Review of The Tingler (1959) by Bearlover — 29 Jun 2008

Absolute gem of a horror b-movie, the pinnacle of both William Castle's and Vincent Price's careers. The basic plot is wonderfully ludicrous - Price discovers that the tingling of the spine in states of extreme fear is due to the growth of a "tingler" -- a spinal parasite which can kill the host unless it is destroyed by screaming. The film is mostly black & white apart from a scene where a mute girl (who therefore can't scream and kill the tingler) is being systematically scrared to death by such devices as a bathful of vivid red blood. Notoriously, when first shown in the cinema, buzzers were put under some seats to give audience members tingles...

There's also a fantastic scene where Price takes acid (in 1959!- writer Robb White had heard about it from Aldous Huxley), and tries to scare himself so as to produce a tingler..."The walls, the walls!!!" he screams as he thinks they are closing in on him.

Pure unadulterated tacky fun...