Let's Kill Uncle

1966 "LOVABLE OR LETHAL? Are they bad seeds...or frightened innocents caught in a diabolical duel with death!"
5.8| 1h32m| en
Details

A 12-year-old orphan who has just inherited a fortune is trapped on an island with his uncle, a former British intelligence commander who intends to kill him. A young girl is the boy's only ally against the sarcastic uncle, who uses hypnotism, a pool of sharks, fire, and poisonous mushrooms as weapons.

Director

Producted By

William Castle Productions

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Reviews

SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
LobotomousMonk Great energy created through well constructed juxtaposition gets this film revved up from the get-go. A car crash is followed by children nearly fist-fighting... then cross-cutting to sharks feeding. Castle uses some good depth of field on the ship creating a sense of transportation (restlessness is a key theme in the film). The staging/blocking is sound creating a sense for the relationships of the characters and their motivation. The direction is attuned for spectator identification and Castle's spooks have heightened effectiveness as a result. The dialogue has an honesty and naturalism reminiscent of Castle's The Americano. Then the titular uncle arrives and good acting all around keeps the film engaging and entertaining. The plot contrivances have to be overlooked simply for the fact that Let's Kill Uncle is a William Castle film! This is one of his better "screwball horror" films which followed his gimmick horror films.
michaeldukey2000 William Castle was losing touch with his audience around this time and the cheap and efficient producer side of him was clearly winning over the carny style director side of him.The concept of a black comedy geared for kids was a bit novel but Pat Cardi is just too annoying as the little boy and some of the plot devices and effects are real eyeball rollers even for a vintage Castle movie.Nigel Green clearly knows what he's doing and refuses to play down to the material.It may seem like he's going over the top at times but his character is supposed to enjoy outwitting and doing away with the boy that stands in the way of his inheritance.As others have stated the scenes with the shark in the pool are pure hokum guaranteed to illicit peals of laughter as they shift from one scene of a rubbery fin by the diving board to an old and grainy shot of a shark in the ocean.The basic concept of who's killing who? Child or adult? could be remade quite effectively today but this is largely a flop, Stick with The TIngler Or House On Haunted Hill.
swftintrdr1 I remember this movie from my youth. I must have seen it for the first and last time around the mid-70's. I too finally found a DVD copy on the internet. I have always been drawn to see this movie in it's entirety, for I do not remember much of the movie besides the old hotel and the shark in the swimming pool. (Cheesy clips of the shark really "age" this movie compared to today's fix capabilities.) Approaching the young age of 40, perhaps I was trying to recapture some of my youth. None the less, the movie was a thrill to see after all of these years. I will keep it in my collection and let my boys watch it as I did in my younger days. Nigel Green is quite good in this movie, I must admit.
jarthurconley Although I haven't seen the movie in well over twenty years, I distinctly remember some classically original scenes--a shark circling in the swimming pool is at the forefront of these scenes.There is a charm to the movie hard to put one's finger on. Perhaps it's a film that begs (and succeeds) to bring out the adventurous core-child in each of us.The problem: I've been searching for this movie for over twenty years. If I can buy a copy from someone, or if someone knows when it might be aired....PLEASE let me know.Thank you, Jay