[neverending]

One of the great horror directors of the 50s-60s is William Castle. Often dismissed as a "gimmicky showman" he really could direct effectively. True, he did have the soul of a showman, and often times thought up outrageous gimmicks to help sell his films, such as "Percepto" - seats that were wired with buzzers and "Emergo" - hidden skeletons that flew over the audience's heads, but his best films contained really spooky sequences.

Some of Castle's films:

Shanks (1974)
Project X (1968)
The Spirit Is Willing (1967)
The Busy Body (1967)
Let's Kill Uncle (1966)
I Saw What You Did (1965)
The Night Walker (1964)
Strait-Jacket (1964)
The Old Dark House (1963)
13 Frightened Girls! (1963)
Zotz! (1962)
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Homicidal (1961)
13 Ghosts (1960)
The Tingler (1959)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Macabre (1958)

My favorite will always be The Tingler- not only because it features the great Vincent Price on an acid trip, but also some really spooky images, particularly in the extended set piece toward the end. I recently learned that Price and the female lead in the Tingler- Judith Evelyn- had appeared together on Broadway as the leads in the original stage production of Gaslight!

Castle's films may not have been the scariest films to come out of Hollywood- but they were always enjoyable. You had FUN watching them! William Castle knew how to entertain!

What are your favorite Castle films, and what do you like about them?