The tricks
Macabre - 1958.
A certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of London was given to each customer in case he/she should die of fright during the film. Showings also had ushers dressed in surgical garb with ambulances outside theater.
House on Haunted Hill - 1959.
Filmed in "Emergo" . An inflatable skeleton attached to a wire floated over the audience during the final moments of some showings of the film to parallel the action on the screen when a skeleton arose from a vat of acid and pursued the villainous wife of Vincent Price. The gimmick did not always instill fright; sometimes the skeleton became a target for some audience members who hurled candy boxes, soda cups or any other objects at hand at the laughable fake skeleton.
The Tingler - 1959.
Filmed in "Percepto". In the film a docile creature that lives in the spinal cord is activated by fright, and can only be destroyed by screaming. In the film's finale one of the creatures removed from the spine of a mute woman killed by it when she was unable to scream is let loose in a movie theatre. Some seats in theatres showing the Tingler were equipped with larger versions of the hand held "joy buzzers" attached to the underside of the seats. When the Tingler in the film attacked the audience the "joy buzzers" were activated as Vincent Price's voice encouraged the real audience to "Scream - scream for your lives". The effect caused more giggles than shock. Articles regarding this often incorrectly state the seats in the theatre were wired to give electrical jolts. Much more effective was a scene in the black and white film of a hand rising from a bathtub filled with bright red blood. This color section was spliced into each print and remains impressive even today.
13 Ghosts - 1960.
Filmed in "Illusion-O". A hand held ghost viewer/remover with strips of red and blue cellophane was given out to use during certain segments of the film. By looking through either the red or blue cellophane the audience was able to either see or remove the ghosts if they were "too frightening". The similarity to anaglyph 3-D glasses often causes this film to be listed as 3-D when in fact there are no 3-D segments in the film.
Homicidal - 1961.
This film contained a "Fright break" with a 45 second timer overlaid over the film's climax as the heroine approached a house harboring a sadistic killer. A voiceover advised the audience of the time remaining in which they could leave the theatre and receive a full refund if they were too frightened to see the remainder of the film. To receive the refund the patron had to stand in the "Coward's Corner" until the film was over and the exiting audience filed by. To ensure the more wily patrons did not simply stay for a second showing and leave during the finale a different color "Coward's Certificate" was given each patron who had to present it in order to receive the refund for that showing.
"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." Very, very few were masochistic enough to endure this. The one percent refund dribbled away to a zero percent, and I'm sure that in many cities a plant had to be paid to go through this torture. No wonder theater owners balked at booking a William Castle film. It was all just too damn complicated".[1]
Mr. Sardonicus - 1961.
In this gothic tale set in 1880 London a baron's face is frozen into a permanent grotesque hideous smile after digging up his father's grave to retrieve a lottery ticket left in the pocket of his father's jacket. The audiences were allowed to vote in a "punishment poll" during the climax of the film. Each member of the audience was given a card with a glow in the dark thumb they could hold either up or down to decide if Mr. Sardonicus would be cured or die during the end of the film. Banking that no one would want Mr. Sardonicus to survive William Castle filmed and showed only the punishment ending.
Zotz! - 1962.
Each patron was given a "Magic" coin which, of course, did absolutely nothing.
Straight Jacket- 1964.
Cardboard hatchets were handed out to each patron. The axes were more of a souvenir than an actual gimmick. The film was advertised with the tags "This film vividly depicts axe murders!" and "Just keep saying to yourself It's only a movie, it's only movie".
I Saw What You Did-1965.
In an early trailer for the film William Castle advised the audience that a section of the theatre would be installed with seat belts for audience members "who might be scared out of their seats". The advertised gimmick was abandoned prior to the release of the film and never actually used.
William Castle died in 1977 after the release of his last film (writer/producer) Bug in 1975. Ironically he marketed the film by advertising a "Million dollar insurance policy has been taken out for the film's star Hercules the cockroach ".
Films by Castle
* Bug (1975, writer/producer)
* Shanks (1974)
* Rosemary's Baby (1968, producer only)
* Project X (1968)
* The Spirit Is Willing (1967)
* The Busy Body (1967)
* Let's Kill Uncle (1966)
* I Saw What You Did (1965)
* Night Walker (1964)
* Strait-Jacket (1964)
* The Old Dark House (1963)
* 13 Frightened Girls (1963)
* Zotz! (1962)
* Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
* Homicidal (1961)
* 13 Ghosts (1960)
* The Tingler (1959)
* House on Haunted Hill (1959)
* Macabre (1958)
* Uranium Boom (1956)
* The Houston Story (1956)
* Duel on the Mississippi (1955)
* The Gun That Won the West (1955)
* New Orleans Uncensored (1955)
* The Americano (1955)
* Masterson of Kansas (1954)
* The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954)
* The Saracen Blade (1954)
* The Iron Glove (1954)
* Drums of Tahiti (3-D) (1954)
* Jesse James vs. the Daltons (3-D) (1954)
* The Battle of Rogue River (1954)
* Charge of the Lancers (1954)
* Slaves of Babylon (1953)
* Conquest of Cochise (1953)
* Serpent of the Nile (1953)
* Fort Ti (3-D) (1953)
* Cave of Outlaws (1951)
* Hollywood Story (1951)
* The Fat Man (1951)
* It's a Small World (1950)
* Undertow (1949)
* Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)
* The Gentleman from Nowhere (1948)
* Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven (1948)
* Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)
* Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)
* The Return of Rusty (1946)
* Mysterious Intruder (1946)
* Just Before Dawn (1946)
* Voice of the Whistler (1945)
* Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)
* The Mark of the Whistler (1944)
* When Strangers Marry (1944)
* She's a Soldier Too (1944)
* The Whistler (1944)
* Klondike Kate (1943)
* The Chance of a Lifetime (1943)
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