By David Dent
This 2007 documentary about director William Castle (born William Schloss – do you see what he did there?) is a compelling watch, whether you’re familiar with Castle’s story or not.
He was one of the great huckster film makers, constantly on the lookout for the next angle, cranking out movies made on relatively low budgets which made huge profits. His secret? Castle was the king of the gimmick.
Starting off in the 1950s, Castle was struggling to make his name as a director when he saw a film that became an unexpected runaway success in 1955 – Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques; inspired equally by the film’s content as much as its box office appeal, he embarked on a spate of great horror movies. But conscious that the films he was making were perhaps not that hot, Castle came up with some innovative publicity ideas which caught the public’s imagination.
For the first of these, 1958’s Macabre, he organised, via an authentic deal with Lloyds of London, to insure every audience member against death from fright while watching the movie. There followed a rash of popular box (but critically disdained) flicks, continuing with 1959’s House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler (which deployed the gimmicks of ‘Emergo’ and ‘Percepto’ respectively), 1960’s 13 Ghosts (which came with a ‘ghost viewer’) and Homicidal (inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho and featuring a ‘fright break’ to help with crowd nerves); oh and Mr. Sardonicus from 1961, the latter which included a ‘Punishment Poll’ allowing the audience to decide the fate of the titular character.
Although Castle has not been with us for some years (he died relatively young in 1977), his daughter Terry (who helmed the HoHH remake in 1999) and various other talking heads – including John Waters – do a fabulous job of bringing the cigar chomping, genial showman to life.
The documentary’s coverage of Castle’s output is rather selective, but Spine Tingler! doesn’t shy away from the difficult later years of ill health and poor film choices; this is leavened by the account of his involvement in 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby (he owned the rights to Ira Levin’s novel and produced it, in a lucrative deal with Paramount Pictures) which set him and his family up very comfortably in Los Angeles during the last years of his life.
Full of great ad mats, cast interviews and positive testimonials from just about everyone, this is a fun and informative despite being nearly twenty years old.
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story is available now on VOD Platforms, Tubi, Hoopla, Flix Fling, Plex and Amazon Prime from Bayview Entertainment.
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