A William Castle Double Feature: The Tingler and Mr. Sardonicus- An Undertaker Is Standing By In Case You Die Of Fright!

William Castle and his signature stogie!

How can you not love this face?  William Castle, director extraordinaire -- not that his movies are masterpieces for the ages, but that they are just so much fun!  He has been responsible for some of the best movie nights of my young life.  Actually, to this day, if I see that 13 Ghosts or House on Haunted Hill are to be shown on Channel 4 Friday Macabre Theatre, I instantly start rearranging my social schedule so that I will be in front of the screen precisely at the stroke of the hour.  I always wish I had a pair of the special glasses handed out in theatres for 13 Ghosts so I could see the ghosts clearly, and certainly wish a skeleton would whoosh over my head as Castle rigged up for certain theatres showings of House on Haunted Hill.

That was Castle, guru of gimmicks, who could make even bad movies fun with his shenanigans.  Most of his low-budget horror movies were pretty darn good, though, in my eyes.  Two of my special favorites, besides the ones I already mentioned, are the double feature I have created for myself, and will enjoy at home with my own DVDs this weekend.  The movies:  Mr. Sardonicus and The Tingler.

The Tingler (1959) starred my favorite scary movie master, Vincent Price.  Price plays Dr. Warren Chapin, a pathologist who is convinced that people can die of fright because of an actual creature that forms in their body when they are terrified.  I don't know how he got that idea, but it makes for a great movie.  The Tingler has the honor to be the first movie in which a character uses LSD (still legal in 1959) to try to induce hallucinations.  Price was joined in the movie by Judith Evelyn, playing an easily-frightened deaf-mute (you may remember her as Miss Lonelyhearts in Hitchcock's Rear Window); Patricia Cutts as Isabel, Price's lovely and unfaithful wife; Phillip Coolidge as Ollie, the deaf-mute woman's suspect husband; and Darryl Hickman, who received almost no pay because Castle convinced him that being in the movie at all would enhance Hickman's career.  (Castle was obviously a man of many talents -- one can see him standing at the back of a covered wagon selling Dr. Castle's Miracle Elixir.)



Vincent!  LSD?  Wow, the colors!

The gimmick for The Tingler was called Percepto, by which some members of the audience would feel tingling when the Tingler was near.  Most fans think that Castle had certain theatre seats wired for low-level electricity, but that was not the case.  Selected seats had World War II surplus vibrating buzzers placed under them, and at certain times during the movie, the projectionist would set them off.  Castle also would plant fake audience members to start the screaming when appropriate.  One really fascinating part of the movie is the famous bloody red bathtub scene.  The movie is black and white, and in order to create the scene of red blood in a bathtub, Castle used color film, then had the set painted in white, black and grey, and had actress Judith Evelyn wear grey makeup.  It is a startling effect.

Like Hitchcock, Castle liked to appear in his own movies, and his scenes are the ones I look forward to the most.  Because only Castle can really showcase Castle, I'm providing here the funny prologue Castle filmed of himself explaining what might happen to certain audience members during the showing of The Tingler:

http://youtu.be/7FQm30eQn7I

The second film of my double feature is just about my favorite -- Mr. Sardonicus (1961).  A very strange, Gothic tale of horror, it stars Guy Rolfe as the main character; Oskar Homolka as his manservant Krull (Krull? What kind of name is that for an Eastern European butler?); Ronald Lewis as Dr. Robert Cargrave; Audrey Dalton as Mr. Sardonicus' unfortunate wife Maude; and various lusty, busty maidens.  Who is that mysterious masked man?  Why is his wife so afraid of him?  What does he do with the bevy of village maidens invited to the lower level of his skull-shaped castle by the one-eyed Krull?  We do know that Mr. Sardonicus has hired Dr. Cargrave to help him with a facial problem.  I can say no more except to tell you that finding out Mr. Sardonicus' secret is the best part of the movie!  And the moral of the movie is -- don't play the lottery!
 


Mr. Sardonicus wearing his special mask

Castle's special gimmick for this one was the Punishment Poll.  Audience members were handed glow-in-the-dark cards as they entered the theatre.  Each card could be turned to show a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.  Just before the last scene of the movie, Castle comes on-screen and explains that it is completely up to the audience to decide the ultimate fate of Mr. Sardonicus by holding up their cards while he counts them.  The truth is that Castle only filmed one ending, punishment of course, but it was a great idea!  As before, the best way to experience this Castle gimmick is to view Castle's scene:
http://youtu.be/ZJjK9njAwu0

Castle loved to engender fear.  Besides the audience shills who would scream on cue, Castle would also hire professional fainters, who would be carried out of the theatre on stretchers by fake nurses.  He once offered a $10,000 insurance policy to any audience member who might die of fright.  Castle said of himself:  "We all have a common interest, bigger and more horrible monsters - and I'm just the monster to bring them to you."  I doubt if this fun and creative father of 3 was a monster, but boy did he know how to make memorable movie experiences and scare everybody while they had the time of their lives!