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Title: I Saw What You Did (1999) |
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Review of I Saw What You Did
- "The telephone was the star of my next film," writes William Castle in his autobiography Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America as he describes I Saw What You Did, a lightweight thriller about two schoolgirls and a prank phone call that backfires with a vengeance. When the girls whisper "I saw what you did, and I know who you are" to a perfect stranger, little do they know he has just murdered his wife and is now out to silence any witnesses. An aging John Ireland plays the homicidal husband and Joan Crawford has little more than a cameo as an amorous neighbor turned blackmailer. Castle leaves the spook-show gimmicks and high-concept twists out of this thriller, which prefigures the teen scream genre by decades, but he proves to be little better than competent as a suspense director. When one of the girls continues to call the killerback, playing at grown-up with a breathy coo and a come-on air, the film shuffles through uncomfortable territory and emerges with an unaccountably cheery denouement. Castle is more at home as a showman, as his giddy, goofy House on Haunted Hill shows, than as a dime store Hitchcock, but the film does exhibit a little Castle flair, such as an inventive prologue framed in a pair of opening and closing eyes. --Sean Axmaker
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Comments for I Saw What You Did
- Posted on 2008-04-15
crank yankers
The DVD includes the original trailer as well as a brief promo that Vincent Castle did for the movie. "I Saw What You Did" shows what happens when you make too many prank phone calls! I love this movie because it's so funny. These kids in this film are so totally silly. And everyone was so polite. What's up with that? Were people really like this in the 1960's? As usual Joan was perfect. My favorite scene was the one where she went nuts on Libby and chased her all the way back to the car. It was so funny, I thought Joan was going to have a heart attack. Rock on.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2007-07-04
I Saw What You Did and I Rate It a 5!
This movie is really a great film for the Low Budget films of Days gone by. Joan Crawford is in this, but just for a few fleeting moments. It's not her best acting gig, and she sure didn't get any awards for this film. I noticed that some people gave it only 1 star...I bet that these people are younger and don't remember our old phone systems and the simpler days of living. This movie will keep your attention, especially if you are a baby boomer or older, as you will remember all the pranks that we all used to do on the phone. The first time I ever saw this film, it scared the crap out of me! The out in the middle of nowhere house, the fog...Boy can I relate to that growing up in the country!This film is scary, without all the blood, gore and violence that you see in todays horror films! I highly recommend this film!
Score: 5 - Posted on 2007-03-20
Neat William Castle Thriller Combining An Interesting Premise With A Solid Cast
Producer/Director William Castle will always be remembered as a "B" level showman renowned for getting his best thrills in his movies through cheap tricks like wiring theatre seats with light electricity or dangling skeletons over audiences during the screenings in a feeble attempt to increase the "thrill factor". However I believe he has often been unfairly dismissed in his movie output and could on occasion produce interestingly original work in his movies. His highly effective "The Night Walker" starring Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor from 1965 comes to mind as fitting this category. 1965 also found him working off another interesting premise to create an entertaining and well acted little thriller in "I Saw What You Did". Admittedly the film is no masterpiece however it does succeed in its 80 or so minutes running time to create quite suspensful viewing. The idea of a prank phone call going terribly wrong and leading to a potentially deadly situation might not seem very original however here it is handled in a manner that allows the tension to slowly build and then mushrooms into a fast moving and tense climax. Castle was aided greatly here by a terrific cast headed by top billed veteran actress Joan Crawford who actually has a smaller role than the billing would suggest. Reteamed here with her old "Queen Bee" costar John Ireland this thriller would sadly prove to be Joan's last American film with her last two efforts being made in England. She however more than makes up for her limited screen time by totally dominating the action in her scenes making her role seem larger than it actually is. The cast includes an interesting mixture of veterans and complete new comers and they work extremely well together on what was obviously a small budget and limited production schedule. These limitations however work in the stories favour keeping the story moving at a satisfying pace with not alot of character development going on. Even the black and white photography, obviously chosen for budgetry reasons, proves highly effective here in creating just the right mood where so much of the story takes place on an eerie fog shroud night in an isolated country area.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2006-06-19
See What William Castle Did with a promising idea...
