Groovy Halloween Movie Review #1: The Tingler (1959)

Great B black & white horror movie starring Vincent Price and directed by schlockmeister William Castle      (House On Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts). Price plays a scientist searching for the answer as to why we get a tingling feeling up our spine when we become afraid. He believes there is a being called " The Tingler" attached to our spine that is brought to life by our fear and can only be calmed by our screams. In other words, if we become terrified and our unable to scream, the tingler will smash our spine and we will die of "fear"! Somehow, the tingler detaches from somebody's body and begins crawling around and attacking people and the fun begins

Director William Castle was famous for coming up with crazy gimmicks to promote his movies and The Tingler had a feature called, "Percepto". When the movie was released, Castle had electric buzzers attached to various seat in the  theatre that would be activated at certain points of the movie, thus, giving the person in the seat the tingling feeling of, well, the tingler.

The highlight of the film is when the screen goes white (as if the film reel has run out) and you hear Vincent Price screaming, "The tingler is loose in the theatre". This is quickly followed by a
silhouette of the tingler  crawling across the screen. Obviously, this was meant to cause screaming and mayhem in the theatre. Eventually, calm is restored and the movie continues as if nothing happened.

The Tingler contains everything that makes a B horror movie great; ridiculous plot, overacting, a cheap and cheesy looking monster, secondary plots that go nowhere, an abrupt and unfulfilling ending and perhaps Hollywood's first depiction of an acid trip. That's right boys and girls, Vincent Price on acid! What more could a movie goer ask for?Checkout the movie trailer below.

--Casey Redmond
    October 2, 2015
    Shangri-La, Ohio