Directed by: William
Castle
Starring: Joan
Crawford, John Ireland, Leif Erickson, Andi Garrett, Sara Lane, and Sharyl
Locke
Genre:
Horror/Thriller
Rated: Unrated
Based on the Novel Out of the Dark by Ursula Curtiss
When Libby’s (Garrett) parents go away for a night, she and
her friend Kit (Lane) are left in charge of little Tess (Locke). As the evening
wears on, the girls get bored and decide to prank calls to entertain
themselves. They decide to call random numbers and say, “I saw what you did,
and I know who you are,” to whomever answers the phone. Unfortunately for them,
they wind up dialing Steve Marak (Ireland) who has just killed his wife.
Suspense and murder ensue.
I really liked the premise for this film. There is something
terrifying about someone thinking you know too much and that you must be
silenced. However, Marak never would have known who was calling him if the
girls hadn’t decided to drive by his house to get a look at the “man with the
sexy voice.” I found this part of the story ridiculous because I couldn’t
believe the girls to be that foolish. Still, it served its purpose and provided
a nice suspenseful moment between Libby and Marak.
There are two other complaints I have about this film: 1.)
Joan Crawford’s irritating character and 2.) the musical score. Joan’s
character of Amy, the lonely next-door neighbor and mistress of Steve, oozes
desperation. She is willing to be with him no matter what and will do anything
to ensure that they are together. She throws herself at him again and again,
promising to take care of him in ways his wife could not. It was really quite
pathetic and I felt the urge to reach through the screen and slap her.
The musical score was terrible. It did not match the tone of
the film at all and often ruined what would otherwise be very tense scenes. The
music was bouncy and almost cheerful while people are being stalked and/or
killed. The viewer is supposed to sense danger is lurking and fear for the
characters, but that tension is reduced greatly by the mismatched score.
What I did enjoy about the film was the cinematography. I
loved the use of shadows in several of the scenes – it created more suspense
and a darker atmosphere. The shot where Libby can be seen peeking through the
window in a mirror near Steve Marak was also a nice touch. The best scene in
the entire film has to be what I call the “reverse Psycho” within the first twenty minutes of the film.
The acting was also decent for a low-budget B-movie. Ireland
was very creepy as the desperate, murderous Steve Marak. Crawford made Amy believable
despite her sickeningly pathetic adoration of Marak. Garrett and Lane seemed
like regular teenage girls of the period – despite the scripted drive to see
the man they’d spoken to on the phone.
Overall: The film was a decent little B-movie with some nice
cinematography but annoying music and character behavior. It’s worth a watch if
you can get your hands on this rare little flick, if only to say you’ve seen
it.
6/10
I Saw What You Did
(1988)
Directed by: Fred
Walton
Starring: Shawnee
Smith, Tammy Lauren, Candace Cameron Bure, Robert Carradine and David Carradine
Genre: Horror,
Thriller, TV Movie
Rated: Unrated
Based on the novel Out of the Dark by Ursula Curtiss
This remake follows the original storyline fairly closely.
When Kim’s (Smith) father goes away for the evening, she invites Lisa (Lauren)
over for dinner. Soon the girls get bored, and along with Kim’s little sister,
Julia (Cameron Bure), begin making prank phone calls. Lisa is the one who
suggests “I Saw What You Did,” and they wind up dialing Adrian Lance (Robert Carradine),
who has just killed his girlfriend.
Once again, it is the girls driving by the killer’s house
that gets his attention and enables him to track them. In both films the girls
are so obsessed with seeing the “sexy man” on the other end of the line; they
don’t think that he could possibly be dangerous. I don’t know why they insist
on making these girls, who seem intelligent in every other way, idiots when it
comes to men.
In this version, the character of Amy is replaced by Stephen
(David Carradine), Adrian’s concerned brother, who drops in for a visit to make
sure everything is okay. It’s clear from the moment we meet Adrian that he has
some sort of mental issues, and as the plot progresses we get to know the his
back story.
I felt the characters were more believable in this version,
aside from the stupidity of the car-ride to Adrian’s house. Maybe that’s
because the 1980s is closer to my generation and I can relate to the girls a
little better. Smith, Lauren and Cameron Bure all gave convincing performances
as the young ladies making the calls. David Carradine delivered a decent
performance as the concerned older brother. It was Robert Carradine as the
killer that I had a hard time buying. I know him best as Hillary Duff’s father
in the Disney show Lizzie McGuire, so
to see him attempting to be intimidating was almost humorous to me. His performance was just starting to be
believable in the final scene between Adrian and Kim, but that scene felt so
rushed that the tension didn’t have a chance to build up.
The cinematography in this film wasn’t nearly as well-shot,
but the score was much better. It almost had a rock and roll feel to it, music
that the girls would listen to, but it flowed with the mood of the film as
well.
I do feel the scenes between Kim and Adrian are rushed far
too much. Just when the viewer begins to feel any tension at all, the scene
either ends abruptly or charges on through, leaving what little suspense had
been built in the dust. My last complaint is the twist ending, it felt like it
was just tacked on to be like every other horror film from the 1980s, and it
wasn’t necessary.
Overall: It’s not bad for a made-for-television remake, but
nothing to write home about either. The girls are just as foolish, the killer
is not as believable, and the twist ending annoying and unnecessary. Still, it
was a fun little watch with decent acting and it remained true to the original
film for the most part.
5.5/10
