Macabre (1958),
dir. William Castle, Allied Artists
Moving ahead, we take a look at the man sometimes considered
the low rent version of Hitchcock, William Castle. With Macabre,
Castle, no stranger to showmanship when it came to promoting his work, had a
life insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London to insure any audience member who
died of fright while watching the movie.
Doctor Rod Barrett (William Prince) is a small town doctor
with a beautiful daughter and a struggling practice. After his wife died three
years ago and his sister-in-law not soon after, Dr. Barrett’s former father
–in-law Jode Wetherby (Phillip Tonge) has made it his hobby to ruin Barrett’s
life and career. Town police Chief Jim Tyloe (Jim Backus) isn’t Barrett’s
biggest fan, as he even he suspects Barrett of some degree of incompetence.
Aside from that, everything seems more or less okay, except one day when he
gets a phone call. It seems his daughter won’t be coming home. She’s tied
up…inside a coffin with roughly five hours of air left.
From there it is a frantic race against time. Barrett
desperately tries to follow the stranger’s instructions while Chief Tyloe tries
to go through the suspects, which quickly expands to include nearly everyone in
town.
As a mystery goes, Castle is a genius. The crime is set up
early with a clear deadline in reach. The stranger is kept mysterious enough
that anyone is a suspect. The film waffles a bit near the end, as once the
stranger is revealed, the typical reaction is “wait, what? Then why did that
character act like that?”
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