One of William Castle's later efforts. "I Saw What You Did" was made the year after the terrific "Strait Jacket", and also stars Joan Crawford. She must have got on well with Castle as this was a much smaller role, in what it is a less impressive movie all round. The film stars two teenage girls who have been left to babysit the much younger sister of one of them in a remote house. To relieve the boredom, the pair decide to make lots of prank calls, whispering the movie's title down the telephone to lots of random people they pick out of the phone book. Trouble is, one of their victims really DID do something - he just murdered his wife! And once the call has been made, he decides he has to act fast and remove any potential witness.
Now, on paper this all sounds like it has the potential to make a really suspenseful and exciting movie. But for some reason, Castle sabotages the atmosphere by seemingly directing it for an audience about the same age as his two girl stars. Right from the opening credits, swinging beat music blares out over shots of the two friends gossiping over the phone, followed by nearly half an hour of cutesy family orientated comedy-melodrama. It's a problem shared by the original "13 Ghosts", in which a similarly spooky setting was spoiled by the irritatingly humerous sparring of the happy family involved. Why does Castle do this, when he's showed he has the know-how for creating real suspense if he wants to? My only guess is that a hard-hitting, adult film about a murderer terrorising two teenagers is not what Castle felt comfortable making here. But if that is the case, why is the film (and Castle's whole career) marketed at "scaring the pants off America" (to quote his autobiography)? He managed to make "Strait Jacket", "The Tingler" and "Homicidal" pretty effective, but he really drops the ball here.
Which is a shame, because in places, the film shines. The main murder, which leads to all the trouble, is a knockout. Although it's totally stolen from "Psycho" (it takes place in a shower), the roles of killer and victim are cleverly reversed, and it is short, sharp and surprisingly brutal. But once this is over, the plot really creaks as the machinations of the phone call and the murderer's discovery of who made it get awkwardly spun out on the screen. The script makes a real meal of setting up the drama... I'm sure they didn't need to make it quite this complicated, with lots of phoning, scheming and re-phoning going on. As a result, it takes forever for the film to reach it's climax in which the murderer finally starts terrorising the teenagers at their home, but when it does, there's some more real tension as he breaks in and starts his chase. I won't reveal the climax, but after it, as the film comes to a close, it's all ruined with a stupidly jaunty burst of music and some unbelievably inappropriate merriment (along the lines of "That's the last crank call I'll ever make - ha ha!"), which wipes out the whole dark mood of the preceding 15 minutes. Unforgiveable.
So I was disappointed. Shame really, as the two girls playing the lead roles make good work as the giggly teenagers - not too annoying, and turning realistically scared when things become nasty. Even the little sister isn't bad. Castle must really like working with children, as all his child actors seem pretty relaxed and natural to me. Joan Crawford also makes an impact, in a very small role that she's really acting too well for. It's worth re-watching just the scenes she is again a second time. And there are brief moments of very good suspense. But basically, this could be a film aimed at kids about the perils of making prank calls, in fact if you took out the rather graphic (in this context, anyway) shower murder scene, it would be little more than a piece of Saturday morning matinee fluff.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2006-05-07
"Don't Answer It! You May Not Know Who's Waiting For You On The Other End!"
William Castle's B thriller is very suspenseful and ideal for dark, late Saturday night viewing. Top-billed Joan Crawford is dressed glamorously throughout, although her character barely makes it half way through the picture. It's also rather obvious that she came directly from "Strait-Jacket", and this would cement her as a camp icon. Of course, you can't help but think, "Mommie Dearest, I promise I'll be good!"
Two teenage girls (Andi Garrett and Sarah Lane) bored on a Saturday night, decide to make prank phone calls (oh, those glory days before caller ID!), and use the interpretive phrase, "I saw what you did - and I know who you are!" Be careful how you dial, girls, because macho psychopath John Ireland has just brutally murdered his young wife (while he was taking a shower, no less - "Psycho" parallels, anyone?), and thinks you saw him do the dastardly deed. And, in good old psycho killer fashion, he will do anything to silence any alleged witnesses.
Although it's unmistakably el cheapo camp, Castle's gimmicky trademark, it's a nail-biting ride, and when it comes down to it, just a fun scarefest! Don't touch the phone, don't answer the door, don't go off on your own to meet your mystery guy, and don't live out in the middle of nowhere with no place to run!
And don't try to steal Joan's man - she'll be ridding your closet of wire hangers!
AND STAY AWAY FROM THAT RETARDED 1988 TV REMAKE!
Score: 4