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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
Directed by William Castle
USA
1964
Film legend Joan Crawford gives a terrific performance in this chiller from pioneer horror movie producer William Castle. Crawford plays Lucy Harbin, a woman who goes berserk when she finds her husband in bed with another woman. With her three-year-old daughter accidentally witnessing the grisly act, Lucy axes the couple to death. She spends twenty years in a mental institution for the double murder. After she is released, she moves in with her brother (Leif Erickson), his wife and her own daughter (Diane Baker), now twenty-three. Her nightmare is over ... or is it? When a spate of axe murders start occurring suddenly in the neighborhood, police think Lucy has reverted to her old ways. The truth is finally revealed in a rousing, blood-chilling finale. *** In this chilling blood-tale in "Psycho" style, Robert Bloch modernizes the Lizzy Borden story. A wife (Joan Crawford) literally axes her cheating husband and his lover, witnessed by her three-year-old daughter. Mom is packed off to the insane asylum for 20 years before reuniting with the daughter (Diane Baker). From this point, the axe murders continue along a contrived plot intended to lead the audience astray until the mystery is solved. Crawford's strong performance and the excellently constructed suspense are the best elements of the film -- and the chopping saves the show when the plot tends to slow. |
Posters, Comic Book, Lobby Cards etc.
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Theatrical Release: January 19th, 1964
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
1) Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT2) Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - RIGHT
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Box Covers |
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Also available in a two-pack Blu-ray with Berserk, from Millcreek: Coming to individual Blu-ray in the UK from Indicator in May 2024: |
Distribution | Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC | Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 1:32:45 | 1:32:53.609 |
Video |
1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.85 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
1.78:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,473,550,435 bytes Feature: 25,330,231,296 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 30.99 Mbps |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate: |
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Bitrate: Blu-ray |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1586 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1586 kbps / 24-bit (DTS
Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio English 1665 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1665 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) |
Subtitles | None | English, None |
Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details:
Disc 5 • Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (1:22:00) • Commentary with Producer/Director Jeffrey Schwarz and Terry Castle
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Release Information:
1.78:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,473,550,435 bytes Feature: 25,330,231,296 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 30.99 Mbps
Edition Details:
Blu-ray
Release Date:
August 21st, 2018 Chapters 16 |
Comments: |
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - September 2018': The new Shout! Factory release is, in 1.78:1, dual-layered, in 1080P with a high bitrate. It has some fairly consistent grain, occasional depth, not substantial crispness but well-layered contrast. It seems like a suitable bump over the single-layered SD.Shout! Factory use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel (24-bit) in the original English language. There are a few effects and screams but mostly notable in the score is by composer, bandleader, and conductor Van Alexander (The Big Operator, Castle production's I Saw What You Did, 13 Frightened Girls) with its appealing use of the electronic Theremin and it sounds quite impacting in the lossless. The audio is quite strong and there are optional English subtitles on the Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray. There is an excellent audio commentary with authors Steve Haberman, Producwe/Director Constantine Nasr and David J. Schow who talk about a variety of details dealing with the film's evolution, the score, lots on Joan Crawford and how Castle even had small cardboard axes for distribution in the theatre. It's full of information like the 'Hagsploitation' genre and the discussion has a nice flow. There are also some extras that were in the William Castle DVD set plus others. There is "Joan Had Me Fired" a 7-minute interview with Torontonian Anne Helm and how she didn't make it into the film's early sequence. On the Road with Joan Crawford is a 6.5-minute interview with publicist Richard Kahn, "Battle-Ax" - The Making of Straight-Jacket is Jeffrey Schwarz's 2002 documentary with Diane Baker, Donald Glut, Michael Schlesinger and film historian David Del Valle running 1/4 of an hour. There are Joan Crawford's costume and 'Make-up Tests' plus the 'Ax-Swinging screen test', a trailer and an extensive still gallery. There is value in this - and the commentary is a part of that enticement. It looks and sounds quite strong as compared to the old DVD and it remains a film you can revisit. Sure, Crawford, Castle and hagsploitation genre fans should indulge in this Shout! Factory Blu-ray.
