentionally humorous bits, some overacting, a few spot where it stretches credibility even under the guidelines of the absurd premise. The picture languishes in basic dialogue and suffers through some terribly stilted moments, such as when Sardonicus defines and defends the severity of the word "ghoul," making use -- verbatim -- of the same dictionary definition Director William Castle uses in his opening audience-directed monologue. The film uses the bulk of its middle stretch to fill in Sardonicus' backstory with an extended flashback sequence that's in many ways neither here nor there, particularly considering the dissatisfying conclusion, or at least the first conclusion prior to the "thumbs up/thumbs down" audience poll gimmick (and there's only one result). On the plus side, the Sardonicus makeup is thoroughly satisfying. It's a shame the audience doesn't see more of it, though certainly there's something to be said for the "less is more" approach, and the film never does feel any less complete for its reluctance to focus in on the grisly mug any more than it does. Ronald Lewis and Guy Rolfe deliver satisfying performances, certainly a little stiff and formal to be sure but they work in tandem to give the movie another layer of unease in the sometimes nonchalant way they go about their business, Lewis in his coping with the realities of life at the Sardonicus estate, application of massage therapy to his disfigured captor, and work in cutting-edge medicine and Rolfe in his abilities as gracious host, demanding patient, and morally dubious warden.

William Castle Double Feature Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Homicidal
Score: 3.5/5.0

Homicidal arrives on Blu-ray with a fair 1080p transfer. The black-and-white image features a rather thick, but largely evenly dispersed, grain structure. Light print wear is evident throughout, but not to a seriously distracting level. Details fare well enough. Period attire -- suit jackets particularly -- reveal adequate fabric definition, and various backgrounds find good tactile detailing thanks to the image's stout clarity. Shadow details and black levels appear fine.

Mr. Sardonicus
Score: 3.5/5.0

This "new" release of Mr. Sardonicus isn't drastically different from Mill Creek's previous Blu-ray. Notable changes include brighter blacks and a lower bitrate, which, here, hovers in the upper 20s, low 30s, whereas the old lingered around 37 or so. Otherwise, details aren't appreciably different. The older version is a slight bit tighter, with mildly more refined textures on clothes, faces, and backgrounds. On this release, faces are noticeably waxy -- fleshy human faces, not just naturally smooth masks -- and lacking precision detail. Clothing definitely fares better, though. Grain is apparent and largely attractive and light. The black levels do disappoint, lacking the more apparent and natural depth of the old release. This transfer could certainly stand to be a bit tighter overall. On its own, it's not bad. Compared to the other, it's a slight step down.

William Castle Double Feature Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Homicidal
Score: 2.0/5.0

Homicidal's Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack demonstrates no range, pushing to the middle for a tiny, empty listen. There's no sense of vitality. Ambient effects and music struggle to even find modest pronouncement and clarity, hovering well below the rather crude, straightforward dialogue. The spoken word is fine, hardly lifelike and lacking realistic clarity but usually with enough definition to scrape by. A few lines are much more shallow than others ("I'll take the double," for example, which Miriam/Emily says early in the movie).

Mr. Sardonicus
Score: 2.0/5.0

This release's most immediately noticeable difference is the drop from 2.0 lossless to 2.0 lossy. But it's a drop in name only, really. As with the old release, this presentation is tiny and cramped. Music is hopelessly limited in range, crunched in the middle and lacking more than cursory, raw and unrefined clarity. Music is not aggressive either, timidly creeping into the stage and underneath the crude dialogue. The spoken word lacks lifelike precision. Like the music, it struggles to maintain a crisp, normalized, lifelike volume. Regardless of which Blu-ray one chooses, neither track is anything special.

William Castle Double Feature Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included.

William Castle Double Feature Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mill Creek's double feature is currently the only way to own Homicidal on Blu-ray, but Mr. Sardonicus was previously released, and with slightly better A/V specs. It's unfortunate Mill Creek couldn't pair Homicidal with something else new to Blu-ray to avoid the double dip, particularly a slightly dumbed-down presentation.