The Tingler (1959)

An obsessed pathologist discovers and captures a parasitic creature that grows when fear grips its host.

Director:

William Castle

Writer:

Robb White

Stars:

Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Vincent Price	...	Dr. Warren Chapin
Judith Evelyn	...	Mrs. Martha Ryerson Higgins
Darryl Hickman	...	David Morris
Patricia Cutts	...	Isabel Stevens Chapin
Pamela Lincoln	...	Lucy Stevens
Philip Coolidge	...	Oliver 'Ollie' Higgins

Storyline

Dr. Warren Chapin is a pathologist who regularly conducts autopsies on executed prisoners at the State prison. He has a theory that fear is the result of a creature that inhabits all of us. His theory is that the creature is suppressed by our ability to scream when fear strikes us. He gets a chance to test his theories when he meets Ollie and Martha Higgins, who own and operate a second-run movie theater. Martha is deaf and mute and if she is unable to scream, extreme fear should make the creature, which Chapin has called the Tingler, come to life and grow. Using LSD to induce nightmares, he begins his experiment.

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Plot Keywords:

fear | deaf mute | infidelity | spinal column | theatre audience | 

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Taglines:

When the screen screams you'll scream too...if you value your life!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

29 July 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

El aguijón de la muerte

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 North Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, William Castle Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) Stereo (partial)

Color:

Color (one scene) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

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Goofs

In almost every scene in which the Tingler appears, the wires maneuvering it are visible.

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Quotes

Lucy Stevens: I'm worried David, Isabel has been sweet to me all morning.
David Morris: Me too, she even said hello, she even smiled.
Lucy Stevens: So look out, the roof is going to fall in.

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Alternate Versions

Originally had a short sequence filmed partially in color. It was the scene when the deaf-mute Mrs. Higgins (Judith Evelyn), terrified by unknown forces, runs into a bathroom to hide and sees blood coming from the faucets of her sink and her bathtub filled with blood. Everything else in the scene is black and white except for the blood, which appears in garish red color - a typical William Castle gimmick. The USA home video release and the Turner Classic Movies print shown on Oct. 31, 2008 include the restored partial-color sequence. The short sequence is grainy and appears to have been inserted from an old deteriorated copy, or possibly a 16 mm print, as the rest of the movie's quality is crisp and sharp. Or possibly the image quality jump is due to an optical process or however the color was achieved, adding a generation of grain.

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Connections

Featured in Divine Trash (1998)

User Reviews

If You Ever Feel Fear, Scream to Save Your Life!

The coroner and scientist Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) is researching the shivering effect of fear with his assistant David Morris (Darryl Hickman). Dr. Warren is introduced to Ollie Higgins (Philip Coolidge), the relative of a criminal sentenced to the electric chair, while making the autopsy of the corpse, and he makes a comment about the tingler-effect to him. Ollie asks for a lift to Dr. Warner, and introduces his deaf-mute wife Martha Higgins (Judith Evelyn), who manages a theater of their own. Dr. Warner returns home, where he lives with his unfaithful and evil wife Isabel Stevens Chapin (Patricia Cutts) and her sweet sister Lucy Stevens (Pamela Lincoln). Dr. Warner, upset with the situation with his wife, threatens and uses her as a subject of his experiment. When Martha dies of fear, Dr. Warner makes her autopsy and finds a creature that lives inside every human being, feeds with fear and is controlled by the scream. Once Martha was not able to scream, the tingler was not rendered harmless and became enormous. When the living being escapes, Dr. Warner and Ollie chase it in a crowded movie theater.

"The Tingler" is very hilarious and cheesy B-movie, but with a great potential of cult-movie. I can imagine the behavior of the real audiences with the instructions of the character of Vincent Price ordering in the dark to scream in the movie theaters to save their lives, while he is looking for the tingler on the screen, and a device installed underneath their seats is vibrating in the scene. The flawed screenplay is silly but also very, very funny indeed. There are two great moments along the story: the ahead-of-time acid trip of Dr. Warren Chapin (in 1959); and the red colored bathtub full of blood, the unique colored scene along the whole black and white film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Força Diabólica" ("Evil Force")