Billy Boy had tricks up his sleeves

"Dark Castle Entertainment" is not just any name arbitrarily stamped onto a film production company. The founding partners strategically chose this moniker to honor eccentric horror filmmaker, William Castle. Dark Castle revamped two of his heart-palpitating flicks, "House on Haunted Hill'" and "13 Ghosts" (re-spelled to "Thir13en Ghosts"), to contemporary pieces of horror. Ghoulish in expression and ominous in stature, Castle even looked like someone who was born to ingeniously direct scary movies. By today's standards, the special effects he deploys throughout his thrillers look rough-hewn, if not a bit "film school, 101." But back in the 50s and 60s, his peers and audiences considered such tricks of the trade as downright clever and convincingly frightful. Take, for example, the witch-faced housemaid "gliding" across the floor in "House on Haunted Hill," scaring the wits out of poor Nora Manning, the film's most naive character. Castle's intent is to give the appearance that the housemaid is floating in air. But her movements seem clunky and forced. A moviegoer of modern times would be inclined to speculate that the housemaid "glides" across the floor through the aid of a cooperative dolly. Nowadays, you can't help but view such a ploy as pure, campy fun, done Castle's way.

Horror movie buffs will smugly inform you that Castle's tricks took place live in the movie theaters, too. He became infamously known for incorporating gimmicks during the movie watching experience to beef up the terror factor and rev up audience participation. His novelty "tinglers" were like birthday party games for the creepy set. Compared to his film rivals, Castle was driven by quirky creativity and shock value. Over time, these movie shenanigans punctured the film budgets, prompting Castle to cut back on delivering these gimmicks per his financial backers. In "Strait Jacket", he dreamed up cost-effective tactics to keep the horrific thrills alive without sacrificing his funds: he sent star Joan Crawford on a promotional tour to theaters and carved out cardboard axes as favors to audiences. Below is a sampling of Castle's brilliant gimmicks, as directly lifted from Wikipedia. For a complete list, visit the William Castle page:

• The Tingler (1959): Filmed in "Percepto". In the film, a docile creature that lives in the spinal cord is activated by fright, and can only be destroyed by screaming. In the film's finale one of the creatures removed from the spine of a mute woman killed by it when she was unable to scream is let loose in a movie theatre. Some seats in theatres showing the Tingler were equipped with military surplus air-plane wing de-icers (consisting of vibrating motors) purchased by Castle, attached to the underside of the seats. When the Tingler in the film attacked the audience the buzzers were activated as a voice encouraged the real audience to "Scream - scream for your lives." Articles regarding this often incorrectly state the seats in the theatre were wired to give electrical jolts.
• 13 Ghosts (1960): Filmed in "Illusion-O". A hand held ghost viewer/remover with strips of red and blue cellophane was given out to use during certain segments of the film. By looking through either the red or blue cellophane the audience was able to either see or remove the ghosts if they were too frightening.
• Mr. Sardonicus (1961): In this gothic tale set in 1880 London a baron's face is frozen into a permanent grotesque hideous smile after digging up his father's grave to retrieve a lottery ticket left in the pocket of his father's jacket. The audiences were allowed to vote in a "punishment poll" during the climax of the film - Castle himself appears on screen to explain to the audience their options. Each member of the audience was given a card with a glow in the dark thumb they could hold either up or down to decide if Mr. Sardonicus would be cured or die during the end of the film. Supposedly, no audience ever offered mercy so the alternate ending was never screened.

Today, studios have interactive web sites and social media to serve as economical conduits in executing frightful tricks and priming would-be audiences for a gut-wrenching showdown. I shudder to think what kind of bone-chilling antics Castle would post on Facebook.

Photo source: The 500 Club