Diagonaldi
Very well executed
Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Curt
Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.
ags123
This William Castle fright film has none of his signature gimmicks, relying instead on a rather thin plot for its suspense. It may have been scary half a century ago, but the world has changed and today it all comes off as rather juvenile. The acting by the two teenaged girls is horribly stilted and the young sister is mostly annoying. John Ireland and Joan Crawford get to show off their acting chops, but are stymied by a poor script and plodding direction. Joan is always interesting to watch, but her part is small and that intricate hairdo is far too distracting. So are the ever-present shadows that conveniently hide her 60-year-old neck. The crisp black and white photography is excellent, but the film's low budget is painfully evident. "I Saw What You Did" provides some campy, dated entertainment, but not much else to recommend it.
Dan Franzen (dfranzen70)
"I saw what you did...and I know who you are!" This is what teenagers Kit and Libby say to Steve Marak (John Ireland), whom they've randomly dialed as a prank. Trouble is, they don't know that Marak's just killed his wife, who was about to leave him, and has buried her in a shallow grave. Now he thinks his mysterious caller knows too much - and he's out to find her.This is another post-gimmick horror movie from the legendary William Castle, and like The Night Walker and Strait-Jacket, there are plenty more genuine scares than campy laughs. This is also the kind of movie that couldn't quite be duplicated in this day and age, of course. The girls find their numbers not by just dialing random digits but by picking names out of the phone book. That's because back then, many numbers weren't even used (even though the full number consisted of a two-letter designation for the town/exchange and then five numbers), so Kit and Libby could have tried a score of phone numbers before getting an answer.But the use of the phone book adds to the story in another way. Kit and Libby think Steve's voice sounds darn hunky, so they decide to snag Libby's mom's car and head to good ol' Steve's house. You know, just to see what he looks like. Late at night. They're not even going to get out of the car! They drag along Libby's kid sister Tess, because they're not going to leave her alone in their secluded forest house! They're responsible! There's a side plot. Steve's a little crazed (even before killing his wife, played by Joyce Meadows), but he's almost stable compared with his neighbor Amy, played by the inimitable Joan Crawford. Amy is obsessed with Steve - it's unclear whether they'd been having an affair, but Amy's intentions are transparent - to the point where, once she realizes what Steve's done, she attempts to blackmail him into marrying her and having a whopping fun life together. It's wacked-out Crawford at her late-career best. This was supposed to be a cameo, but she nails the role so perfectly that she gets extra time for bad behavior.Prank calls, kids. They were a bad idea in 1965, and they're a really bad idea in 2014, when anyone can either tell who is calling them or call them back with that old standby the *69. You know, for those who don't have call-waiting. So you can't pull this malarkey nowadays - too likely that you get some crazed lunatic with no sense of humor.Another fun Castle thriller with some pretty solid work from even the kid actors (Sara Lane, Andi Garrett, Sharyl Locke). The moody fog surrounding the isolated home also sets the perfect tone for an underrated thriller.
Spikeopath
I Saw What You Did is directed by William Castle and written by William P. McGivern. It stars John Ireland, Joan Crawford, Leif Erickson, Andi Garrett, Sara Lane and Sharyl Locke. Music is by Van Alexander (Joseph Gershenson supervising) and cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc. When two teenagers on babysitting duties decide to have fun making prank phone calls, their evening turns sinister when they call up a man who has just murdered his wife… William Castle was of course better known for his gimmicks than for his ability as a film maker, I Saw What You Did shows the best and worst of the great entertainer. Castle produces and directs this one so is accountable for getting the mix completely wrong. At times the picture is genuinely suspenseful, the premise at the core superb, but at others it feels like it wants to be a comedy, further compounded by Alexander's awful musical score. It's a score that belongs in something like Bewitched or The Munsters, and quite often takes you out of the thriller zone. Castle unsurprisingly borrows off of some films that influenced his career, but aided by McGivern's screenplay he manages to put some different spins on the twisty plot developments. It also helps having Biroc (The Killer that Stalked New York/Cry Danger/The Garment Jungle) on photography duty, he's able to make Castle's fog scenes appear icy cold, to blend the shadows into the story like foreboding prowlers. Cast wise the elder cast members aren't stretching themselves here, with Crawford working for food and Ireland on auto-pilot, but the younger actors are great fun and really nail that naivety of youth thing to the max. All told it's a fun film, if not always for the right reasons. With some Castle invention (eyelet vision?!) and steals – and Biroc on form, there's more than enough here to compensate for the confusing mix of genres. 6/10
sunznc
I Saw What You Did is an odd mix of different styles. It starts out lighthearted and slightly goofy with 2 girls making plans to meet up for the evening. It alternates between melodrama, horror and silliness not sure what direction to go or unsure of what it wants to be. Does it want to be super scary? There are scenes that are very creepy and that hold your attention. Or does it want to be a harmless, made-for-TV tepid drama? Much of it seems this way. Or is it a murder mystery? That never really comes to fruition. It can be exasperating for sure. Just when it get's going it loses steam and leaves one frustrated. Joan Crawford displays her controlling, overbearing self in this. It's odd to see her behave this way after all the stories about her. Here she is drinking and trying to control her man. I wish I could say very positive things about this but it's disappointing. It could have been much better.