The Tingler (1959)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

William Castle

Writer:

Robb White (written by)

Release Date:

29 July 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

In Screamarama

Plot:

After much hard work, a pathologist discovers and captures a creature that lives in every vertebrate and grows when fear grips its host...

Plot Keywords:

Fear | Scream | Autopsy | Creature | Movie Theater

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Dr. Warren Chapin
Judith Evelyn	...	Mrs. Martha Ryerson Higgins
Darryl Hickman	...	David Morris
Patricia Cutts	...	Isabel Stevens Chapin
Pamela Lincoln	...	Lucy Stevens
Philip Coolidge	...	Oliver 'Ollie' Higgins

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | American Sign Language

Color:

Color (one scene) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) | Stereo (partial)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | USA:Approved | Finland:(Banned) (1961) | UK:15

Company:

William Castle Productions

Trivia:

Used a couple of theater gimmicks. Whenever blood-curdling screams occurred in the movie, hidden buzzers vibrated the seats. (This feature was called "Percepto.") Shills planted in the audience let out their own screams.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Price does autopsy on Ollie's wife he tucks up his sleeves and wears gloves. The shot after shows his sleeves are down again, and then up again in a different way in the next shot.

Quotes:

Isabel Stevens Chapin: There's a word for you.
Dr. Warren Chapin: There are several for you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Under the Skin with Joseph LeDoux, Ph. d (2005) (V)

Classic '50s b-grade surrealism.

William Castle's 'The Tingler' is one of the most extraordinary horror movies ever made. Low budget, silly script, bad dialogue, uneven acting, gimmicky to the extreme (with or without "percepto"), but it STILL manages to amaze. It's a kind of trojan horse, being a cheesy b-grade thriller with a hidden core of surrealism almost worthy of Bunuel or Cocteau.

Memorable performances from horror legend Vincent Price as the scientist obsessed with explaining the strange phenomenon he labels "the tingler", and Judith Evelyn (who had a bit part in Hitchcock's 'Rear Window') as a bizarre deaf mute who owns a silent movie theatre, elevate this above most of Castle's overrated output. The classic acid trip scene (I think the first ever), the memorable short colour sequence, and the William Burroughs-like monster make this something really special. Not to be missed!