Cult Films

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Homicidal is an unusual film, mesmerizing and ridiculous, and probably needs to be seen in the context of its time, and its director, William Castle.

Castle had his biggest success as the maker of low-budget horror movies that usually came with a gimmick to help sell tickets. Mr Sardonicus came with a "punishment poll," wherein the audience voted to determine whether the bad guy lived or died. For The Tingler, Castle had a few seats in every theater wired to deliver an electric shock, ensuring screams in the audience.

Homicidal is Castle's response to Psycho, and feels like a sequel, but it ain't bad. Similar set-up as Psycho, similar characters, but it goes in its own direction with a wild twist that seems obvious nowadays, but was doubtless shocking in '61.

There's also a 45-second "fright break," allowing patrons to leave the theater if they were too frightened to see the end of the film, and you could get your money back if you were willing to follow the yellow trail in the lobby and stand in the "Coward's Corner" instead of watching.

Castle made crazy movies, and I'm a fan. No "Coward's Corner" for me. I watched this to the end, and had a good time.

Verdict: YES.

This is one that I haven't watched yet because I want to see it on one sitting, but haven't carved out the time to do so.

Not really related to film content but to the medium. Thought this was nerdy and interesting.

It is wild to me that a series this low budget, ghoulish, and mean spirited has almost become main stream now. I remember seeing the second one at the drive in and there were families there with kids running around like it was no big deal while some girl was getting skinned alive and disemboweled on the screen.

The Texas Theatre was built in 1931 and is probably best known as the place of arrest for Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's assassin, in 1963. It's undergone countless ownership changes, renovations, burnings, closings, and all sorts of zoning chaos. Thankfully, as a result of recent historical landmark status, its funding is fairly secure.

https://thetexastheatre.com/

I was thinking about this because last Tuesday I went to an event there called Tuesday Night Trash which is a free movie they show on Tuesday nights and saw Primal Rage, an insane 80s Italian killer monkey movie and it was so much fun. Seeing it with a full audience was a blast. And they do this stuff all the time. The theater is very involved in the local film scene, often holding film festivals featuring local filmmakers. They don't serve food except for popcorn and candy but they do have a full bar with movie themed drinks. They also host a VHS swap once a month where the locals come out to sell and trade tapes and cool merch.

Just a taste of the upcoming lineup (all movies shown except brand new releases are on film): Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the 50th anniversary, a double feature of Wiseau’s movies The Room and Big Shark and Q&A w/ Greg Sistero star of The Room and author of The Disaster Artist, Lady Snowblood, the original Django, Samurai Showdown, Time Masters (an awesome '82 French animated sci-fi), Cat Video festival, Altered States, Ed Wood with a live drag show afterwords, 50th anniversary showing of Phantom of the Paradise, a tribute to Roger Corman, and Near Dark.

Around Halloween is my favorite time as it's non-stop monster movies, including obscure shot on video stuff and classic B&W features.

Anyways, just wanted to brag a little bit about this local treasure. As I've gotten older, I dread the giant soulless multiplexes more and more, and I know Texas gets a lot of shit, much of it rightfully earned, but this theater it not part of that.

If you have a local treasure I'd love to hear about it.

Combine Tom Savini's genius fx talent with producer and creator Harvey Weinstein's sociopathic cruelness and you get The Burning, a wicked slasher but also an incredibly mean film. The killer's genesis is mean, the kids are mean, the hospital orderlies are mean, the killer himself is mean as hell, and even the erotic sequences are mean. Usually there are some funny hijinks and shenanigans within summer camp movies that give the viewer a break but here they fall flat and don't generate the same light-hearted emotions so that what you are left with is relentless and unforgiving. There is an undeniable cruel streak that runs throughout the runtime, but I think it can be said that without it the film's impact would have been lessened considerably.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ out of ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