William Castle, Hollywood's King of Schlock!

In the sixties, film producer William Castle was one of the top B-film makers. His specialty was horror films, and many made a lot of money at the box office. As for quality, his films covered a wide range from "lousy" to "masterpiece." His one masterpiece was "Rosemary's Baby" directed by Roman Polanski.

Castle, however, would wind up being best remembered for his outrageous in-theater promotion stunts.

"Macabre"

While William Castle's career began in the late forties and he made some standard B-movies in the fifties, it was his 1959 horror film "Macabre" that put him in the Hollywood history books. While the film itself was a low-rent rip-off of the French suspense thriller "Diabolique", it was his promotion gimmick that was the stand-out.

Castle handed out Lloyd's of London life insurance policies to every member of the movie theater audience, guaranteeing $1000 coverage for anyone who died of fright during a viewing of "Macabre." Hearses were parked outside the theater and fake nurses were stationed in the theater lobby for anyone dying of fright.

As a result of the promotion, the film became Castle's first big box office hit.

"The House on Haunted Hill"

In his next cheapo horror film, "The House on Haunted Hill", Castle created a movie theater special effect called "Emergo." In each theater showing the film, he had a large black box rigged onstage next to the movie screen. At the film's scary climax scene, the black box would burst open, and an illuminated inflatable skeleton would emerge and zoom across the entire theater on a wire.

"The Tingler"

My personal favorite William Castle film was "The Tingler." It was about an invasion of crab-like creatures that lived inside your spine, and the only way you can kill them is with a piercing scream.

Castle's stunt for this film was to rig a few of the theater seats with large versions of gag "joy buzzers." During the movie, every time "The Tingler" would attack a victim, a few hapless members of the audience would get zapped and they'd scream, triggering a wave of screams in the theater. In the meantime, a pre-recorded voice would announce over the theater PA system "Attention! The Tingler is loose in the theater! Please scream for your lives."

Castle dubbed this stunt effect "Percepto."

"13 Ghosts"

"Illusion-O" was the in-theater special effect for "13 Ghosts." Each filmgoer entering the theater would be given a cellophane strip similar to the cardboard and cellophane glasses used for 3-D movies of the time. While the film itself was a traditional haunted house tale, audience members would only be able to "see" the ghosts onscreen by looking through the cellophane strip.

"Homicidal"

Some critics have called Castle's horror film "Homicidal" a poor man's version of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." Other critics think it's one of his best movies.

The in-theater special effect: Toward the movie's end, there was a 60-second "Fright Break" that gave frightened members of the theater audience a chance to leave the theater and get a ticket refund. There was only one catch. They would be branded as "cowards" and would have to exit the theater by following an illuminated trail of yellow "footprints" that led to the lobby, where a cardboard booth dubbed "the Coward's Corner" awaited. To get the refund, the designated "cowards" would have to sit in the cardboard booth while a lobby loudspeaker boomed, "Watch the chicken! Watch him shiver in the Coward's Corner."

"Mr. Sardonicus"

William Castle shot "Mr. Sardonicus" with two endings; one had the film's twisted villain suffer a long and tortuous death, and the other ending had the villain suffer a much shorter and more merciful death. As moviegoers entered the theater, each was given a large cardboard fist with an extended thumb. At the film's climax, the audience took a "Punishment Poll". Thumbs-up for mercy, or thumbs-down for no mercy.

Of course, the merciful ending has never been seen.

William Castle

The title of his well-written autobiography said it all: "Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America!"

William Castle died in 1977.

SOURCES:

"William Castle", Richard Von Busack, Metroactive

http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=161103

"Crackpot", John Waters, Simon Says

"William Castle", New York Times obit