Pathologist Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) notices that in subjects terrified at the moment of death, the lower vertebrae are often shattered, he discovers that the tingling at the base of the spine during moment of fear is caused by a parasite... one which can only be dispelled by screaming.
Eventually, a Tingler escapes into a movie theatre; During the initial cinema run, it escaped into the theatre that you were in, thanks to William Castle's innovative 'process', Percepto!
Given that this is Price \ Castle, its a wonder I've never actually sat down and watched this one... I love vincent price, and I really love William Castle... My dream (I'm talking "if I win the lottery", dream) is to operate a revival cinema, kitted out with all the great old movie gimmicks. Center to this plan, would be William Castle's movies, and the jewel in my cinemas crown would be that EVERY seat would be wired for Percepto!
Percepto! for those who don't know, involved fitting certain seats in the auditorium with a WWI army-surplus airplane wing de-icer (A powerful vibrating motor) at a key moment in the movie, all lights (except the legally required exit signs) would be killed, and the motors would be pulsed. Just for fun, I've linked the scene in question below (the silent footage at the begining is from a film-within-the-film).
Seriously, how much fun is that?!
Okay, gushing aside, watching at home, without a hysterical audience and a vibrator up your bottom, how well does the tingler hold up as a movie?
Amazingly well, depending how you feel about 50's schlock horror.
Price, of course, is wonderful, and Castle was genuinely great at making these things. There's a great mini-twist involving the "haunting" of a mute woman (her lack of vocal chords are key to the script; If you cant scream, you cant protect yourself from the tingler).
The effects are... as you'd expect. The rubber tingler in the above clip is fairly typical. There is one exception to this rule though. The movie has a second gimmick, one that isn't mentioned in the trailers, and which works at home too (although, I'm sure, not as well as it did in 1959). I'll not ruin it here, but you'll know it when you see it (bathroom). After you have seen it, go read up on how it was done; you'll be impressed.
NOTE: Watched on the 30th, reviewed on the 31st.
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