Movie Review of Spine Tingler!
Documentary Examines Life of B-Movie Director William Castle
In its Southeast Premiere at the Florida Film Festival, "Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story" highlights the career of the late horror movie producer-director.
Known for his outlandish gimmicks to get people into the movie theater, Castle was considered the celluloid P.T. Barnum who created his own brand, doing everything and anything to fill auditorium seats in the 1950s and 1960s.
William Castle the Film Fan
Castle’s gimmicks included distributing ghost-seeking and ghost-hiding glasses, attaching buzzers under selected seats during screenings, and floating a skeleton overhead during his movies. He hired on-site nurses to attend to fainting patrons (plants in the audience), offered insurance policies in case people died of fright during screenings of Macabre, fabricated Nazi graffiti in the theater to draw attention to the German actress starring in his film, and instituted a “Coward’s Corner” in theater lobbies where patrons could follow yellow footsteps to get refunds if they were too scared to watch the entire film.
Aside from his gimmicks and theatrics (he liked to introduce his movies on-camera in the style of Alfred Hitchcock), Castle was a prolific director, making a variety of popular horror films that attracted audiences without earning much critical acclaim. Inspired to make horror films because of the long lines he witnessed for Alfred Hitchcock’s films, he directed low-budget fright flicks including The Tingler, 13 Ghosts, House on Haunted Hill, Bug, and Homicidal. Despite his popularity, power, and success, he still longed for the respect of other Hollywood players, which led him to purchase the film rights for the book Rosemary’s Baby. What should have been his invitation to the A-list, became yet another disappointment when Roman Polanski was hired by the studio to direct the film with Castle as producer instead of director.
William Castle the Family Man
In director Jeffrey Schwarz’s humorous account of Castle’s life, he also highlights the personal side of the man. In addition to archival photos and footage, he includes interviews with John Waters, Leonard Maltin, John Landis, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, and others who give thoughtful insights into the man and his work. Schwarz also talks to Terry Castle (one of the director's daughters), and several friends who emphasize that beneath the big cigars and flashy showmanship, he was a man who loved his family.
Although the subject matter would probably be interesting regardless of the approach taken, Schwarz does an excellent job presenting the information (both positive and negative) in an entertaining way. Beautifully directed and edited, Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story should delight fans of the late director as well as novice horror fans unacquainted with Castle or his work.
- Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
- Director: Jeffrey Schwarz
- Run time: 80 minutes
For more reviews of documentary films, read Documentary About Tiffany Fans, Movie Review of Pageant, and Young @ Heart Movie Review.
