Review on Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story

Review on Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story (2007)

Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story 

William Castle created B movies unlike anything created before. His films were nothing special in themselves, but what draws people in are its gimmicks, as explained by Robert Koehler in review on Variety.com. 'Castle's homegrown genius lay in knowing that the movies weren't enough, but had to have somthing extra to lure crowds. For "Macabre," it was a Lloyd's of London insurance policy against death by fright; then it was 3-D effects like "Emergo" (fake skeletons in the cinema), "illusion-O" (quasi-3-D glasses able to "view" ghosts onscreen) and "Percepto" (theater seats rigged with vibrating buzzers).' (Koehler, 2007) 

The Tingler

His films were popular because of this, it was like a theme park ride and perhaps the very first interactive film. People could get involved with the film, feel a part of it and have fun in the process, as mentioned by Felix Vasquez in review on FilmThreat.com. 'Castle involved you in his movies, he convinced you that his films were horrifying and would perhaps scare you so much that you'd need a death certificate, or rental to a local coffin place. He's the epitome of what movies are supposed to be, fun attractions that the entire audience can be apart of, that you can only get a taste of with revival theaters who are ballsy enough to continue Castle's fun house tricks.' (Vasquez, 2008) Without all these gimmicks Castle's films would be bland and boring, maybe Castle new this, or maybe he wanted to try something different that no one had done before, as mentioned on seanax.com. 'Castle's films are all about ideas over execution, showmanship over style. He tends to be slack in his direction, better with startled shrieks than slow building tension, but he can layer in the gruesome details and spring a shock cut with the best theme.' (seanax.com, 2009)

Rating:

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Schwarz, Jeffery (2007) Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story. [Poster] At: http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-festivals/fantasia-film-festival-2008/ (Accessed on: 16.10.11)

Figure 2. Castle, William (1959) The Tingler. [Screen cap] At: http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2008/04/jeffrey-schwartz-spine-tingler/ (Accessed on: 16.10.11)   

Bibliography

Koehler, Robert (2007) Spine Tingler!: The William Castle Story. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935479?refcatid=31 (Accessed on: 16.10.11)

Sean Axmaker (2009) The William Caste Film Collection. http://www.seanax.com/2009/10/18/new-on-dvd-william-castle-film-collection/ (Accessed on: 16.10.11)

Vasquez. Felix (2008) Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story. http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/10743/ (Accessed on: 16.10.11)