***
On The William Castle DVD set: As with other Sony boxsets
like
Icons of Horror - Boris Karloff
or
Icons of Horror- Hammer Films
collections,
the feature films of this boxset - eight in this particular package -
are shared, two each on four dual-layered, progressive DVDs. There is a
fifth single-layered disc of the Castle documentary. All have original
aspect ratios are 1.85:1, anamorphically enhanced, and each
disc is coded for Region 1 in the NTSC standard. They have original mono
audio (or 2.0 channel stereo) and there are no subtitles. The package
(image above) is a three tiered Digi-pak housed inside a cardboard
slipcase. Five of the eight films
have been on DVD previously - some with extras - Mr. Sardonicus,
Homicidal, 13 Ghosts, The Tingler, and
Strait-Jacket. Zotz! (1962), 13 Frightened Girls!
(1963), The Old Dark House (1963) and the 5th disc award-winning
documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007) make
their debut on DVD.
Image quality: Although the previously released films-to-DVD are stated
as being 'remastered' - this is a term that is easily thrown around and
can mean very little. I already owned the single-layered
Strait-Jacket with Joan Crawford and the image quality actually
looks about the same despite the chronologically newer transfer.
So, as these are all shared with another feature - we can consider each
of them single-layered and not especially improved upon the previous DVD
editions. The Tingler and Homicidal look quite good, the
contrast on 13 Ghosts and Zotz! looks a little suspect,
Straight-Jacket had some visible noise but overall despite some
chroma - I'd say that these are all completely watchable. Certainly not
pristine transfers but despite a move to Blu-ray - these aren't going to
look dramatically superior. The modest appearance of these 8 films on
digital is really no surprise. Sony's come-ons are the three
previously unreleased (on DVD), the documentary - and getting
them all in one package.
Audio was acceptable if unremarkable. It was consistent
and clear enough but the dialogue is not supported with any subtitles
which is a surprise as, I believe the individual DVD editions did have
optional English, French, Portuguese or Spanish.
The supplements on the first 4 discs seem to duplicate the
previously released films-to-DVD with some minor new material and content for
the Zotz! (1962) - original trailer,
13 Frightened Girls! (1963) - alt-openings, The Old Dark House
(1963) - original
trailer. These are good though are stealing a bit of
thunder from the 5th disc documentary - which you may want to see first. What
may be new (I don't own all the older DVDs to be absolutely positive) is Season
1, Episode 19 of Ghost Story entitled
Graveyard Shift with Patty Duke and John Astin and a cameo by Castle as the
aged studio head. The Magic of Illusion-O, Battle-Axe: The Making of
Strait-Jacket, Scream For Your Lives: William Castle and The Tingler,
Psychette: William Castle and Homicidal and the Joan Crawford Wardrobe
Tests, Axe Tests, the alternate Country and Drive-In scenes - mostly
made for further promotion - are all interesting. None are overly long and, at
least, worth a peek.
The award-winning, hour-twenty two minute, 2007 - Spine
Tingler! The William Castle Story documentary is great and where a lot of
the shorter featurettes steal their content. It also offers a separate optional
commentary track with Producer/Director Jeffrey Schwarz and Terry Castle for
those who can't get enough (like moi). It focuses heavily on details like Joan
Crawford's domination of Strait-Jacket and the Castle-produced
Rosemary's Baby. It has Diane Baker, daughter Terry, John Waters,
Roger Corman, Leonard Maltin and many more with archive footage discussion of
the impresario by Roman Polanski, Vincent Price and others. It's just great.
There was never anyone like William Castle. His
finger was definitely on an entire era's movie-going pulse. For anyone who has
seen Joe Dante's wonderful 'Matinee'
from 1993 (a film I strongly recommend!) - they will know that John Goodman's
character is a direct homage to Bill Castle.
Some of these films are wonderful enjoyment and I question any
true film fans who would look down their nose at movies like The Tingler
(1959), Homicidal (1961), Strait-Jacket (1964) and Mr.
Sardonicus (1961) - they are pure entrainment. Cheesy - SURE - but
they really define a time when one man's films were sneakily reaching out to
embrace the public. You can really get an appreciation by watching the included
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story. Castle was dismissed by critics
but adored by film-goers.
Despite the majority of the films in this package having been on
DVD previously - the overall cost makes good financial sense for those who are
just getting into the director/producer's oeuvre. You get 8 films and a feature
length documentary for less than $60 (less than $7/each). We can complain that
Sony are scrimping and not including films like "Macabre" - but I think
this is a fabulous introduction to the director which will surely build more
demand for his work like Shanks (1974), Project X
(1968), Let's Kill Uncle (1966) or The Night Walker (1964). Let's
hope for a Volume 2 !! |
DVD Menus
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Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Blu-ray Subtitle Sample
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1) Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Sony (William Castle Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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