‘Homicidal’ or — ‘Psycho’ with a touch of Giallo, Waters and… Breaking Bad?!

William Castle’s ‘Homicidal’ (1961) is a blatant rip-off of Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ (1960) which it closely resembles in tone, look and feel… until it veers wildly off into its own direction and we’re being presented with shocks and thrills that could only have come from Castle himself.

I won’t describe the plot as it is so convoluted I’m not sure that I could plus the fact that the movie goes in directions that are genuinely surprising they are worth discovering for yourself. The film might start off like ‘Psycho’ but with the bizarre plot, stylish fashion, gender ambiguity and charming sleaze it ends up feeling like a Giallo directed by John Waters and is as tasty as that sounds. Yes, I am happy with that description of the movie so will stick with that.

So yeah, the film works although there are a couple of other points worth mentioning, the most surprising one being the obvious influence ‘Homicidal’ must have had on ‘Breaking Bad’. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it and if Vince Gilligan hadn’t seen this movie and was referencing it in his series then I’ll be really shocked and surprised.

‘Homicidal’ also has some truly shocking moments of violence that come out of absolutely nowhere. I won’t give anything away but there’s a moment near the start that is not only timed brilliantly for shock but is also gruesome as hell. Castle seemed to know exactly when to trick his audience and his murders are really effective here.

Oh, and how horrifying does the movie get after the ‘fright break’, that last chance you have to run from the theater if you can’t handle the terrifying tension? Amazingly, it delivers! But you’ll have to see for yourself… if you can handle the escalating and unbearable fear.

‘Homicidal’ might not be as pure, silly fun as ‘The Tingler’ (1959) although I’d hesitate to declare it a more “adult” work as the goal here is still unadulterated entertainment which ‘Homicidal’ certain achieves. It might have taken its cue from Hitchcock’s film but it contains much more than just that starting reference point. I also have to mention Joan Marshall’s awesome performance as Emily which seems to add further evidence to the claim that Castle really knew how to work with his actors.

So if the thought of John Waters making a Giallo or a De Palma film piques your interest then ‘Homicidal’ is really worth investigating.