(1960)
Overall: GOOD
Playing a similar game as House on Haunted Hill though not as successful due to a few reasons, 13 Ghosts is still enjoyable, harmless supernatural fun. For this one, William Castle gave the audience Illusion-O viewers which showcased the ghosts of the film in red while the rest of the scenery was in blue. Watching the movie outside of the theater in normal black and white decades later, this effect is obviously no longer relevant, yet it also allows one to more fairly experience the film sans the hokey artifice. As was sometimes the case in Castle's work, the twist here is disappointing be it in a far more simple manner than usual for the producer/director. Sometimes the case though, the spooky opening and all of the fun, ghostly sound effects are quite a hoot for fans of anything old school, haunted house-themed and the negative-image, superimposed specters themselves are equally rather nifty even if they look a bit dated. Unfortunately, the ghost-seeing goggles that some of the characters wear are both completely unnecessary to the plot and look idiotic and the movie is as much a textbook offender for "why don't these people move out of the house?" horror movie nonsense as any ever made. To each their own then as to whether or not this makes 13 Ghosts just a stupid little haunted house movie or a FUN stupid little haunted house movie.
(1961)
Overall: GOOD
One of the stronger overall William Castle vehicles, Mr. Sardonicus has the usual pieces in place from the director/producer. All the while, the suspense is kept up, the pacing is swift, and the typically ridiculous plot elements are in enough check to not make one raise their eyebrows too much to get distracted. Castle hired Ray Russell to adapt his own short story "Sardonicus" which was originally published in Playboy magazine and the film has more the feel of a Gothic horror or mad scientist movie without particularly being one. There is the title character's gloomy, fog-laden castle in the fictional central European country of Gorslava, a deformed servant, grave robbery, helpless maids subject to torture, crucial science experiments, and a village apparently terrified of the evil castle and the rumors of all of the women who are abducted there, to name but a few familiar ingredients. While Guy Rolfe, (The Stranglers of Bombay), as the masked, diabolical Baron and Oscar Homolka, (Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage), as his one-eyed henchman are both quite good, most of the credit deservingly goes to Castle who delivers another swell gimmick near the end which is the "Punishment Poll" that is addressed directly to the theater audience. Even with such silliness in place, Castle generally keeps the whole of Mr. Sardonicus from going that far over the top.
(1964)
Overall: MEH
William Castle's first team up with Psycho author Robert Bloch was the Joan Crawford-starred vehicle Strait-Jacket, a film that was meant to ride on the success of 1962's influential and much lauded psycho-biddy originator Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Being a William Castle production, it is over the top in questionable ways, particularly in the ending which is unnecessarily twisty and asinine. For her part as the former mental patient axe-wielder, Crawford is precisely what you would expect and she delightfully camps it up as she was always effortlessly able. Small parts by George Kennedy and Lee Majors provide some other highlights, particularly the former who is a grimy farm-hand that ends up seeing and knowing too much. Castle milked the chopping off of heads angle as much as he could, giving out cardboard axes to theater-goers and showcasing the trademark Columbia torch-bearing logo woman at the very end in a decapitated fashion. While the movie is ultimately undone by its groan-worthy ending and almost consistently inappropriate musical score that seems straight out of a completely different movie, it is still enjoyable in enough parts to get a kick out of.
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