ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

The master trickster of the cinema, producer-director William Castle, is the guiding force behind this unique little experiment in audience involvement.

A doctor (Vincent Price) makes a startling discovery concerning human physiology when he learns that a large insect-like creature grows on the spinal cords of people when they become terrified.

The creature is destroyed the instant the victim screams. But if they don't scream . . . the creature grows larger and larger inside the host body until it causes death by pinching the nerves.

Price captures one of the Tinglers by scaring a deaf-mute woman until the Tingler is a fat lump along her back, then he surgically removes the huge wiggling thing. Naturally it gets loose, but the novelty comes from the fact that (gasp!) it gets loose in a movie theater!

In fact, it gets loose in your theater — the very one in which you're watching this movie!!

On screen, Vincent looks out at the audience and says, "The Tingler is loose in this theater! Scream or you'll die! Scream for your life!"

This is where the newest Hollywood gimmick comes in — "Percepto". Selected seats in some theaters were actually wired with oversized buzzer units which startled the audience. Some theaters even placed bogus patrons in the audience who pretended to faint and were then carried out by the ushers.

Many people today still remember this movie with fondness and admiration ( . . . and they always check under their theater seats for hidden wires).
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Enjoy trailer for this low-budget "classic".

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_____________________ The Tingler - trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Captain Starlight]

I never saw this movie at a theater, only on TV many years later. I was not impressed. And I never went to a movie theater that had hokey gimmicks that were supposed to make bad movies more fun to watch. Movie makers back then sure had a low opinion of people's intelligence.

[Gord Green]

Well Cap, ...The starting point to your comment was that it was done in FUN!

He (Castle) as well as every member of the audience didn't believe that there was actually a REAL killer tingler loose in the theatre!

It was a fun way of making the movie interactive.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ To create the footage of the bright red blood flowing in a black and white film, they simply build a set in shades of black and white so that it would photograph on color film as if were being shot on black and white stock.

The flowing bright red "blood" would stand out and create a very dynamic effect. The color footage had to be manually spliced into the black and white release prints. This was in the days before thousands of release prints were needed for a theatrical release.

Note from me: I had to think about this for a moment before I realized that it meant each print created for the theaters couldn't just be a copy of the master negative — it had to include the spliced-in color segment.

I combined two trivia items below because they're related.

~ You may recognize Judith Evelyn, who plays the mute, terrified silent movie theatre owner here - five years earlier, she had played James Stewart's romantically frustrated neighbor "Miss Lonelyhearts" in the Hitchcock classic Rear Window.

The Weirton Daily Times (Weirton, West Virginia) ran a UPI item about Judith Evelyn on August 8, 1959: "Judith Evelyn, whose speaking voice is one of the finest in the acting profession, took lessons in sign language for her role as a deaf-mute in Columbia's 'The Tingler.'" Her signing was understandable.

Note from me: Ironically, Miss Evelyn has no audible dialog in Rear Window, because she's only observed from Jimmy Stewart's apartment across the courtyard, and she's alone in her place most of the time.

~ There is an urban legend that the Percepto "electric tingle" device that was created for this movie was actually tested during a screening of The Nun's Story (1959), a religious drama starring Audrey Hepburn.

In his autobiography, director William Castle writes that during a matinee of "The Nun's Story" in Boston, the bored projectionist decided to test the "Tingler" equipment. During a scene where the nuns were praying, he began pushing the Percepto switches, giving the Bostonian ladies who were watching the film the shock of their lives.

However, screenwriter Robb White remembered that this incident took place in California, in a San Fernando Valley theater. According to White, the Percepto devices had been installed in the movie theater seats, and The Tingler (1959) was scheduled to open the following night. But during a showing of "The Nun's Story," which was closing that evening, someone accidentally touched the master electric switch, causing the Percepto devices to vibrate in seats throughout the theater.

Note from me: Perhaps the ladies in audience thought they were in the throes of a "religious euphoria" when their seats start buzzing their backsides!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

We just watched this one for the first time this morning.

Interesting idea but too slow and too many plot holes/loose ends. Definitely needed a re-write.

Kind of surprised no one has remade this film.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Krel]

The tingler is a very much enlarged copy of a Velvet Worm (Onychophora*), which is only about 8.5 inches long at it's largest, most are much smaller.

David.

*I had to look up the proper name.

[Bud Brewster]

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By gum, you're right! I found images of the Velvet Worm, and here's the best of the bunch.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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I Googled the question about the blood, and I found these answers. Wordpress.com has exactly the same answer as the Wikipedia one shown below.
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Wikipedia

Although The Tingler was filmed in black-and-white, a short color sequence was spliced into the film. It showed a sink (in black-and-white) with bright-red "blood" flowing from the taps and a black-and-white Evelyn watching a bloody red hand rising from a bathtub, likewise filled with the bright red "blood". Castle used color film for the effect. The scene was accomplished by painting the set white, black and gray and applying gray makeup to the actress to simulate monochrome
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MorbidlyBeautiy.com

While “The Tingler” was shot in black and white, Evelyn clearly sees bright red blood flowing from the sink. And a bloody hand stretches out from the otub. The effect was easily achieved. That particular sequence was shot with color film stock being utilized to tint the on-screen ichor a beautiful blood-red. Castle had his crew cover the set with black, gray and white paints while actress Judith Evelyn was costumed with a similarly colored make-up scheme.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

Try covering your face in gray makeup and take a selfie. Tell me if it looks like a black-and-white photo.

I still say that story is Hollywood blarney.

[Krel]

There was a sitcom in the 90s (I think) about a family that owned a cemetery. In one episode the star goes to his Brother in-law's apartment which was a copy of the apartment in "The Honeymooners". It was painted in black, white and gray and looked just like the one in "The Honeymooners". So evidently it can be done if you're skillful.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

[tmlindsey]

I don't fully believe the 'painted it b&w' story either. The sequence looks like it could be a mix of techniques.

The scene of her looking into the foreground tub (your thumbnail image) looks like it could be rear projected; white tub & red blood shot in color with the previously filmed b&w shot of the actress projected behind. Although there is a slight amount of color spilling onto her robe, which hints at an optical effect.

The shot of the hand initially reaching out of the tub, you can see a slightly blurry aura around the hand and arm that could be a matting effect. But it could also be an artifact of digitization. I could buy that that shot had a grey-painted wall behind the tub, but the grey splatter inside the tub with the red blood is curious.

The biggest problem I have with the paint-and-makeup story is that, when she's looks at the tub and the camera pans to it (in an unbroken shot), the actress opens her mouth. Unless they painting her tongue and the inside of her mouth with makeup, it has to be an optical effect.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[scotpens]