The Tingler
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| The Tingler | |
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 Pressbook ad for The Tingler |
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| Directed by | William Castle |
| Produced by | William Castle |
| Written by | Robb White |
| Starring | Vincent Price Judith Evelyn David Morris Isabel Stevens Chapin |
| Music by | Von Dexter |
| Cinematography | Wilfred M. Cline |
| Editing by | Chester W. Schaeffer |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1959 |
| Running time | 82 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Tingler is a 1959 horror, thriller film by the American producer and director William Castle. It is the third of five collaborations with writer Robb White and stars Vincent Price, Darryl Hickman, Pamela Lincoln, Philip Coolidge and Judith Evelyn.
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[edit] Plot
Vincent Price (Dr. Warren Chapin), a pathologist discovers that the tingling of the spine in states of extreme fear is due to the growth of a "tingler" -- a spinal parasite which can kill the host unless it is destroyed by screaming. An acquaintance of the pathologist, whose wife is mute and cannot scream, uses his discovery to frighten her to death. In an autopsy, Dr. Chapin removes the Tingler from the wife's spine. The centipede-like creature soon escapes, and mayhem ensues.
[edit] Production
The financial success of "House on Haunted Hill" was reason enough for Columbia to produce The Tingler. Vincent Price was on board again, this time with Darryl Hickman playing his assitant and newcomer Pamela Lincoln playing his sister-in-law.
Director William Castle was never one to miss an opportunity for publicity. He convinced Pamela Lincoln's real life fiancé Darryl Hickman to join the cast as her fiancé in the film. At first Darryl declined but finally agreed after William Castle convinced him it would help Pamela's career. According to Darryl, William Castle did such a good job of convincing him it would help Pamela that he did the part for no salary.
Judith Evelyn was hired at the request of Vincent Price who previously worked with her on Broadway. She also received attention in another prominent "non speaking role" as the suicidal "Miss Lonelyhearts" in Hitchcock's "Rear Window" (1954).
Robb White, story author said he was inspired to write the Tingler after seeing one of the rubber worms makeup artist Jack Dusick designed for "House on Haunted Hill". There are, however, no rubber worms in the release version of "House on Haunted Hill". Robb White had experimented with LSD at UCLA after hearing about it from Aldous Huxley and decided to work it into the script as well. It is the first depiction of LSD use in a major motion picture. At the time the drug was still legal.
Publicity photo for The Tingler
- The Tingler was Vincent Price's second and last outing with William Castle and the fifth performance that would ultimately brand him as 'The Master of Menace'.
[edit] Film Prologue
Much in the manner of Universal's groundbreaking "Frankenstein" (1931) William Castle opened the film with an on screen warning to the audience:
- "I am William Castle, director of the motion picture you are about to see. I feel obligated to warn you that some of the sensations--some of the physical reactions which the actors on the screen will feel will also be experienced, for the first time in motion picture history, by certain members of this audience. I say certain members because some people are more sensitive to these mysterious electronic impulses than others. These unfortunate, sensitive people will at times feel a strange, tingling sensation; other people will feel it less strongly. But don't be alarmed--you can protect yourself. At any time you are conscious of a tingling sensation, you may obtain immediate relief by screaming. Don't be embarrassed about opening your mouth and letting rip with all you've got, because the person right next to you will probably be screaming too. And remember, a scream at the right time may save your life."
--William Castle, opening scene
[edit] Gimmicks
William Castle became famous for his movie gimmicks, and The Tingler featured one of his best, 'Percepto!". Previously he had offered a $1,000 life insurance policy against "Death by Fright" for "Macabre" (1958) and sent a skeleton moving above the audiences' heads in the auditorium in "House on Haunted Hill" 1959.
[edit] Percepto: "Scream for your lives!"
For "Percepto!" William Castle attached electrical "buzzers" to the underside of several seats in the auditorium. The buzzers were small surplus vibrators left over from World War II. They had been installed inside the wings of air craft and when activated would vibrate to help de-ice the wings by shaking and cracking the ice. The cost of this equipment added $250,000 to the film's budget. It was predominately used only in the larger theaters.
During the climax of the film, the tingler escaped into a movie theater. On screen the projected film appeared to break as the silhouette of the tingler moved across the projection beam. The film went black, all lights in the auditorium were turned off and Vincent Price's voice warned the audience "The Tingler is loose in THIS theater! Scream! Scream for your lives!" This cued the theatre projectionist to activate the buzzers and give several audience members an unexpected jolt.
