Schlock-O-Rama: The Gimmicks Of William Castle
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William Castle was the auteur of schlock cinema, regularly using a whole array of bizarre gimmicks to drawn audiences to his movies. During the 1950s and 1960s the use of gimmicks to sell movies was used to greater, or often lesser effect by film-makers and studios. From trying to enhance the sensorial experience with techniques like Smell-O-Vision and Aroma-Rama in the late 50s, to split-screen Duo-Vision which was taken to its extreme in 1973's Wicked, Wicked, which was shot entirely using the split-screen technique. Making it virtually impossible for viewers to follow the story on screen. But the undisputed king of movie gimmicks is William Castle, from early 3-D to all manner of bizarre ballyhoo Castle brought the carnie to the cinema. Turning his low-budget schlock horror b-movies into entertaining events.
Castle's first known gimmick was for his 1958 movie Macabre, where every audience member was handed a ‘Fright Insurance Policy’ backed by Lloyd's Of London, which guaranteed to pay $1,000 if they "died of fright" during the movie. At some selected showings of the movie Castle even had ushers dressed in surgical scrubs and ambulances parked outside the movie theatres. |
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In 1959 Castle released House On Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price. In a key scene towards the end of the movie, Price's character uses a plastic skeleton on pullies and strings to scare his wife and chase her into a vat of acid. Castle mirrored the scene on the screen by having the same set-up installed in cinemas. He called the gimmick "Emergo!", in which a giant glow-in-the-dark skeleton would "emerge" from a box, and be whisked above the audiences heads on strings. Thus giving the illusion that the skeleton had emerged from the screen and into the movie theatre. The gimmick worked, and the movie was a great success. Although it didn't frighten all audience members, many of them went in armed with popcorn and candy he throw at the skeleton as it floated above their heads. It's said that Alfred Hitchcock, when advertising Psycho (1960), used gimmicks to entice audiences after seeing the success that Castle's cheap carnival tricks had.
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In the same year as House On Haunted Hill, Castle released The Tingler (1959), also starring Vincent Price. Price plays a doctor who discovers a parasite that lives in every human’s spine and feeds on fear, which he calls a Tingler. If the host doesn’t scream, the Tingler will kill them. One of the tag-line to the movie stated, "Guaranteed: The Tingler will break loose in the theatre while you are in the audience. As you enter the theatre you will receive instructions... hoe to guard yourself against attack by THE TINGLER!" Thus setting-up audiences for Castle's most audacious gimmick so far, "Percepto!" Castle even came on screen to introduce the movie, and warn audience members of the tingling sensation they may feel, and how to save their lives from The Tingler by screaming!
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The idea of "Percepto!" was that some audience members would be able to perceive, the Tingler when it escaped off the screen and into the audience. This was achieved by small vibrating devices (which were surplus WWII airplane wing de-icers) installed under some seats, which gave the person seated in it a "tingling" shock. At the key point in the movie, all the lights in the cinema would go out, and the screen would go black, Price's voice would boom out, "Ladies and gentlemen, please do not panic. But scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this theatre!" This neat interactive gimmick meant that for the first time in the history or horror movies, the audience were being encouraged to help kill the movie monster. To add to the experience, Castle even had stooges planted in the audience who were instructed to scream and faint. They'd be then carried off on stretchers to awaiting ambulances outside the theatre.
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Castle's next movie was 13 Ghosts in 1960, his gimmick for this? A free "Ghost Viewer", so that audiences could see each of the movie's 13 ghosts, a gimmick called "Illusion-O!" As with The Tingler, Castle introduced the movie and explained the use of "Illusion-O!"
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Inspired by the red and blue glasses used for watching 3D movies, the Ghost Viewer was a card containing red and blue cellophane strips. The movie was in black and white, except for when the ghosts appeared, when the screen was tinted pale blue. The "brave" in the audience could view the ghosts through the red cellophane strip, which would enhance their view of the ghosts. The weaker willed audience members could hide the ghosts from their view by watching the movie through the blue strip.
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The gimmicks kept coming thick and fast, as with 1961's Homicidal. Which was released with a built in "Fright Break" that gave "cowards" too scared to stay to the end a chance to leave the movie theatre, before the climax. The movie paused for 45 seconds, giving people the opportunity to leave and get a full refund on their ticket. Except, it wasn't quite as simple as that. Anyone who chose to leave had to follow a "yellow streak", a set of yellow foot-prints running up the theatre aisles, and out into the foyer, where they were greeted my theatre staff who would lead them to "Coward's Corner". When they reached Coward's Corner, they crossed yellow lines with the stencilled message, "Cowards Keep Walking". While loud-speakers announced "Watch the chicken! Watch him shiver in Coward's Corner!"
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Once they had been through the humiliation and indignity of going to Coward's Corner, a yellow cardboard booth in the corner of the foyer, the unfortunate victim of Castle's gimmick was forced to sign a sign a yellow certificate stating, "I am a bona fide coward", before they were allowed to get their money back. Needless to say less than 1% of audience members who ever saw Homicidal ever dared to take the coward's way out.
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Next, also in 1961, came Mr. Sardonicus and a new gimmick. This one Castle called a "Punishment Poll", and was another supposedly interactive element to the end of the movie. Audiences were handed out glow-in-the dark polling cards with a thumb on them, so that they could vote as to whether Mr. Sardonicus gets to live or die! At the appropriate point in the movie, prompted by the on-screen appearance of Castle, the audience where encouraged to hold up their polling cards, facing the projectionist. Depending on the vote, the fate of Mr. Sardonicus was sealed, and the relevant ending was played.
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As the 60s rolled-on, audiences began to become more sophisticated in their tastes. Plus Castle began to venture into less sensationalist b-movie schlock horror, and made a few more "serious" movies. However, it wasn't the end of the gimmick, as he still utilised some for a few other of his movies before the died-out all together. They just didn't have the impact, imagination or grandiose scale of earlier gimmicks. 1962's fantasy comedy Zotz!, in which a man finds a magical amulet, audience members were given full-size plastic replica of the amulet as a promotional item. When making the Cold War spy thriller 13 Frightened Girls in 1962, Castle advertised for actresses from 13 different countries to compete to play the parts.
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For the 1964 movie Strait-Jacket, starring Joan Crawford, he had cardboard axes handed out to the audience. One of the last gimmicks Castle pulled to promote a movie, that was anywhere near the standards of the earlier ones, was for the 1965 horror I Saw What You Did. Also starring Joan Crawford, whose star was on the wane. The movie is about teen girls unknowingly prank calling a murderer, and so Castle had a phone number printed in newspaper adverts, for people to call. When called, a female voice told you that she "saw what you did", and set up a date at your local movie theatre for a time that the movie was being shown. The gimmick caused phone-lines to become jammed, and after complaints from telephone companies, the gimmick was dropped. Instead Castle had "Shock Sections" set-up in theatres, where brave audience members could strap themselves in for the full duration of the movie, with seat-belts.
By 1968, the gimmicks came to an end for Castle. He moved into producing rather than directing, and as a producer he made the psychological horror classic Rosemary's Baby (1968), directed by Roman Polanski. Castle was now fully established as part of the mainstream, serious Hollywood machine, with Rosemary's Baby being nominated for and winning both Academy Awards and Golden Globes. But still it will be his early movies and the gimmicks he used to to promote than that Castle will always be most remembered for in the history of cinema. |
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