Mr. Sardonicus in '60s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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Mr. Sardonicus

Author	Comment
Zombie Dad		#41	[-]
May 29 09 1:11 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ZD Zombie Dad's Online Art Store www.zazzle.com/zombiedad
Ted Newsom		#42	[-]
May 29 09 10:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Nicely done, ZD!
Zombie Dad		#43	[-]
May 29 09 2:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thank you for the kind words, Ted! ZD Zombie Dad's Online Art Store www.zazzle.com/zombiedad
Drake Ramoray MD		#44	[-]
Jan 24 10 3:56 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've wanted to see this one ever since it figured so prominently in season three or so of CBS's series Wiseguy back in the 1990s. Joey-"Ross, I've got a science question for you". Ross-"Science. Yes,I've heard of that". Joey-"If the homosapiens are in fact, HOMO-sapiens, is that why they're extinct?" Ross-"Joey, homosapiens are people!" Joey-"Hey, I'm not judgin'."
Monsterpal		#45	[-]
Jan 24 10 12:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great Sardonicuses, ZD!
Siouxsie Sue		#46	[-]
Jan 24 10 1:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Y'all have just ejaculated a mouthful! Man, this is one I really want to see. Even if I wasn't skint, the used prices are pretty obnoxious last time I bothered looking.
opticalguy	Memories …	#47	[-]
May 6 11 9:44 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I remember seeing articles in the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland mentioning Mr Sardonicus when I was a child and a photo of the make-up as well . I really wanted to see that one! Now as an adult with FEARNET's free on demand I have seen it. I agree with all of the postings about the Thriller vibe of the film, the plot holes, and the comments on how good Guy Rolfe was as the title character. The man's "body English" is amazing! The film has a marvelous Gothic atmosphere that makes me wish Castle had done more films in this style. The film really needs to be tightened up a bit … it feels a bit s-l-o-w in spots but part of that is he could've used Roger Corman's advice in the commentary track of The House of Usher about how to make dialog scenes more interesting with camera moves. "Do you know what a ghoul is?" William Castle asks with glee. Having fun yet? I just feel the need to stress the 1940s radio drama vibe the film has. The voices (and disembodied heads … Castle just loved that whole drape 'em in black velvet and shoot 'em against black velvet set-up) haunting Sir Robert Cargrave and the whole dreamlike behaviour and motivations are right out of one of the horror radio shows and later EC Horror comics. The film Voice of the Whistler (1945 … it's the one set in the lighthouse) really has that quality in spades and it's based on a radio show. It is also the most gleefully sadistic film ever made. From William Castle's introduction to the emphasis on just about everyone getting tortured in some fashion to, of course, the "punishment poll" section are just chockablock with joyful sadism. A film after Wednesday Addams' heart. Mmmm … a leech facial … what jolly fun! Good help like Krull must've been hard to find. Still a fun Gothic that would probably work great in a theater in a properly-timed print (it was way too bright on video) so I hope to see it that way sometime before I die. When John Waters hosted an evening of William Castle films in 1983 at the NUART theater he said to the widow Castle and Castle's daughter that he really wanted to see the "alternative ending to Mr Sardonicus in which Sardonicus is cured and lives. Big laughs all around 'cause it was obvious that there was never an alternative ending shot. opticalguy1954@yahoo.com (Spencer Gill) Last Edited By: opticalguy Jun 2 11 3:41 PM. Edited 3 times.
horrorfilmx		#48	[-]
May 6 11 10:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	opticalguy wrote: IThe film has a marvelous Gothic atmosphere that makes me wish Castle had done more films in this style. I enjoy Sardonicus but I find its lack of atmosphere one of its biggest flaws. The opening scenes look like a TV western of the time, maybe Bonanza or F Troop. I believe FM ran a still of Dad's corpse from this film identified as Oliver Reed mid-transformation in Curse of the Werewolf. Oops.
Bill Warren		#49	[-]
Jun 2 11 6:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	When Castle shows up on screen near the end to "conduct" his Punishment Poll, he advises all those who indicated thumbs up to leave the theater (it's before Homolka returns to Chateau Sardonicus, or whatever the heck the domicile is called). Then they don't see the thumbs down ending.
TomWeaver999		#50	[-]
Jun 2 11 7:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<< he advises all those who indicated thumbs up to leave the theater << Could there be two versions of the Castle footage? He doesn't say this on my copy.
Babetician		#51	[-]
Jun 2 11 7:37 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I saw it at Christmas time when I was about twelve, and my theater didn't even bother with that punishment poll nonsense. It's as if they thought "Yeah. Right." The audience just laughed when Castle asked for them to hold up their cards, pretending to look around for their cards in a confused manner.
