Review: Mr. Sardonicus

Set in the late 1800s, surgeon Ronald Lewis is asked to venture to the castle of Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe) by Lewis’ former lover (Audrey Dalton), now Mrs. Sardonicus. Sardonicus is afflicted with a certain condition which he believes Lewis can help him with. Once at the castle, Lewis witnesses servant Krull (Oscar Homolka) torturing someone, making Lewis wonder what on Earth he has gotten himself into. He then meets the facially-scarred Baron, who proceeds to tell Lewis the story about how he came to be afflicted with a ghoulish, permanently frozen smile. Erika Peters appears in flashbacks as Sardonicus’ first wife.

 

Director/producer William Castle (“The House on Haunted Hill”, “The Tingler”) and screenwriter/author Ray Russell (“The Premature Burial”) offer up a bit of a Price-Corman-Poe film with this enjoyable macabre 1961 film. Good-looking for the presumably low-budget, Castle is very well assisted here by B&W cinematographer Burnett Guffey (“King Ray”, “Bonnie and Clyde”) who gives us some nice light and shadow. They conjure up a decent amount of Gothic, spooky atmosphere. We also have some terrific performances by Guy Rolfe and Oscar Homolka. The latter is oddball and creepy as hell in a latter-day Lon Chaney Jr. kinda way, while Rolfe is a perfectly fine substitute for Vincent Price. The central gimmick of Sardonicus’ face is absolutely brilliant, both silly and creepy in equal measure just like the film. Does it make sense that he can talk while his jaw is locked (and Rolfe sports an immobile prosthetic)? No, but the Joker-esque visual is nonetheless creepy as hell.

 

Erika Peters is quite good in flashbacks, though Ronald Lewis and Audrey Dalton are far less interesting. I also have to say that the gimmicky ‘Punishment Poll’ inclusion with smarmy Castle is the least effective part of the film. In addition to being a jarring interruption to the story you’re trying to immerse yourself in, the ‘punishment’ is ordinary and falls flat. Up until then, the film is an entertaining, macabre horror picture.

 

Good-looking, entertaining attempt by William Castle to somewhat evoke the Roger Corman adaptations of Poe that were being made at the time. Good fun on the B-level, one of Castle’s best.

 

Rating: B-

 

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