"Two On A Guillotine" looks for all the world like a WiIliam Castle spook epic, but it's not. Its actually a bit too mild to match up to one of Mr C's works, which is saying something. However if you are a fan of things like "House on Haunted Hill", you should enjoy this.
There's a very slim plot: perky Connie Stevens plays Cassie, called to the funeral and will-reading of her eccentric father who was a famous magician, although the two had been strangers for many years before his mysterious death. The will states that Cassie must spend 7 nights in her fathers mansion or lose the inheritance, which will instead to go two housekeepers. And as soon as she moves in spooky things start happening..will she be frightened into to leaving the house or clever enough to work out who is behind it?
Talk about the creakiest of old plots! There's really nothing in the plot to get excited about, although at least the script does not paint the characters as idiots - Cassie (and her protector/suitor) find out almost straight away that the spooky occurrences are being faked, so at least that's one plot twist out of the way. But who is doing it and why? Again, as I said, there's not much plot to go around and there are hardly any characters in the cast, so guessing the truth is not that hard.
However I still enjoyed the movie. It's nicely shot, in widescreen crisp black and white (well, mostly crisp, as focus goes off now and again), and the dialogue is entertaining. Soem shots are actually very stylish, and there's a pretty cool sequence set in a noisy nightclub that culminates in an embrace, which is set up very strangely, but I really liked how they did it. There's very little to actually scare you, although there is a bit of fun to be found in a couple of "body horror" effects (I'm trying not to reveal what they are!)
Curiously I've been seeking out kooky horror movies my whole life and had never even heard of this film until now (2014), which shows how hard to find it has been, Thankfully now released on the Warner Archive label, it;s a lovely looking print, and worth getting if you like not-too-serious 1960's chillers.
There's a very slim plot: perky Connie Stevens plays Cassie, called to the funeral and will-reading of her eccentric father who was a famous magician, although the two had been strangers for many years before his mysterious death. The will states that Cassie must spend 7 nights in her fathers mansion or lose the inheritance, which will instead to go two housekeepers. And as soon as she moves in spooky things start happening..will she be frightened into to leaving the house or clever enough to work out who is behind it?
Talk about the creakiest of old plots! There's really nothing in the plot to get excited about, although at least the script does not paint the characters as idiots - Cassie (and her protector/suitor) find out almost straight away that the spooky occurrences are being faked, so at least that's one plot twist out of the way. But who is doing it and why? Again, as I said, there's not much plot to go around and there are hardly any characters in the cast, so guessing the truth is not that hard.
However I still enjoyed the movie. It's nicely shot, in widescreen crisp black and white (well, mostly crisp, as focus goes off now and again), and the dialogue is entertaining. Soem shots are actually very stylish, and there's a pretty cool sequence set in a noisy nightclub that culminates in an embrace, which is set up very strangely, but I really liked how they did it. There's very little to actually scare you, although there is a bit of fun to be found in a couple of "body horror" effects (I'm trying not to reveal what they are!)
Curiously I've been seeking out kooky horror movies my whole life and had never even heard of this film until now (2014), which shows how hard to find it has been, Thankfully now released on the Warner Archive label, it;s a lovely looking print, and worth getting if you like not-too-serious 1960's chillers.