An alternate warning was recorded for Drive-in Theatres, this warning advised the audience the tingler was loose in the drive in. Vincent Price's voice was not used for the Drive-in version.
William Castle's autobiography "Step Right Up!: I'm Gonna Scare the Pants off America", erroneously stated that "Percepto!" actually delivered electric shocks to the theater seats. Not surprising since he had a reputation as a notorious "B.S.er".
[edit] Fainting Customers & Medical Assistance
To enhance the climax even more William Castle stationed fake "nurses" in the foyer, an ambulance outside of the theatre and fake "screamers and fainters" planted in the audience. The "fainters" would be carried out of the auditorium on a gurney and whisked away in the ambulance only to return for the next showing.
[edit] The Bloody Bathtub Scene
- Although The Tingler was filmed in black and white, a single b&w/color sequence was spliced into each print of the film. It showed a sink (in black and white) with bright red "blood" flowing from the taps and a black and white Judith Evelyn watching a bloody red hand rising from a bathtub filled with bright red "blood". William Castle used a couple of cans of color film he had purchased to film the effect. The scene was most likely accomplished using either rotoscoping or the Bipack in camera process. The sequence never fails to get a reaction from the audience.
Similar scenes have been used in other films including The Phantom of the Opera (1925), A Connecticut Yankee (1931), Blood and Roses (1960), Hi and Low (1963), Raging Bull (1980), Rumble Fish (1983) and Schindler's List (1993).
[edit] Dialogue
The script by Robb White contains many acerbic and often quite funny lines:
Isabel: "The only way Dave Morris will marry my sister is over my dead body".
Warren: "Unconventional but not impossible".
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Isabel: "You know, Warren, you've lost contact with living people. Nobody means anything to you anymore, unless they're dead and you can root around in them with your sharp little knives. There's a word for you."
Warren: "There's several for you."
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Warren: "I was going to use this cat [for my experiment], but you made a much better subject. Have you two met, in the same alley perhaps?"
The complete script can be found at Script-O-Rama
[edit] Reviews
- Howard Thompson of The New York Times said: "William Castle has been serving some of the worst, dullest little horror entries ever to snake into movie houses".
- "Liz" of And You Call Yourself a Scientist said: "No film made before or after it quite matches it for its mix of the imaginative, the creepy, the funny, and the downright weird".
- Classic-Horror said: "The acting is fine, the direction is among Castle's best, and the script is semi-brilliant for the time".
- Harvey O'Brien of Harvey's Movie review said: "For all its flaws, The Tingler is very watchable and has been put together with enough canniness to be enjoyable on its own terms".
- Time Out London said: "The plot is ingeniously ludicrous".
[edit] Trivia
- The title of the book Vincent Price reads before taking LSD "Fright Effects Induced By Injection Of Lysergic Acid LSD25" appropriately enough, is printed on the back of the book, not the front.
- 5'10" Darryl Hickman was required to wear lifts in his shoes for the scenes with 6'4" Vincent Price to offset the disparity of their heights.
- Jack Dusick, makeup artist for The Tingler is the father of singer/actress Michelle Lee.
- Dal McKennon ,who played the projectionist (uncredited in the film) had a succesfull career as the voice of many screen and TV characters including "Buzz Buzzard" in the Woody Woodpecker cartoons and "Gumby" in the TV clay animation series.
- There was (and still is) a theatre in Los Angeles showing silent films when The Tingler was released. In an uncanny parallel of real life, murder and mayhem actually occured at the Old Time Movies Theatre in 1997. The theatre was recently purchased and the new owners are expanding the Silent Movie Theatre venue to incorporate classic sound films in addition to the silents.
- Vincent Price was a close personal friend of Cassandra Peterson, better known to most fans as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
- This film was banned in Finland.
- Producer/Director Robert Zemeckis named his Production Company Dark Castle Entertainment in honor of William Castle.
- Two Joe Dante films contain scenes which reference the Percepto gimmick: "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" (1990) and "Matinee" (1993).
- Producer Neal Moritz announced he was planning a remake of The Tingler on November 15, 2004.There has been no other information released regarding the remake.
[edit] Availability
Columbia released a Special Addition 40th anniversary DVD in 1999. As of October 2006 the DVD is still available.
[edit] External Links
- An excellent biography of Vincent Price can be found at this website.
- Bruce Hershenson, film poster dealer extraordinaire has an enchanting story of a 9 year old boy's excursion to the Vaska Theatre in Lawton, Oklahoma to see The Tingler and his subsequent quest for the film poster.
- The Tingler at the Internet Movie Database
