The Tingler (1959)

A coroner (Vincent Price) conducts ethically compromised experiments on the nature of fear and on how it correlates to the crushed vertebrae he’s found in some of his subjects, (not that he’s ever bothered to report any of them! Who would ever believe it?)

He’s also got problems at home: His cheating wife (Patricia Cutts) is standing in the way of the marriage (and inheritance) of her younger sister (Pamela Lincoln) to his research assistant (Darryl Hickman.)

By taking X-rays of his wife while under unusual circumstances he detects what he thinks might even be a living thing which he calls the tingler.

He theorizes that screaming is a natural way to relieve fear and defeat the tingler; and he attempts to further experiment by self-inducing a bad LSD trip; though he ruins the experiment when he can’t help screaming.

The solution must be, then, to find a subject who will not be able to scream.

Would a deafmute co-owner of a revival theater with extreme hematophobia met by chance be a suitable subject for further experimentation?

Watch and find out!

Overly nasty for such a goofy premise, the film features the poisonous relationship between Price and his wife typical of similar William Castle productions. Add to that the clearly unethical, unscientific behavior of its (maybe sympathetic, maybe not) main protagonist; but it’s still all obviously meant to be in good fun.

The creature design, though simple, remains nice and creepy, even when its cheap means of animation is severely limited.

Nevertheless, it arguably seems to have been influential in later, better-produced, better critically acclaimed stuck-in-an-enclosed-space-with-a-creepy-crawly such as Alien or They Came from Within, (to just name a couple.)

Obviously, none of it was meant to be taken seriously; and it certainly doesn’t help for more in-depth discussion that the premise is not better explored.

How easy would it have been to give the story a Lovecraftian From Beyond spin where the tingler is the projection of an invisible creature from a parallel dimension? But, as it turns, out no explanation is ever offered on how the tingler comes to be, or how one has never been detected before.

William Castle came up with three gimmicks this time: Not only ‘Percepto’ (consisting of randomly assigned vibrating theater seats,) but the introduction of a short, blood-red tinted sequence in the middle of an otherwise Black and White feature and, also, a ‘screaming break’.

Considered by some to be a Bad Film (mostly it's just in bad taste,) it’s still a well-established Cult Classic. Other than that nasty, acidic flavor it’s a perfect introduction to Horror for beginners looking for something nifty, light and fun.

Also with Judith Evelyn and Philip Coolidge