Why is this movie so scary? Others have mentioned the isolated farmhouse, the hazy atmosphere, the feeling of being alone, and the naivete of the girls. Although some have criticized the teen-age actors, I think the story holds together because Libby and Kit's silly behavior (trying to appear sophisticated while really looking childish) is believable of 15-year-old girls then and now. Crawford, as a domineering neighbor, adds the camp. The slam-the-car-door scene is priceless! And have you ever seen a made-for-horror-movies necklace like the one Joan wears here?

This is not a movie which could be made effectively now (a poor remake was made in 1988) because the plot devices demand a 1960s-type telephone system. Today, a parent calling up to check on a child could almost always ring through on "call waiting"; ripping a telephone out of a wall is meaningless in the age of cell phones; and "Caller ID" and "Call Return" should make phony phone calls a thing of the past. Even at the time, it required viewers to suspend logic to believe that Mrs. Mannering, hearing non-stop busy signals, would not demand an "emergency cut in," which did exist at the time, or that this middle-class family lacked an extension phone. But these are minor nits.

The letterbox version now being sold is excellent. Make sure you see the trailers before and, especially, after the film. If you like this film, you will also like Strait Jacket, another Castle-Crawford pairing.


IF YOU WANT 'CAMP', THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU!   February 7, 2000
John T. Howton (Atlanta, GA United States)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful

If you want chilling, hilarious fun, this is most definitely entertainment at it's CAMPIEST best! Joan Crawford, as 'Amy', is totally filmed through gauze to soften the effects of her hard living & hard drinking years in Hollywood. Be sure to catch the scene where she is serving a cocktail & almost falls on her face! (And it wasn't even edited out! ) Notice the scene where she slams the car door & her beehive hairdo literally falls apart! When she screams, "Get outta here!", her voice sounds like an outraged truckdriver! The overacting is just priceless - every scene is better than the one before! Her long, dramatic death scene is done to the hilt! This is 'Mommie Dearest' to the MAX! I love this movie! Get out the popcorn, mix the cocktails, & get ready to be scared & to LAUGH your head off! We love you, William Castle! I give this film 5 Wire Hangers! It's absolutely TERRIFIC!


The QUEEN of Camp!   November 26, 2002
Ciccocenta (East Bay, CA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Another clinker from the 1960's vault of Joan Crawford films. & of course, Joan being a true star really gives it her all in this truly bad low-budget film about 2 silly teenagers who make a prank call to the wrong guy (John Ireland). Her brief (& co-starring) appearance steals the show & as usual is a riot. The subplot involves Joan playing the desperate, manipulating, man-hungry middle aged next door neighbor--who is obsessed w/ snagging John Ireland even AFTER she finds out he's a murderer! The scenes w/ her & John Ireland together where she can barely surpress her jealous rage over his dead ex-girlfriend had me chuckling. Dressed in what looks like a cocktail dress & a mini-chandellier around her neck, she looks & sounds as if perhaps there really was alcohol in those drinks she was making.The climax comes when she confronts one of the teen-aged girls grabbing her by the hair, calling her a "tramp" & ripping her to shreds screaming "GET OUTTA HERE!..." over & over again. you'll die laughing. The rest of the film has some suspenseful moments thanks to the menacing John Ireland, but the corny soundtrack music took what little scariness this film had going for it away. At times it sounded like background music on an episode of "The Flintstones". I'm sure this may have been scary stuff for pre-teens in the 60's but today its just another hilariously campy Joan Crawford movie.& i'm giving this film ***** simply because it completely fulfilled my need for camp--Joan Crawford style.


If Hitchcock had directed The Patty Duke Show...   September 30, 1999
Steven Lambert (Arlington, TX USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

In the days before caller ID when I was in my early teens, my friends and I would sometimes fight boredom by making prank phone calls: "Is your refrigerator running?", that sort of thing. That was when I first saw this movie on TV, so it really hit close to home. Did it teach me any lessons? Not unless you include a few new phone ideas, but it did give me a favorite guilty pleasure movie. After over 20 years of waiting it's finally on home video. Some of the humor and acting seem a little dated now, but most of the suspense scenes are very intense even by today's standards, and it's as much fun to watch as ever.


Vintage William Castle Thriller Combining An Interesting Premise With A Solid Cast Including Joan Crawford   March 20, 2007
Simon Davis
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Producer/Director William Castle will always be remembered as a "B" level showman renowned for getting his best thrills in his movies through cheap tricks like wiring theatre seats with light electricity or dangling skeletons over audiences during the screenings in a feeble attempt to increase the "thrill factor". However I believe he has often been unfairly dismissed in his movie output and could on occasion produce interestingly original work in his movies. His highly effective "The Night Walker" starring Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor from 1965 comes to mind as fitting this category. 1965 also found him working off another interesting premise to create an entertaining and well acted little thriller in "I Saw What You Did". Admittedly the film is no masterpiece however it does succeed in its 80 or so minutes running time to create quite suspensful viewing. The idea of a prank phone call going terribly wrong and leading to a potentially deadly situation might not seem very original however here it is handled in a manner that allows the tension to slowly build and then mushrooms into a fast moving and tense climax. Castle was aided greatly here by a terrific cast headed by top billed veteran actress Joan Crawford who actually has a smaller role than the billing would suggest. Reteamed here with her old "Queen Bee" costar John Ireland this thriller would sadly prove to be Joan's last American film with her last two efforts being made in England. She however more than makes up for her limited screen time by totally dominating the action in her scenes making her role seem larger than it actually is. The cast includes an interesting mixture of veterans and complete new comers and they work extremely well together on what was obviously a small budget and limited production schedule. These limitations however work in the stories favour keeping the story moving at a satisfying pace with not alot of character development going on. Even the black and white photography, obviously chosen for budgetry reasons, proves highly effective here in creating just the right mood where so much of the story takes place on an eerie fog shroud night in an isolated country area.