"The Tingler" is one of the best of the gimmicky horror thrillers churned out by William Castle for Columbia in the late 50s and early 60s. Vincent Price lends considerable class to the proceedings as a coroner convinced that there is a creature that grows in the spine (the Tingler of the title) when humans are unable to release their fear through screaming.
Price, 51 at the time, is a good guy for a change, saddled with an evil two-timing wife who attempts to kill him with the tingler he surgically removes from the corpse of a deaf mute. The dead woman's husband, an odd little man named Ollie, provides the most fun with his terror filled facial contortions at the film's climax, but there's a giggle or two to be had when Price, under the influence of narcotics, believes the walls are closing in on him. "The walls! The walls!" he cries before collapsing across the desk in his lab. I collapsed before he did--with laughter. "This man," I thought to myself, "is 51-years-old, and THIS is his career.
In addition to providing an unintentional guffaw or two, "The Tingler" works up some genuine chills, making it one of Castle's best B shockers.
Price, 51 at the time, is a good guy for a change, saddled with an evil two-timing wife who attempts to kill him with the tingler he surgically removes from the corpse of a deaf mute. The dead woman's husband, an odd little man named Ollie, provides the most fun with his terror filled facial contortions at the film's climax, but there's a giggle or two to be had when Price, under the influence of narcotics, believes the walls are closing in on him. "The walls! The walls!" he cries before collapsing across the desk in his lab. I collapsed before he did--with laughter. "This man," I thought to myself, "is 51-years-old, and THIS is his career.
In addition to providing an unintentional guffaw or two, "The Tingler" works up some genuine chills, making it one of Castle's best B shockers.