SPINE TINGLER! THE WILLIAM CASTLE STORY **** USA 2007 Dir: Jeffery Schwarz. 82 mins
Everyone has fun at a William Castle film experience. I remember being scared as a very young version of me staring at the photo from The Tingler (1959) in Monster World magazine of the hand rising from the bathtub. So why would a documentary on the man behind the gimmicks be a rollicking trip? Well in fact it is with moments of pathos included. Castle was orphaned at a young age, so he had to grow up and make his way in the world, which he did well. One learns it all in this true story of success that follows William Castle’s career, influences and legacy.
Jeffrey Schwarz’s documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story is one roller coaster ride of fun, laughs, work, disappointment, and confessions of a self-made filmmaker who learns it all from the ground up. His considerable wit, smile and engaging personality opened doors in the film world getting him jobs in studios where he learned the process of filmmaking. Few understood the mechanics of showmanship, which is where William Castle excelled. He unabashedly followed the axiom of circus promoter P. T. Barnum in a working audience, selling what he had as something great, getting them to come back again all with that engaging smile. That smile and the face would often appear on camera as introductions to his films, even greeting people at screenings.
William Castle who has changed his name from the German ‘William Schloss’ (Schloss is Castle in German) was a B-grade director in the 1950s and 60s who in some ways more vibrant than Bert I Gordon, Jack Arnold, Roger Corman, Doris Wishman even Russ Meyer and Herschell Gordon Lewis. William Castle’s name was synonymous with experience in an age when motion pictures were trying to battle that new menace of television with gimmicks like 3D, Cinerama and others.
The documentary puts William Castle as a rival to Alfred Hitchcock, with Hitch being the artist who wins praise while Castle is the carnival barker who gains cult notoriety. The film also states that Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) with its graphic shower scene, tension was inspired directly by the world of William Castle who went on to make his version called Homicidal (1961). Critics hated his films, but the audiences loved them and flocked to them in huge line-ups. His most known is the Vincent Price starring The House On Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), and the What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) homage called Strait-Jacket (1964) with the controlling axe murdering Joan Crawford.
All of these with gimmicks for the audience such as the buzzer under the seat, insurance certificate if you expired while watching, 3D with ghosts coming at you off the screen, and ghost cancelling or viewing glasses all with various names such as Emergo to make them stand out. The Tingler (1959) ask the audience to ‘scream for their lives’ which they stood up, did and returned for more.
He is an icon to all second-rate directors out there, which is why it’s not surprising that John Waters is featured prominently here. (Joe Dante and Stuart Gordon also have sizable roles.)
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story takes you through it all with fascinating interviews from Castle’s daughter Terry who gives loving family insights into his personal and professional life along with friends and colleagues like Bob Thomas, actor Darryl Hickman and actress Jacqueline Scott, John Waters, Joe Dante, Leonard Maltin, Michael Schlesinger and Bob Burns.
Bittersweet moments, wanting to get more respect as a filmmaker, in 1947 Castle found the book If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King that would later become the movie THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947). Castle gave the concept to friend Orson Welles to pitch the story to Columbia. The repulsive, studio head Harry Cohn honcho okayed it with Welles directing. Later in life and likely what contributed to his demise was buying the rights to Ira Levin’s Novel “Rosemary’s Baby”. Paramount Studios decided to use the still maverick director Roman Polanski with William Castle as producer. No one remembers William Castle working on Rosemary’s Baby (1968) at it is thought to be Polanski’s work.
Joe Dante (who appears in this documentary) directed Matinee (1993) with John Goodman as a barnstorming filmmaker with his monster movie in the desert is based loosely on the life of William Castle. Personally, my favourites are the teen telephone murder story I Saw What You Did (1965) with John Ireland crawling through the window to screams from the prank-playing kids. The Barbara Stanwyck starrer The Night Walker (1964) with its dream animation opening musical score and horror of not being able to wake up is also another. I have also had the luck of experiencing The Tingler (1959) in a 35 mm print, complete with skeletons flying in the audience and screams at a midnight screening during the Turner Classic Film Festival hosted by Ron Perlman. Great fun. Can say without a doubt that Spine Tingler! The William Castle (2007) story is a gem to watch and a great introduction to a filmmaker who helped shape a genre before the graphic horror revolution.
Review by Terry Sherwood
SPINE TINGLER! THE WILLIAM CASTLE STORY is out now on Digital Platforms including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the UK and USA courtesy of BayView Entertainment