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| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | William Castle |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 01 January, 1961 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Columbia Tristar Hom |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen |
| TYPE: | Horror |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 043396069312 |
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Customer Reviews of Mr. Sardonicus
The infamous William Castle "Punishment Poll" horror flick With a film from producer-director William Castle the question is never what is the plot of the film but rather what gimmick has the master of horror schlock come up with this time around. For his 1961 release "Mr. Sardonicus" the gimmick was the "Punishment Poll," which supposedly gave the audience the choice of how the film should end. Of course this is not going to be as much fun as the tingling seat, special viewing glasses for ghost-vision, or even the insurance policy to cover you in the event the film scared you to death, but you have to admit that even with DVDs there are limits to what can be done. The irony is that with the DVD format you really could choose between alternative endings-if only Castle had filmed one in the first place.
Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) is a noted neurosurgeon who is summoned from England by her former lover Maude (Audrey Dalton) to a castle in Gorslava where she lives with her husband Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe). The baron always wears a mask when he comes out of his room and eventually he tells Sir Robert the story of a lottery ticket and a ghoulish visit to a graveyard at midnight. Sardonicus wants Sir Robert to use his skills to cure his affliction, even if it means using new and untested methods to gain success, so that Maude, who was married off by her father to the baron, might finally love her husband. When Sir Robert balks at the idea, Sardonicus reveals an alternative plan for making the baroness more sympathetic to his condition.
"Mr. Sardonicus" has every single one of the traditional elements of a gothic horror story. Our hero, a man of science, travels to a remote location in eastern Europe, where he meets the terrified local townsfolk, before heading on to an ancient castle on a hill surrounded by mist, where he is met by the deformed assistant to the mysterious baron, whose beautiful wife is held hostage to her husband's dangerous whims. But the film creates a nice gothic atmosphere (until the end) and the production values do not cheapen the experience but compare quite favorably to the Universal monster movies of the 40s and 50s. Cargrave is a bland hero and the effectiveness of the film rests on the character of the baron, who cuts a compelling figure as he speaks from behind his mask. More than anyone else, it is Rolfe who prevents the films from descending to the level of camp, although Oscar Homolka as the baron's disfigured but loyal servant Krull, turns in a solid performance along those same lines as well.
Rather surprisingly, not only the story of how Sardonicus came to be this way but our look at the man behind the mask comes rather early in the film, at which point this horror film starts to turn into a medical problem-solving effort. Then we get to Castle's gimmick and the whole thing collapses. The "Punishment Poll" consisted of getting a rather large card when you entered the theater that could be raised to signify "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" when Castle appeared on the screen to conduct the poll. Supposedly the majority vote would apply, but Castle knew full well what his blood thirsty audience would want to see at the end of the film, so an alternative ending was never even filmed. Besides, Castle made it clear what sort of person would wimp out and give mercy to the title character. The only problem is that the little boy in the back row could have come up with a more painful punishment for Sardonicus than this rather low-keyed ending. Equally important, Castle's jovial appearance completely derails the film's momentum and dispels the gothic atmosphere.
"Mr. Sardonicus" is an interesting little footnote to the history of horror films and if you have never seen a William Castle film then sooner or later you should check one of them out. There is a short documentary on this DVD about "Taking the Punishment Poll" that provides some insights into the film and the cast from film historians (the key one being that Castle's films are more about fun than fright). "Mr. Sardonicus" is one of several William Castle productions that Columbia is putting out on DVD, including "Homicidal," "13 Ghosts," and "Strait-Jacket," a couple of which have trailers on this DVD.
Sir Robert rules, Sardonicus drools!
This is a great, fun movie from the William Castle oeuvre, with the gimmick this time being a punishment poll where moviegoers were (supposedly) allowed to choose whether to really let that evil ole' Sardonicus have it or not. The version I saw he (not surprisingly) gets the extra punishment, as I'm sure has always been the case.
Overall, this movie is very camp, with an outrageously improbable story that works all the same. Also the homoerotic over- and undertones don't hurt. And one last thing: Sir Robert rules!
Scary
This is a very scary movie because of his face and his father's face!! so LOOK OUT!!