Develiker terrible... so disappointed.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Panamint "Jean Arless" is an aka..... and she gives a strong performance in this film. You are not likely to forget her character. It is one of the strangest, oddest characters ever and is the only reason to watch this movie at all. However, "Homicidal" is a sluggish movie to watch, it lacks the artistic merit of "Psycho", and in fact has very little to offer in terms of plot or structure. Patricia Breslin contributes her classy presence and is watchable as always. Glenn Corbett looks hunky but is asked to do little in an underwritten role.The interplay between the Emily and Warren characters is strangely fascinating throughout. However, scenes are awkwardly set up and the film just plods along, so I cannot recommend it. When the Fright Break happened, I was not frightened- it was more like a Yawn Break. Is it a worthwhile experience to be alternately fascinated and bored? Watch this film and you will probably find out.

MARIO GAUCI This is among the director's most popular works, being the one that overtly played him up as a potential rival to Alfred Hitchcock (complete with Castle's cheeky introduction a' la Hitch's own TV appearances); at the same time, its deliberate nods to PSYCHO (1960) did not really endear it to critics but, of course, audiences at the time lapped it up… which only goes to prove just how much of a milestone the Hitchcock classic was when it first emerged and has remained so over the years through countless imitations!Anyway, taken on its own merits, the film is certainly an above-average chiller for Castle – yet one is left wondering whether he was audacious or foolhardy in his approach towards the all-important plot twist; Hitchcock was certainly wiser in keeping "Mother" in the background, whereas Castle throws the secondary personality of the titular figure in our faces almost from the get-go! Indeed, the prologue should have been omitted entirely – as it really gave the game away to discerning viewers. The transvestism element, then, elicits unwarranted comparisons throughout with Ed Wood's notorious GLEN OR GLENDA? (1953) – but the PSYCHO borrowings, at least, are fairly well integrated into the narrative: a stint by the blonde leading lady at a run-down motel, a near-brush with the Law, a nosy investigator, an invalid also staying at the house, the put-upon young couple, etc. Having said that, the aforementioned prologue, the sadistic mistreatment of the latter character and the underlying "greed is the root of all evil" theme clearly anticipate the next phase in Horror film-making: the "Grand Guignol" chillers spearheaded by Robert Aldrich's WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)…Still, while it also has an early and would-be shocking (because apparently unprovoked) murder – that could have pointed out to yet another childhood sexual trauma in other scenarios – one cannot sensibly compare the impact of the bloody yet extremely clumsy stabbing of James Westerfield with the legendary shower sequence from PSYCHO involving Janet Leigh! Incidentally, even if we do get to hear the two personalities speak in the same sequence (as Anthony Perkins did in the earlier film), their never actually appearing together – to say nothing of the man's distinctly effeminate appearance – should have alerted audiences as to the nature of the ruse (not that her eventual uncovering – preceded by the gimmicky 45-second "Fright Break" – is totally ineffective, unlike her ultimate come-uppance…which comes off as rushed)! Casting-wise, it is obviously Jean Arless (actually Joan Marshall, who adopted the pseudonym so as not to be typecast, but her subsequent roles were negligible at best!) who makes the biggest impression, whereas Eugenie Leontovich's stroke victim – with her incessant banging to attract attention – gets on one's nerves very quickly!

Dalbert Pringle As an attention-grabbing title for a slasher-thriller picture of this one's twisted nature, I'd say that the use of a single word, like "Homicidal", was very effective in grasping my curiosity and interest.But, on the other hand, since Homicidal was apparently William Castle's sneering and envious answer to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, then this off-kilter, second-rate, maniac movie repeatedly fell short of its intended goal. It neither shocked me, nor held my attention for more than a few minutes at a time.Out of this whole movie there were only 2 memorable scenes in its entire 90-minute running time that I thought were stand-outs and worthy of any mention.The first scene happens at about the 15-minute point when Emily pulls a razor-sharp carving knife out of her purse and immediately begins to brutally stab the old Justice of the Peace in the stomach, over and over again, while 2 horrified witnesses look on.The second scene containing any fright-value takes place in the last 10 minutes of the story.In between these 2 moments there's about an hour's worth of story that literally goes nowhere and, believe me, this is more than enough to put most viewers off to sleep while the characters continually bicker away with each other.Even though I knew from the start that the 2 characters of Emily & Warren were being played by the same person, what came as a real surprise to me was to find out that it wasn't an effeminate man playing these dual roles, but rather a somewhat butch woman.I understand that it's never been officially revealed as to whether Jean Arless' voice as Warren was really hers, or if it was dubbed. All the same, her performance as a man was very convincing.I found it really puzzling that if William Castle had really wanted Homicidal to be a much more memorable rip-off of Psycho, then he should've made it a point to include a horrific "shower scene" in his film, as well. But, he didn't do this (much to my disappointment).All that Castle added to Homicidal, for novelty effect, was a somewhat ridiculous tongue-in-cheek "fright break" of 60 seconds which allowed those in the audience (who were easily frightened) to safely leave the theater before the story's climatic moment of terror got underway.

HerrDoktorMabuse If you can't afford to catch Psycho at the local revival house, this is the movie to see. While it's clear that Homicidal had no pretensions of seriousness or originality, the camp fun is marred by lapses into incompetence. It's starts off with a bang and then bogs down into an endless talky exposition. But then, it attracted an audience that required careful explanation. While it probably stands as the only picture ever set in Solvang, they made disappointingly little use of the town's attributes as a miniature golf course version of Denmark. The references to Denmark also were a tipoff to the gender bending plot gimmick at the heart of the picture, due to that country's early 60s reputation for leadership in sex change surgery. I would also have to say that Leonie Leontovich had the makings of a great rap artist, conveying a surprisingly nuanced range of emotional subtleties in her non-speaking part. A shame, really, that she was neither seen nor heard more widely in the movies.