The Tingler
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Movie Reviews of The Tingler
Movie Review: Price Makes Schlock Worthwhile
Summary: 4 Stars
It would have been easy for the audience to view THE TINGLER in 1959 as just another zero budget non-thriller, but fortunately for movie lovers, director William Castle had Vincent Price play the lead. Price, with his six feet four inches that accentuated his gravelly voice, had made a career of portraying villains of various stripes, with each villain forcing the viewer to join in the cacophony of death that inevitably accompanied his demise. Price here is a pathologist who has spent years performing autopsies on executed criminals. He discovers that intense fear causes a microbe to grow on the spine to such a length that its powerful pincers can crush one's spine in the moment preceding death. Now this may sound like the malarkey that it truly is but in Price's capable hands, the viewer does not doubt for a second the reality of the scene. Director Castle uses some weird Gothic camera work to showcase how a deaf mute woman cannot scream, thereby insuring the growth of the Tingler within her body. The Tingler itself is, of course, utter nonsense, resembling a creepy crawly centipede with mandible-like pincers. In more than one scene, the sharp eyed viewer can actually see the string moving it forward. But Price is the dramatic center, holding audience interest as he sweats and groans in a manner that has long since been his essential screen persona. Price has several little known but effective supporting actors, all of whom know when to allow him to occupy center stage. Especially effective is Phillip Coolidge in the creepy role as the husband of the mute woman who has the startling ability to surprise us with an unexpectedly rich complexity to a role that is more than it seems. Creepy is the best single word descriptor for THE TINGLER. In this case, creepy is fear that only an old pro like Price could generate.Movie Review: 4 Stars
In one of the very best of William Castle's popular B-horror offerings, the matchless Vincent Price stars as an obsessive pathologist who discovers the existence of a creature that lives in the human body, grows when its host experiences extreme terror and can only be diminished by the noise of a scream!Despite its notoriously poor special effects (strings are quite visible!) and Castle's conventional direction, this kitsch classic is enlivened by compelling performances, a fantastic premise and another of Robb White's cunning, unpredictable plots, which he churned out for most of Castle's best pictures. Price is at the top of his form as the misguided scientist, and although his performance of an acid trip (the very first in film history) isn't even remotely realistic, his expressed panic certainly is.
Always keen to promote his movies with gimmickry as a supplement to his own craftsmanship, Castle had vibrating electric buzzers installed in the seats of random audience members, which were activated whenever a scream in the movie occurred. Paid shills were also planted in the audience to scream during key moments. Even the cinematography was touched by Castle's ambition: splashes of bloody red color in a crucial scene hideously complement the B&W photography.
While it's hardly as effective a horror movie as it was a half-century ago, "The Tingler" is still great fun, for both its hilarious flaws and legendary leading man make this required viewing for anyone who still cares about light, enjoyable genre pictures and magnetic screen acting. There might be some potential for a remake of this, but while the effects could certainly be improved on, who could possibly replace the Merchant of Menace?
Movie Review: Scream For Your Lives!
Summary: 4 Stars
William Castle was reknowned for his gimmicky films. For THE TINGLER he had "Percepto," and it was a lulu: randomly selected seats in the theatre were wired with a small motor, and at a peak moment in the film these motors came to life and literally gave your bottom a buzz! But unless you happen to have a really warped sense of humor plus some mechanical apptitude, you'll have to forego the "Percepto" effect and settle for one of the most weirdo stories to come down the street.A doctor (Vincent Price) is studying the effects of fear. In the process, he finds that fear causes a nasty, worm-like creature to grow inside the human body along the spine. Release your fear by screaming, and the creature is destroyed; if for some reason you cannot scream, however, the creature merely grows larger and larger and kills you by crushing your spine. What the good doctor really wants, of course, is to lay his hands on one of these critters--and when a man murders his deaf-mute wife by scaring her to death, Dr. Vince gets his chance. Eventually "The Tingler" escapes into a movie theatre, and the seat-buzzing begins!
Price and company give it their all, and the film is as enjoyable as only schlock horror can be. Fans of the genre will hoot over the murder, Vincent Price's LSD trip, the scenes where the tingler escapes into the theatre--not to mention at the monster itself, which looks like a cross between an overweight centipede and a lobster. And yes, you really can see the wires! The DVD edition also includes lots of fun extras, including a short documentary on the film. Castle fans will get a kick out of it, but all others are warned away!
Movie Review: Hokey and schlocky, "The Tingler" delivers!
Summary: 4 Stars
At the writing of this review there were 38 other synopses of this film, "The Tingler". With that in mind, I won't waste the reader's time with another boring plot summary. Instead, let me just say that if the reader of this review is a fan of Vincent Price and especially, Director William Castle, then you will want to go get the "40th Anniversary" copy of this film. The extras, especially the short film on Castle, his films, and the promotional gimmicks that he used to sell them is great. But, back to this film....
"The Tingler" is one of those great old black and white films from the '50s that many Baby Boomers grew up with. Price is terrific as always and is surrounded with a solid cast of method actors. As mentioned by other reviewers, the "Tingler-animal"(?) is certainly hokey (and has it's exposed wires for propulsion in plain view), but that's ok. Castle's gimmick with "The Tingler" is called "Percepto" and unfortunately, viewers of the film won't get the effect that moviegoers got unless they want to hook themselves up to a battery or two. In theaters, "Percepto" was actually the act of hooking up movie seats with old motors that gave the viewer a small charge or vibration everytime someone screamed on the big screen.
The film does have a few actual thrills and chills throughout the movie. In particular, the "blood scene" used to scare one of the actors to death giving Price his chance to discover The Tingler is particularly memorable because the blood is colorized for the scene in brilliant scarlet.
RECOMMENDED FOR VINCENT PRICE AND WILLIAM CASTLE FANS, IN PARTICULAR!
Movie Review: It Tingles!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Tingler is usually considered by both critics and fans alike to be Castle's finest hour, and it's easy to see why. The Tingler is everything a good schlocky spook show should be. Price is a coroner who does research on the side involving fear and what causes us to freeze and go rigid when frightened. He refers to this force as The Tingler, and discovers that it may be an actual, physical being. He goes through numerous experiments in his attempts to learn more about The Tingler, and isn't above some pretty unorthodox methods. He threatens to shoot his unfaithful wife to try and get her to the peak of fear, he trips on LSD(which he gets via prescription. LSD was actually used for medicinal purposes at this time) to spook himself, and finally gets a stroke of luck when he meets a deaf mute. You see, The Tingler's effects are broken if you scream, because screaming breaks the tension. But a deaf mute can't scream!!! This enables Price to obtain his own Tingler which looks like a big rubber lobster/centipede hybrid. It turns out to be indestructible and too hard to handle(like The Black Crows), and gives Price a wake up call about delving into such matters. Then the Tingler gets loose and runs amok in a movie theater. Sound like fun? It is. The science is completely absurd, but when has that ever been a problem? Price seems to really be enjoying himself and as usual turns in a great performance, especially in his tripping scene. A classic for a good reason.