Schrei, wenn der Tingler kommt

"The Tingler" is the name that Vincent Price's likable scientist character gives to the creature that apparently is responsible for the sense of spine-tingling fear we all experience at some point in our lives. If we scream, The Tingler is rendered harmless. If we do not, The Tingler will get us!

This is classic William Castle gimmick stuff. When this black and white masterpiece of schlock was originally shown in theaters, devices would be rigged up underneath theater seats which would "tingle" during a certain scene. The film would then seemingly stop, and the audience would be encouraged to scream! Scream for their LIVES! Of course, the audience was happy to oblige and the Tingler would be defeated. Man, how I regret having missed those days of cheesy ballyhoo.

This film has some really nifty stuff in it. Highlights include Vincent Price's "acid" trip (reportedly the first acid trip ever seen on the silver screen), and a cool hallucinatory color sequence with a deaf mute woman menaced by a bathtub full of blood, among other things. The plot is clever and actually pretty well thought out for a B flick, and Vincent is superb, as he always is. This is an absolutely hysterical film that should not be missed. I can't say enough good things about it - it simply has to be seen to be appreciated. It's campy, seedy, bloody good fun!

Here is a true story that classifies as "Tingler Trivia." At a major studio-named Cinema palace in San Mateo, California, I saw an original exhibition of "The Tingler" back in 1959 with the theatre-Manager's nephew, a high school chum. His uncle related the distribution set-up for the film: army surplus vibration motors were electrically wired under every third seat in the first seven rows of this large theatre in the "orchestra" level, at considerable expense. At key points in the film the motors were clicked on, providing a "tingling" sensation to a viewer's rear end, at which point several plain-clothed ushers would scream out horribly! The implied intention was to cause a stampede in the auditorium, front to rear, toward the main lobby candy counters beyond the thrust-open theatre doors. While we were listening to the story, behind the Manager's back a curious-looking workman, looking very worried and clutching a small hat, was gesturing for the manager to turn around, which we mentioned. "Who's that?" we asked. "Oh, he's the retired electrician I found" was the reply. "Excuse me for a moment, boys." When the Manager returned, he seemed quite bemused, explaining "This idiot I hired to do the work just informed me, minutes before the film rolls, that he forgot to ground his connections. It seems the patrons in those seven rows are due for a REAL shock." Needless to say, my friend and I sat in row 11 and yes, seeing the film that way, in a packed theatre, was a real hoot! About 100 people, jolted and non, stormed the lobby at the given moments, several screaming or wondering out loud in pandemonium. When the film went "black screen" for a moment and the jolts shocked the audience, the scene was not to be believed and has, to this very day, never been forgotten. It was almost as humorous as a showing of "House on Haunted Hill" in the same theatre earlier in the year, but that is a story for another day.

At the start of the Tingler, William Castle walks out and lets the audience know about being scared and screaming - and that this will be a case where it's more than just suggested, it's all but required for the audience (then shots of screaming teens pop up on the screen). Seeing as how I was watching the film by myself on a rainy day, it might be rather insane to just scream on my own, especially when it came time to actually see the Tingler creature itself. But the movie is a splendid concoction of scientific ballyhoo. If you are just getting into these kinds of "mad scientist does this" 1950s/60s movie, this is a good place to get acquainted.

And what better way than with Vincent Price? Price is such a good actor that he makes this doctor's hunt for capturing fear in human beings- and finding the weird organism that does it- into a quest, one that he even tries to propel from himself. The idea of the Tingler is something interesting more than the usual fare, anyway, because it's psychosomatic: instead of it being experiments creating a man or woman into a monster or beast or animal, it's a manifestation of something that's already there. In this case the tingler monster is like some weird centipede-lobster thing (compared to some of Corman's productions like 'Crab Monsters' it doesn't look or move to shabbily either), and it's extracted by Price from a deaf woman who can't scream and so all the tension built up by a fear drug causes the tingler to grow and not shrink down.

There's a lot of fun stuff here, and some solid scenes as well. Early on we see that Castle is at least competent in his craftsmanship if nothing too special, but the writing helps keep things moving in a professional manner; not much time is wasted, and the acting around Price is decent enough (my favorite would be his wife, whom he uses as his first test subject). But the "shocks" come with trippy scenes where Price thinks he sees skeletons come to life, and then with the deaf woman's visions in the bathroom, with tinted-red blood against black and white (why this is done aside from the gimmick I can't say, but it looks cool anyway), and then that ridiculous, self-conscious hoot in the silent movie theater where the wicked fear-beast (who can only be quelled by screams, by the way) slithers around the theater and all the way up to the projectionist, leaving his mark on the screen!

It would be advantageous, of course, to see this in a theater where Castle's gimmicks could be done. Maybe a step bellow (or above) smell-o-vision, but it doesn't detract from the fun within the material itself. It's goofy and silly, and by the end all you learn is never to get too scared that you won't scream. Oh, and you have a meddling creature on your back that is activated whenever you're frightened. Boo.

I was very young when this movie was originally released and my first encounter was when I switched on the TV (no remotes in those days, so I was right in front of the set) and a woman's face suddenly appeared, screaming right at me! It scared the living hell out of me --- and that was only a *commercial* for THE TINGLER! It was years before I saw the actual film and while it wasn't as scary as I imagined (nothing could have been) it had, as William Castle's films frequently do, an unsettling feeling of dread about it. Of course it's also absolutely ridiculous. The whole premise is insane, and the plot twists keep getting more and more loony, but that only adds to the fun! The titular creature itself is a mixed bag, crudely done (even for its day) but somehow effectively disgusting. The acting is uniformly good and the dialogue pretty intelligent. The only weak point for me was Judith Evelyn as the deaf mute wife, who overacted like hell but never seemed genuinely terrified by any of the bizarre goings on. The DVD contains an excellent short called SCREAM FOR YOUR LIVES including (among others) co-star Darryl Hickman, now in his seventies, looking incredibly fit and happy and seemingly unable to talk about making THE TINGLER without constantly cracking up. Who can blame him????

Directed and hyped by William Castle. Proof he is a master. Vincent Price is a pathologist that discovers that, when in a state of extreme fear, an organism grows along a person's spine enlarging up to the neck. The only thing that will stop the growth is the sound of screaming.

Along with Price are Darryl Hickman and Pamela Lincoln. This is a real gimmicky film, but still effective. Well acted by Price, one of his very best. Still creepy after all these years.