Two teenage girls (Andi Garrett and Sarah Lane) bored on a Saturday night, decide to make prank phone calls (oh, those glory days before caller ID!), and use the interpretive phrase, "I saw what you did - and I know who you are!" Be careful how you dial, girls, because macho psychopath John Ireland has just brutally murdered his young wife (while he was taking a shower, no less - "Psycho" parallels, anyone?), and thinks you saw him do the dastardly deed. And, in good old psycho killer fashion, he will do anything to silence any alleged witnesses.

Although it's unmistakably el cheapo camp, Castle's gimmicky trademark, it's a nail-biting ride, and when it comes down to it, just a
fun scarefest! Don't touch the phone, don't answer the door, don't go off on your own to meet your mystery guy, and don't live out in the middle of nowhere with no place to run!

And don't try to steal Joan's man - she'll be ridding your closet of wire hangers!

The premise of this movie is a clever one -- two teenaged girls begin playing a telephone "game", where they call people at random out of the phone book and inform them "I saw what you did ... and I know who you are!"

This "game" takes a realistic twist when (as fate would have it) one of the "victims" of the girls' prank turns out to have committed a murder just minutes before the call. A dangerous game indeed.

The two young girls are played by Andi Garrett and Sarah Lane. They aren't exactly in Miss Crawford's class, acting-wise, but I liked both of them in this movie very much. They just seemed to have a "real" quality to them that came through on screen. Interestingly, this was Andi Garrett's *only* film appearance ever. And Sarah Lane appeared in just one other film besides this one (which was a made-for-TV movie).

Anchor Bay and Universal give us this black-and-white film on DVD in a good-looking Widescreen presentation (1.78:1), with a robust-enough Mono soundtrack. The transfer here is not "Anamorphic", but it looks like one nonetheless, displaying a very clear picture with little in the way of any video distractions.

Not many, but a few, Bonus Features occupy space on this one-disc DVD edition. There's the Original Trailer for the film, plus a "Teaser Trailer", which features Director William Castle's "World Premiere Announcement" for this little chiller/thriller.

Also on the disc are some text-only "Talent Bios" (for Crawford and Castle). The Bio section for Miss Crawford is very nice, too -- featuring a multitude of text screens covering her vast career. Many vintage photos of the actress are also included on the bio text screens.

A one-page (two-sided) insert comes in this Keepcased package. This is one of the nicer single-page DVD enclosures, being made from a thicker cardboard than most flimsier paper inserts. A listing of the movie's 20 "Chapters" is on one side; while a reproduction of an original lobby card (or poster) for the film is shown on the other side of the insert.

"I Saw What You Did" certainly isn't the best or scariest flick you'll ever see. But it has a certain atmospheric "charm" to it that definitely places it within the "worth a look" category.

That may seem like a minor quibble, but I found the inappropriate music did have an effect on the suspense, which got dialed up pretty high in certain scenes. Just when I thought things were coming to a close, there was another little twist, and danger reared its ugly head once again. The happy ending was kind of predictable, but the path to get there was often full of surprises.

I watched the movie first and foremost as a Joan Crawford fan, although I understood going into it that she had a small part and overacted it, at that. (I never saw anyone fall to the floor in such an elaborate fashion.) It's a shame that they'll release films like this on DVD, but not more of Crawford's earlier, better work. However, I ended up finding the film as a whole a somewhat enjoyable, B-grade suspense flick.