A Masterpiece!

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

***Spoilers***I don't remember if I first saw this film in the theatre soon after it was released or subsequently on TV, but it definitely stuck in my memory, although for some reason I later forgot exactly how the killer managed to track down the address of the teenage prank-callers until a more recent viewing revealed the little-known fact that for a brief period in the mid-60s, California driver registrations were required to be encased in a holder attached to the steering-wheel shaft and thereby visible to the police in the event of an accident, theft, etc. Not sure exactly when this rule came to an end, but ostensibly it was due to potential or real abuse by busybodies and those intent on committing some type of crime against the vehicle owner. British Columbia likewise for a time offered these holders as likely did other jurisdictions. (Incidentally, John Ireland was born in Vancouver, B.C.)The "telephone directory" used by the kids in the film was a prop, of course, where only 5 numerical digits appeared on camera and were spoken by the kids--with the one being exception when Tess blurts out their 6-digit home number OL-4367 (OL in fact being a legitimate prefix back in the day in some telephone exchanges before it was later officially referred to by its digits-only prefix 65). As 7-digit telephone numbers were already in existence long before the release of the film, I can only assume that 6-digit numbers were still assigned to smaller towns and rural areas until they were inevitably eliminated.The (rather reckless) usage of potentially real phone numbers in films was before the now-standard but dead-ending "555" prefix became common in North American films and on television to prevent similar pranking or inadvertent mis-dialing.I presume that the two teenage girls Libby and Kit were deliberately scripted to be immature and--in the case of Libby--not knowing when to quit while she was ahead by actually driving to Marak's home, even getting all dolled-up beforehand! Honestly, who would actually do this?! Is it any wonder that thoughtless young girls end up in serious trouble or murdered, yet it continues to happen today through social media, stranger hookups despite the plethora of cautionary advice and very real tragedies.Some glaring goofs in the film were: (1) Considering the fact that in the beginning of the film Libby expressly tells Kit that her house being located so far from the city had reduced her social life to virtually nil, it then seems rather too convenient that she evidently manages to drive the presumed inconvenient distance to Marak's house in such a short time!(2) When the policeman shoots Marak in the back through the car's rear window, it can be clearly seen in a following camera shot that the angle of the bullet could very easily have hit Libby herself since she too was directly in the line of fire!Despite its flaws, this was another of William Castle's off-beat brand of pure escapism.

"I Saw What You Did" has teenagers Libby and Kit spending a night home alone along with Libby's younger sister, Tess. What do three young girls do for fun on a Friday night in 1965? Make prank phone calls, of course! But Libby and Kit's idea of innocent fun turns dangerous when they ring a psychopath who has just murdered his wife.I admittedly am not a fan of William Castle's earliest work (as much as I don't want to say it, I find his earlier ghost films "House on Haunted Hill" and "13 Ghosts" remarkably dull), but here Castle seems to have struck my fancy. "I Saw What You Did" is a straightforward suspense film that relies on crafty writing in order to really hold our attention, but the script pulls it off. The causal reactions that put Libby and Kit into such grave danger are extremely clever, and that is perhaps the film's greatest strength— the writing is inventive and smart. In terms of action, there is not a lot that happens over the course of the film, but it still manages to engage all the same, and running at 82 minutes, it packs its punch well.The film's black-and-white photography is gorgeous and drenches everything atmosphere, and its famous "uxoricide" scene cribs Hitchcock's "Psycho" but is arguably more brutal; it marks a pivotal point in the film as well that will have the audience shifting in their seat— even the film's hokey score is discredited by that scene alone. As lightweight as the film feels for much of its duration, the first murder is there to remind us that it's really not.The two leading young girls are remarkably likable in their roles, and Joan Crawford infamously pulls off the role of the psychopath's sultry mistress next-door. While Crawford is often credited for hamming things up in her later career, I found her performance here to be actually quite incredible and terrifying; her interrogation of Libby when the girls arrive at the madman's house was absolutely hair-raising— in fact, I'd go so far as to say she's scarier in that moment than John Ireland is throughout the entire film.Overall, "I Saw What You Did" is noteworthy as a thriller, but also as a cultural relic of a bygone era of rotary dials, and a world where prank calls could lead to murderous madmen peeking in your windows. It's a clever and suspenseful film that is tame by today's standards, but the maliciousness of its first murder scene does keep it floating above total kitsch. It's fun, short, and sweet, and Joan Crawford somehow manages to be at her scariest in a role that could have easily been very boring in the hands of another actress. It's a shame that it hasn't been re-released on DVD or Blu-ray for new generations to have availability to; the original Anchor Bay disc went out of print years ago and is inexplicably among the rarest horror DVDs out there. 9/10.

Another of William Castle's horror films from the 1960's. This one "I saw What you Did" from 1965 is delightful. Castle was known for this low-budget films; however, being fair, this is one of his better entries.Two teen-aged girls (Sara Lane, Andi Garrett) are alone in one of the girl's isolated homes; her parents are out of town. For fun, the two make prank phone calls. They pick random names out of the phone book (males, of course) and say in a breathy voice "I Saw What you Did." Most of the folks on the other end laugh it off. Just their luck, a man who just murdered his wife (John Ireland) takes them literally, although they have randomly picked his name. Brought into the mix of all this is the man's lover (Joan Crawford) who listens in on the extension phone, thinking he's carrying on with another woman! Not knowing who the girl is (this is 1965, long before the days of caller ID, cell phones, or even touch-tone) he is left stewing and scared someone has actually seen him murder his wife. It all gets quite complicated and implausible, with the curious teens driving to the man's home, spying on him from the windows. They are caught by an enraged Crawford snooping around her lover's property (she lives next-door) and, in a hilarious scene, she calls the teen girl a tramp and forces her back into her car. The film does turn deadly serious when the murderer finds out where the girls live, with an ending that is quite suspenseful. First, a bit about the cinematography; it is quite good, using the most of the darkness and creepiness that surrounds the isolated house. A word about the performances: the two teen girls are delightfully bad actresses, but we don't care because they are fun to watch. John Ireland is quite good, but stone-faced and lethal throughout. Crawford is dressed to the nines, in formal evening attire and a huge necklace that looks like it could have been worn by Cleopatra! She is oddly so in love with Ireland, that she tries to blackmail him into marrying her. It's all a hoot and a holler, but there are some genuine moments of suspense. Worth checking out!

I saw this movie last night on TCM while I was channel surfing. Well, this movie is okay, but it's certainly no Psycho or Carrie. And yes, this movie has Joan Crawford in it. The plot is about a couple of teens who did nothing but make prank calls to a guy who just killed his wife and his lover. Little did these teens know that they'll be fighting for their lives once this soon-to-be Jack the Ripper hunts them down. The acting is fine, the characters are good, the music is nice, and the special effects are... well, okay. I'm not saying this is a bad movie, but I think there should be more effort put into this movie.