This book contains the synopses and reviews of the darkest films in Clive Barker’s filmography. The listings are ranked from best to worst.
Homicidal
A murder sparks an investigation that stirs up dark family secrets.
United States1961
Feature Film
Realism:
Plausible
Black & White
Stalker:
Sneaker
Trespasser
Trickster:
Impostor
Lurer
This is crazy...
Performances
Pace
Dialogue
This post-Psycho William Castle thriller is fun to sit through, until it gets uselessly complicated. It is mysterious, unpredictable and suspenseful. The protagonist isn’t exactly an angel, which isn't something we see a lot in this decade. For most of the running time, we don’t know who she is. Enter the mind of a psychopath; a cold-blooded murderer and a symbolic succubus.
Emily, the killer, played by Patricia Breslin, and Myriam, by Patricia Breslin, are more interesting than their male counterparts. They pull it off better in this melodramatic story. Indeed, aside them, it’s hard to care for anyone in this. The characters’ pasts aren’t that traumatizing, from what we can tell, and nothing in the flashbacks motivates a psychosis, let alone murders.
Aside a bit of gore right out of a horror movie in the first act, Homidical is your run-of-the-mill thriller. The last act is a little slow but things get better towards the end. It would be great if we actually got to see all the murders. The police procedural is too prominent. The film would’ve been more interesting if it had gotten close and personal with the killer and her victims.
