I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I caught this randomly of TCM. I was thinking of turning off the television set when suddenly I saw William Castle's name and got intrigued. I have previously seen 'The House on Haunted Hill' and I think it's a pretty great, genuinely CLASSIC horror film, and overall I have found Castle's career to be extremely compelling and kind of funny in a way. Castle was a filmmaker who grew to be iconic largely b/c of his gimmicks, which perfectly encapsulate the atmosphere of horror cinema at this time in filmmaking history ("this time" referring to the 1950's to the mid-1960's), and I was totally hooked on watching this film once it began, w/a shot of a large clock on a clock tower as a narration informs the viewer that over the course of the next hour and fifteen minutes prepare to be horrified or something along those lines, and amusingly suggesting that I, the viewer, calm whoever I am sitting beside in the theater if they get too visibly scared and that, and I just found this hilarious and felt like I was in for a comedic (if only ironically so) treat. Well, what I got was something quite unexpected and different than what my mind had planned. There were quite a few unintentionally amusing moments here and there, but the overall film was super dark. Like, it tackled some extremely disturbing topics in a really weird and eerie (if oft cheesy) way. I don't exactly know how I feel about this film, beyond knowing that I liked it, despite there being various extreme plot holes and the overall fact of its ending (which that same narrator from the beginning urges his audience to not spoil any of there friends, and to tell said friends to go see the picture for themselves, which I also found pretty funny) being less-than-satisfactory if (at least sort/kind of) unique/interesting/unexpected/fittingly-melancholic-in-a-way. Sometimes, watching films at total random can be a real experience, and this certainly was one. Full of surprises, unintentional laughs, genuine moments of shock and near actual fright...it's a time to be had for sure.

The acting in this movie was soooooooo bad that the only thing I could think of to compare was 'Plan 9 from Outer Space'. Jim Backus was the one notable exception.

So far, this is the best Castle film that I have seen; I personally think it is quite a bit better, more believable, and way more involving then any of his other films (well, the one with Joan Crawford was pretty dang good!)Also, without giving too much away, the ending caught me completely off guard too. The DVD print is frigg'n AMAZING! I thought it was a Blu-ray it looked so sharp and detailed. At first, the dialog seemed a little clumpy and stiff, but as you get into the story and begin to understand the relationships and history between the characters, it starts to smooth out a little.Another thing that surprised me was the 'adult' nature of some of the story content. Not anything visual; nothing like that, but some of the situations that the characters got into were rather sordid and seedy for 1958 I would think! Probably the weakest point of the film is the acting and to a lesser degree the script; again a bit stiff. But, interestingly as you get more and more into the story and the search for the little girl, you DO indeed get drawn into and become more involved in what is going on.This movie is of course not of the FILM NOIR genre, which ended just about the time this movie came out. But, the dark edge that many of the characters have and some of the shadowy photography reminded me somewhat of the genre. Primarily the flashback sequences and the morally dubious tone of a lot of the people. There are some similarities to films in the latter NOIR period.Anyway, not that I am really an expert on William Castle or anything, but so far amongst his films that I have seen, I feel that this one is far and away the more serious and classier of them. I know that many feel that 'THE TINGLER' and 'HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL' are Classics, but personally I found the acting and dialog in them quite sub-par compared to this one...So, if you are in the mood for an older Suspense / Mystery Thriller with a dark NOIR edge and can put up with a little stiff acting (and NO, I do not mean this is a porn film...) and if you would like to see what a Castle film is like BEFORE he started introducing all the heavy CHEEEEEEEZ, then you should find it quite entertaining...

Macabre (1958) ** (out of 4)This was Castle's first gimmick film as his now legendary ads started here as he offered up $1,000.00 life insurance policies for anyone who watched this film just in case they died of fright. Most people today only remember Castle for his gimmicks and his horror films but this was actually the forty-first film in his career and it certainly took him on a different path. The story is pretty simple as a doctor is told that his daughter has been buried alive and he has just five hours to try and locate her. Many people have called this a horror film but that's certainly not the case because there's only one horror element and it appears on the screen for a matter of seconds. The film is pretty much a mystery/thriller and apparently it was shot in a week, which probably meant very little time was actually spent on the story. MACABRE has a pretty interesting story but nothing is done with it and in the end there's simply not enough suspense to keep the film moving even with a short 68-minute running time. The biggest problem is clearly the screenplay because we simply don't get enough information for us to follow the mystery going on. We know the daughter has been kidnapped and we know she's buried somewhere. We're given a few folks that are possible suspects but instead of giving us clues to try and figure out the mystery, instead the screenplay just gives us boring flashbacks that really don't do anything for the actual mystery. These flashback sequences are all rather boring and actually seem out of place. When the big twist at the end happens then you realize that these flashbacks really weren't needed at all. I'll admit that when the twist did come I didn't see it coming so that was a plus that the film had going for it. However, once the movie is over and you go back and think about it the twist is actually a cheat but we can overlook this. Prince gives a decent, laid-back performance and I enjoyed him as well as Jim Backus. Christine White, on the other hand, came across so incredibly dumb and annoying that I really didn't enjoy any moment she was on screen and sadly that was quite a bit. There's a scene early on where the assistant gets the phone call about the daughter and passes out. When she comes to she must tell it to the doctor and the way this scene is played out just comes across very annoying and melodramatic. MACABRE has one very good sequence and that's when the doctor and assistant are in a whole at the cemetery and someone else enters the picture. This sequence manages to contain some suspense but the rest of the film just falls flat and it's easy to see why the insurance company didn't have to pay any money out.