William Castle has been considered the low rent version of Hitchcock, and his film Homicidal has been compared (sometime unfavorably) to Psycho. I never thought that comparison was very fair, and that Castle's effort is easily equal to Hitchcock.
In 1961 California, a woman calling herself Miriam Webster (Jean Arliss) checks into a hotel. She then asks the bellhop to marry her for two thousand dollars. She insists the marriage won't be real though, as they will get a divorce immediately. The bellhop (Richard Rust) is totally fine with this arrangement, and come that night the pair drive out into the country and find a justice of the peace named Albert Adrins (James Westerfield). The older man is annoyed, but the fifty-two bucks Miriam has placates him.
He then does the ceremony, but when he goes to kiss the bride, Miriam shanks the man to death and flees the scene.
When we next see her, we find her real name is Emily. She also seems to a nurse to an old invalid woman named Helga (Eugenia Leontovich). Emily brags of her deed to Helga, which is easy to do as the old woman seems utterly incapable of movement or speech.
The police investigate, but the name Emily gave at the hotel belongs to Miriam (Patricia Breslin). She has an alibi, plus she doesn't look anything like Emily, so she is cleared. She's also Helga's stepdaughter. Helga and her son (Miriam's brother) Warren have recently returned from Denmark. That's where they hired Emily, although Miriam wishes the catty blonde had stayed there. Speaking of the devil, Emily needs Miriam to stay with Helga for a bit while she runs an errand for the old woman. Miriam agrees, although she'd rather be back at work to close the flower shop and hang out with her boyfriend Karl (Glenn Corbett).
Later that night, Emily breaks in into Miriam's flower shop and starts wrecking the place. Karl investigates and gets knocked out for his trouble. The next day, the two lovers confront Emily, although Helga frantically tries to warn them of something. They don't find Emily, but they do find Warren. It seems he's gone and married Emily. Miriam hears her brother and new wife arguing in a closed room, but she doesn't see either of them.
Karl latter learns from the police that a woman fitting Emily's description, and using Miriam's name, is now wanted for murder. Will Karl rescue Miriam in time? What is Emily's secret?
Seriously, if anymore is discussed I'd spoil the film. The last fifteen minutes of this put Psycho to shame really. When decapitation is the least shocking twist, you're dealing with something special.
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