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The Tingler (1959)
In 50s B-film director and impresario schlockmeister
William Castle's classic horror film:
- Castle's own introduction in the film's prologue
with this word of advice: "I am William Castle, the director
of the motion picture you are about to see. I feel obligated to
warn you that some of the sensations, some of the physical reactions
which the actors on the screen will feel, will also be experienced
for the first time in motion picture history, by certain members
of this audience. I say 'certain members' because some people are
more sensitive to these mysterious electronic impulses than others.
These, uh, unfortunate, sensitive people will at times feel a strange,
tingling sensation. Others will feel it less strongly. Don't be
alarmed - you can protect yourself. At any time you are conscious
of a tingling sensation, you may obtain immediate relief by screaming.
Don't be embarrassed about opening your mouth and letting rip with
all you've got, because the person in the seat right next to you
will probably be screaming too. And remember this - a scream at
the right time may save your life."
- Castle's speech was followed by zoomed-in examples
of disembodied screaming heads - three in all
- the character of mad, part-time pathologist/scientist
Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) who made the discovery that the
tingling sensation one felt running up and down one's spine when
afraid was actually a "living" parasite that grew and lived
in the vertebrae. When one couldn't scream or when one experienced
prolonged scary situations (without having the therapeutic release
of a primal scream), the parasite could grow to enormous size and
cripple a person: "We know that it exists...We know that fear
alone energizes it, gives it strength...The Tingler exists in every
living human being and it's extremely powerful...Fear causes the
Tingler to spread along the spinal column. And probably with those
arm-like things between the vertebrae forces it to become arched
and rigid...Screaming seems to stop the Tingler from bending the
spinal column. Screaming may even dissolve it, or if it's a living
organism, kill it...We now know that at the peak of terror, the Tingler
is a solid mass, extending from the coccyx to the cervicals. If someone
could stand the intense pain without screaming or otherwise releasing
their tension until they die, I think that an autopsy would give
us a Tingler that we could work with."
- Dr. Chapin's autopsy scene of deaf-mute patient Mrs.
Martha Higgins (Judith Evelyn), the wife of silent movie theatre
owner Oliver Higgins (Philip Coolidge); when he extracted the squirming,
lobster-like centipede from her body, for a brief moment, it attached
itself to his arm; and as he napped on the couch, the Tingler also
crawled onto his chest and threatened to choke him; it released itself
when his socialite wife Isabel Stevens Chapin (Patricia Cutts) returned
home and screamed! Dr. Chapin surmised that if he returned the Tingler
to Martha's body, it would die: "The Tingler exists in every
human being, we now know. Look at that Tingler, Dave. It's an ugly
and dangerous thing. Ugly because it's the creation of man's fear,
which is ugly too. Dangerous because, because a frightened man is
dangerous. We can't destroy it because we've removed it from its
natural place...Fear made that Tingler grow from microscopic size
to this. We can only hope when it goes back where it came from, it
will also go back to a thing infinitely small - even die, because
it's creator is dead and all fear gone."
- later in the film's climax, Dr. Chapin planned to
place the Tingler back into Martha's corpse, but of course, the boxed
creature escaped and entered a crowded film theater showing the silent
film Tol'able David (1921); after scaring one young female
by climbing up her leg, the Tingler crawled into the inattentive
projectionist's booth; in pitch black, Chapin tried to calm the theatre
audience with an announcement: "There's no cause for alarm.
A young lady has fainted. She is being attended to by a doctor and
is quite alright. So please remain seated. The movie will begin again
right away"
- on screen, the projected film broke as the silhouette
of the Tingler moved across the projection beam; the film theater
went pitch black; the film audience (within the film and watching
the film) were encouraged to scream to lessen the effects of tingling
fear during a long black-out section by the voice of Dr. Chapin: "Ladies
and gentlemen, please do not panic. But scream! Scream for your lives!
The Tingler is loose in this theater! (Screams)..."
[Note: To enhance the effect when the Tingler was on
the loose in the theatre, seats were rigged with vibrating devices
to produce the tingling effect - a gimmick nicknamed Percepto.]
- after making another reassuring announcement, "The
Tingler has been paralyzed by your screaming. There's no more danger.
We will now resume the showing of the movie," Chapin rushed
to the projection booth where the projectionist was being strangled
by The Tingler; his screams caused the creature to drop to the
floor, where it was captured in a film canister.
- in the film's conclusion, Higgins received the same
fate as his wife, who had the Tingler reinserted into her spine by
Dr. Chapin to neutralize its effects; the resurrected Martha caused
her husband to die of fright - with muted screams. Dr. Chapin's words
(in darkness) ended the film: "Ladies and gentlemen, just a
word of warning. If any of you are not convinced that you have a
Tingler of your own, the next time you are frightened in the dark,
don't scream."
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