William Castle is kind of the P.T. Barnum of B-movies. For his film THE TINGLER, buzzers were installed in theaters to give tiny shocks to audiences members, sending them leaping from their seats. He is best known for his horror films, but he also made Westerns and sci-fi pictures.
Frederick Loren (Vincent Price, HOUSE OF WAX) is a millionaire who invites five strangers to his creepy estate for a ghost party. He will pay the guests $10,000 each if they are able to stay the night. However, it is rumored that seven people have died in the house and their ghosts still remain. The guests include: young typist Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig, GIANT), astronaut Lance Schroeder (Richard Long, TV’s TWILIGHT ZONE), paranoid ghost believer Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr., THE KILLING), skeptical psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal, TOM, DICK & HARRY) and socialite newspaper reporter Ruth Bridgers (Julie Mitchum, 1956’s THE TEN COMMANDMENTS).
Loren is throwing the devious party for his young wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart, THE SCARLET HOUR). Frederick and Annabelle’s morbidly combative relationship is the key to the film’s success. Their actions and motivations are what drives the story and keeps us guessing from moment to moment.
For 1950s standards, the film is gruesome and gory. Vats of acid, severed heads, hanging corpses as well as ghosts all play a part. There’s one particular scare that will have you jumping out of your seat. The film cheats a bit with a bunch of contrivances, but nothing too egregious. The film gives us fairly cookie cutter protagonists to care about, but they work nonetheless. Frederick and Annabelle’s stormy relationship is the central part anyways. Price has never been better. He’s at his devious best. Ohmart is equally icy in her role. Many of the shocks and plots of modern horror films owe their origins to his morbid yarn. Elaborate kills and twisted madmen emerged from the dark here. Castle loved to shock his audience and we love him for it.