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:

SEE - The screen's first BLOOD BATH IN COLOR!

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Genres:

Horror

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Did You Know?

Trivia

William Castle: [gimmick] Whenever blood-curdling screams occurred in the movie, hidden buzzers vibrated the seats. (This feature was called "Percepto.") Shills planted in the audience let out their own screams.

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Goofs

At 36 minutes, as Dr. Chapin is dictating his experimental protocol into a tape recorder, he states that the average injection of LSD will be 50 micromilligrams. Experienced researchers would not use a double metric prefix of "micro-" (one millionth) plus "milli-" (one thousandth). They would simply combine them into "50 nanograms" for the overall 50 billionths of a gram being administered.

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Quotes

Isabel Stevens Chapin: I'm tired, I think I'll go to bed.
Dr. Warren Chapin: Stay up a bit, who knows? The next time you go to sleep it might be forever.

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Alternate Versions

Columbia provided a slightly revised version for drive-ins. The black-out sequence with Vincent Price saying the The Tingler is loose in the theatre, is replaced with black footage with William Castle saying that The Tingler is loose in the drive-in and actors screaming that The Tingler is in the back seat. The Columbia exchanges could simply splice in the replacement footage to make an existing print suitable for drive-in bookings.

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Connections

Featured in TJ and the All Night Theatre: The Tingler (1982)

User Reviews

Spine tingling terror. Just scream.

Directed and hyped by William Castle. Proof he is a master. Vincent Price is a pathologist that discovers that, when in a state of extreme fear, an organism grows along a person's spine enlarging up to the neck. The only thing that will stop the growth is the sound of screaming.

Along with Price are Darryl Hickman and Pamela Lincoln. This is a real gimmicky film, but still effective. Well acted by Price, one of his very best. Still creepy after all these years.

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