Rick		#52	[-]
Jun 2 11 8:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	As I've mentioned before, my theatre ran out of Punishment Poll cards just before I entered, dang it! My friends all got them and evidently most of the crowd did. At the time I believed that there were indeed two endings (though I had nagging suspicions that I was being had). At poll-time, I begged everyone around me to vote for "Mercy" because I assumed that, if there was only one ending, then that was gonna be "no mercy." I knew that Castle wasn't really counting from the screen, but I was holding out childish hope that somebody was hiding behind the curtain somewhere, actually counting. I was gullible, yes, but more than that, I was just hopeful. Don't remember laughter at Castle's counting from the screen, but I do remember that everyone was anxious to hold their vote high and make sure it counted.
Bill Warren		#53	[-]
Jun 2 11 8:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The footage of Castle near the end was in the theatrical print of MR. SARDONICUS that I saw in a theater in Eugene, Oregon. I don't think it was in the video print I watched some years ago--but it was definitely in the theatrical print. I was very curious as to how this gimmick would work in practice; as it turned out, it really didn't. The audience, mostly college students, hooted and hollered. Babetician wrote: I saw it at Christmas time when I was about twelve, and my theater didn't even bother with that punishment poll nonsense. It's as if they thought "Yeah. Right." The date sounds about right; it was officially released in October, but I'm sure the release spread over the following couple of months. But I'm not sure what you mean by saying that the theater didn't bother with the Punishment Poll. Except for handing out the thumbs up-thumbs down cards (one card; you just held it one way or tother), the theater didn't do anything at all. They just ran the movie as per usual. I think the only Castle films that had gimmicks elaborate enough to require the theater to actually install stuff were HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and THE TINGLER--and in both cases, the majority of US theaters probably didn't rent or lease or buy (or whatever) the skeleton and/or seat vibrators. Last Edited By: Bill Warren Jun 2 11 8:14 PM. Edited 2 times.
TomWeaver999		#54	[-]
Jun 2 11 8:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You're mixing it up with HOMICIDAL. Castle doesn't tell anybody to leave the theater in MR. SARDONICUS.
Bill Warren		#55	[-]
Jun 2 11 8:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	No, I'm not confusing anything with anything else. I vas dere, Sharlie. As I say, Castle pretended to count the votes, then said that if you voted for mercy, leave the theater now. Not much time was alotted for this to happen. In any event, there was only one version of the movie. I remember this clearly because it was so amusingly brazen. Castle did not appear on screen at the end of HOMICIDAL (but he did at the beginning, with his crocheted sampler); there was just a clip of a clock counting down, so cowards could follow the yellow streak out of the theater and get their ticket price sneerfully refunded. Turned out some people simply sat through the movie almost twice, then left at that point and got their money back. The solution was tickets with the purchase time on them.
Babetician		#56	[-]
Jun 2 11 8:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bill Warren wrote: But I'm not sure what you mean by saying that the theater didn't bother with the Punishment Poll. I mean no cards were handed out. Most likely, as I now recall, because I attended a late matinee/early evening show. The "audience" was me and a few other kids.
Rakshasa		#57	[-]
Jun 2 11 9:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, here's the way Mr. Sardonicus ended (I'm ass-u-ming)�everywhere in America. Links To All The Classic Monster Stills I've Posted: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/30758
Rakshasa		#58	[-]
Jun 2 11 9:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	P.S. He does not ask anyone to leave the theater. Links To All The Classic Monster Stills I've Posted: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/30758
Cueva Muerte		#59	[-]
Jun 2 11 10:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<<< he advises all those who indicated thumbs up to leave the theater <<< Well that's a new one on me. Don't remember such. (Although I do recollect one theater in Baltimore where the projectionist would ask us to leave if there was too much noise!) I also remember a lot of us held the PP cards sideways just to see what would happen; and there was this one fool who frisbeed the card at the screen because he thought it was too small for Castle to see. Most of the laughs in the audience came from the leeches and the final scene where Sardonicus pours wine and smears food all over his face. Still have the Ballantine book tie-in that came out at that time. Unfortunately the PP card is long gone.
TomWeaver999		#60	[-]
Jun 2 11 10:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<< No, I'm not confusing anything with anything else. I vas dere, Sharlie. >> Yes -- for HOMICIDAL, where Castle gives people (the Cowards headed for the Cowards Corner) the chance to leave the theater. Not SARDONICUS.

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