Did you people see the same film I saw?

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Guy Rolfe in the title role and Oscar Homolka as his Igor like assistant highlight the film Mr. Sardonicus. A search for a lottery ticket in the grave of his father turned out to be a frightening experience causing Rolfe's face to freeze in a smiling grimace. As he was already one nasty dude as the local nobility this causes the people of his fiefdom to have as little to do with the castle as possible.Ronald Lewis is a visiting British physician conducting experiments with various exotic plants that are poisonous. Some of them might have healing properties. Will they work for the man now known as Mr. Sardonicus. Even Rolfe's wife Audrey Dalton won't kanoodle with him as he's that repulsive.Guy Rolfe played many a cruel villain, some well known examples are in Ivanhoe as Prince John and King Of The Khyber Rifles. In this one however the man truly has had nature affix his loathsomeness on his face. As for Oscar Homolka that deep voice and the bushiest eyebrows on cinema with the possible rival of Donald Wolfit for that title gave him a lock on all kinds of ethnic European types. Good thing Mr. Sardonicus came late in his career or he might have been typecast in horror films and not as good as Mr. Sardonicus.William Castle who always liked gimmicks in his film, the better for people tear themselves away from the little screen in their homes had the audience allegedly 'vote' for Rolfe's fate. I like it fine the way it was, we're not sure just how much good doctor Lewis played in him winding up the way he was and that's as it should be.

The most interesting thing about this movie was the whole back story of how Marek became Mr. Sardonicus. I had heard about ghouls before but I thought they were some undead creatures like zombies. I don't know if zombie movies got their inspiration from this movie or legend but I certainly loved the idea of the punishment he got for digging his father's grave just because his former wife wanted that winning lottery ticket so badly and be wealthy. With all this wealth though he couldn't get a cure. The ghoul face of Sardonicus is splendid and really creepy, his mannerisms and actions deliciously cruel what you expect from a man that has become a monster. The actions undertaken on the poor maid and almost ton his own wife by Krull are proof how devilish he has become. Strong performances from Guy Rolfe as Mr. Sardonicus, Oskar Homolka as Krull, Ronald Lewis as Dr. Robert and Lorna Hanson as the maid Anna. The ending might seem typical for the period of time, but I loved it a lot.

William Castle Movies, today, almost always have the term "Fun" attached as Reviewers and Fans try to point Newbies in His direction. However, appropriate for the most part, it is possible to say that this Movie is anything but. The Punishment Poll Gimmick notwithstanding this is one creepy, horrifying Film. There is absolutely no Fun to be found here.From the Gothic atmosphere to the inherent cruelty and tragic situations the Movie sucks you in with a heavy dose of Melodrama and Terror. The Writing and the Cast all play this perfectly straight, and the Movie is better for it. Containing one of the most remarkable and memorable, shocking and traumatizing Make-Up effects ever in a Horror Movie.There is not a Boomer out there that saw this Movie in the Theatre that does not, could not, forget it. For the most part it is an Icon that they carry to this day. It is a Film that is sharply constructed as an entry into Nineteenth Century Medical Procedures, Myths, and Folklore.The Director's most serious Film has stood the test of time and is His only Period Piece, but what a Piece it is. Stands along side Corman's Poe adaptations, Hammer, and anything else that was the Contemporary of this fondly remembered Director.Note...What a Title!

As sardonic as that statement is, it is entirely appropriate for this Gothic thriller about a mad baron, grave robbing, a curse and revenge, William Castle style. Without the Castle touch, it is a fairly entertaining formula grand guignole, equivalent to anything Vincent Price was making over at American International and that Hammer films was producing in England. In Castle hands (including the baron's moat around his own castle), the result is a grin-fest wider than the evil aristocrat's. He's a former peasant who through nefarious means (which have to be seen to be believed) and is married to the former girlfriend of the doctor he has treating him for his hideous disorder which is actually more charmatic than medical.The portly Oscar Homolka is the one-eyed valet to the baron who assists him with his torturous experiments (involving leeches) yet seems to secretly resent him for causing his partial blindness. When Castle comes on with the thumbs up or thumbs down cards for the Baron to get retribution (or not), you long to see him get the leeches or some other hideous torture, but the result is more "Fractured Fairy Tales" than Edgar Allan Poe. Still, there's a spooky enough early 20th Century atmosphere to please Gothic horror fans, and the result ends up being better than most of Castle's later films (the classic "Rosemary's Baby" and the spooky "The Night Walker" not included) but still only appropriate for the matinée crowd or drive-in theater customers who always expected schlock when they put those strange speaker devices on their car windows.