I Saw What You Did

Cinephile deep dive

The take

William Castle directs. Joseph F. Biroc behind the camera. Van Alexander scores. Edwin H. Bryant cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 182 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 261 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Directed by William Castle, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Van Alexander. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Edwin H. Bryant shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Andi Garrett and Sara Lane and Joan Crawford carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Don't laugh little girl, better run for your life. The man you were talking to, has just murdered his wife!".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0059297 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 72 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 10Classified under 8 themes, including "based on novel or book", "slumber party", "murder", "neighbor".

The technical file

Cinematography

Joseph F. Biroc

Original score

Van Alexander

Editing

Edwin H. Bryant

Makeup / hair

Larry Germain

Runtime

82 min · 1h 22m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

I Saw What You Did (1965) ↗

Also by

William Castle

• 
  Drums of Tahiti

  1954 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Man Called X

  1956 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Black Marketing

  1943 · ★ 9.0
• 
  The Return of Rusty

  1946 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special Special

  2021 · ★ 7.8
• 
  The Gentleman from Nowhere

  1948 · ★ 7.5

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  I Saw What You Did (1965) Joan Crawford Horror -Official Trailer (HD)

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Larry Karaszewski on I SAW WHAT YOU DID

  Featurette

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2014-07-13
  ★ 6/10

  Uxoricide! 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

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• WI

  William Castle Productions

  US

• 

  Universal Pictures

  US

Key crew

• NovelUrsula Curtiss
• ProducerWilliam Castle
• Associate ProducerDona Holloway
• EditorEdwin H. Bryant
• Art DirectionAlexander Golitzen
• Art DirectionWalter M. Simonds
• Set DecorationJohn McCarthy Jr.
• Set DecorationGeorge Milo
• HairstylistLarry Germain
• Makeup ArtistBud Westmore
• Unit Production ManagerJohn Morrison
• Assistant DirectorTerry Morse Jr.
• SoundDavid H. Moriarty
• SoundWaldon O. Watson
• Stunt DoubleCorna Day
• Music SupervisorJoseph Gershenson
• MusicianEthmer Roten
• Animal WranglerFrank Weatherwax

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• based on novel or book
• slumber party
• murder
• neighbor
• slasher
• prank telephone call
• hagsploitation
• slasher horror

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1965-07-21NR

Also known as

International titles

• Tuer n'est pas jouerFR