William Castle
busybody(WmCastle)---10---100k14
homicidal(WmCastle)---12---com15
house on haunted hill(WmCastle)---2---300600---sf4
I saw
what you did(WmCastle)---13---com5/us469.JPG
macabre(WmCastle)---7+---2040---sf3
mr
sardonicus(WmCastle)---3---com15
project x(WmCastle)---15---1020---sf2
spirit
is willing(WmCastle)---14---com2/us881.JPG
thirteen
frightened girls(WmCastle)---8---2545---100k19
thirteen ghosts(WmCastle)---6---2040---sf4
tingler(WmCastle)------50100---sf2
zotz(WmCastle)---11---100k16
DIR
1968Project X
PROD
On his own: the gimmicks
Ambitions unsatisfied, Castle began to make films
independently. The inspiration of the 1955 French psychological thriller Les
Diaboliques set the genre he would choose. He financed his first movie, Macabre
(1958), by mortgaging his house. He came up with the idea to give every
customer a certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of
London in case they should die of fright during the film. He stationed nurses
in the lobbies with hearses parked outside the theaters. Macabre was a hit.
Other films (and gimmicks) followed:
House on Haunted Hill (1959). Filmed in "Emergo".
A skeleton with red lighted eye sockets attached to wire floated over the
audience in the final moments of some showings of the film to parallel the
action on screen when a skeleton rises from a vat of acid and pursues the
villainous wife of Vincent Price's character.
Once word spread about the skeleton, kids enjoyed trying to knock it
down with candy boxes, soda cups, or any other objects at hand.
The Tingler (1959): Filmed in "Percepto". The
title character is a creature that attaches itself to the human spinal cord. It
is activated by fright, and can only be destroyed by screaming. Castle
purchased military surplus air-plane wing de-icers (consisting of vibrating
motors) and had a crew travel from theatre to theatre attaching them to the
underside of some of the seats (in that era, a movie did not necessarily open
on the same night nationwide). In the finale, one of the creatures supposedly
gets loose in the movie theatre itself. The buzzers were activated as the
film's star, Vincent Price, warned the audience to "scream – scream for
your lives!" Some sources
incorrectly state the seats were wired to give electrical jolts. Filmmaker and
Castle fan John Waters recounted in Spine Tingler! how, as a youngster, he
would search for a seat that had been wired in order to enjoy the full effect.
13 Ghosts (1960): Filmed in "Illusion-O". Each
patron received a handheld ghost viewer/remover. During certain segments of the
film, a person could see the ghosts by looking through the red cellophane, or
remove the ghosts if they were too frightening by looking through the blue. Without the viewer, the ghosts were somewhat
visible. The DVD release included red/blue 3D glasses to replicate the effect.
Homicidal (1961). There was a "fright break" with
a timer overlaid on the film's climax, as the heroine approaches a house
harboring a sadistic killer. The audience had 45 seconds to leave with a full
refund if they were too frightened to see the remainder of the film. In an
early showing, more wily patrons simply sat through the movie a second time and
left at the break to get their money back; to prevent this in future, Castle
had different color tickets printed for each showing. About 1% of patrons still demanded refunds.
John Waters described Castle's response:
"William Castle simply went nuts. He came up with
'Coward's Corner,' a yellow cardboard booth, manned by a bewildered theater
employee in the lobby. When the Fright Break was announced, and you found that
you couldn't take it anymore, you had to leave your seat and, in front of the
entire audience, follow yellow footsteps up the aisle, bathed in a yellow
light. Before you reached Coward's Corner, you crossed yellow lines with the
stenciled message: 'Cowards Keep Walking.' You passed a nurse (in a yellow
uniform?...I wonder), who would offer a blood-pressure test. All the while a recording
was blaring, "'Watch the chicken! Watch him shiver in Coward's
Corner'!" As the audience howled, you had to go through one final
indignity – at Coward's Corner you were forced to sign a yellow card stating,
'I am a bona fide coward.'"
In a trailer for the film, Castle explained the use of the
Coward's Certificate and admonished the viewer to not reveal the ending to
friends "or they will kill you. If they don't, I will."
Mr. Sardonicus (1961). The audience could vote on the
villain's fate in a "punishment poll" during the climax – Castle
appeared on screen to explain two options. Each member of the audience was
given a card with a glow-in-the-dark thumb they could hold up or down to decide
if Mr. Sardonicus would be cured or died. Supposedly no audience ever chose
mercy, so the alternate ending was never screened. Though Castle claimed in his autobiography
that the merciful version was shot and shown occasionally, many suspect
otherwise. In the drive-in version, drivers were asked to flash their car headlights
to choose.
Zotz! (1962). Each patron was given a "Magic"
(gold colored, plastic, glow-in-the-dark) coin.
13 Frightened Girls (1963). Castle launched a publicized
worldwide casting hunt for the prettiest girls from 13 different
countries. He filmed slightly different
versions, highlighting each girl for the release in her country.
I Saw What You Did (1965). Another Joan Crawford vehicle,
this film was initially promoted using giant plastic telephones, but after a
rash of prank phone calls and complaints, the Bell Telephone Company monopoly
refused Castle permission to use them or mention telephones. So he turned the
back rows of theatres into "Shock Sections". Seat belts were
installed to keep patrons from being jolted from their chairs in fright.
