Narrative - Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

 

Fig 1.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007) Directer: Jeffery Schwarz

Castle was a director and producer of low budget B-movies, but he felt that just watching the film wasn't enough. Castle was best known for conjuring up various gimmicks to put in his films to attract an audience and to create a greater amount of shock. "Castle's homegrown genius lay in knowing that the movies weren't enough" (Variety, 2007)  The gimmicks started with his film 'Macabre' (1958) where he offered $1000 life insurance to anyone who died of fright in the theatre and nurses were standing by just in case, as well as to add more tension. Castle's gimmick got him an audience and from then on he would dream a new gimmick for every new film. ".....the movies he made aren't always as well remembered as the way he sold them to the public" (The New York Times, 2007) Film after film Castle pulled in his audience, but this was not due to the films narrative, it was more the gimmick that accompanied it.

 

Fig 2.

Although Castle never made it as an A-movie director, his involvement as producer of 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) earned him a great amount of credibility amounst his peers. Castle stood aside as director on 'Rosemary's Baby'  for Roman Polanski even though he had a huge desire to direct the movie. Overall 'Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story' (although fast passed) is a fun look at a director that was full of life but never quite made the A-movie he would like to have. He did though do everything in his power to have fun and entertain.

 

Fig 3.

Trailer





Bibliography

Spine Tingler! The Willaim Castle Story, Variety, 2007, [Online] avaliable at http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935479?refcatid=31 [Accessed 11 October 2011]

Spine Tingler! The Willaim Castle Story, The New York Times, 2007, [Online] avaliable at http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/422962/Spine-Tingler-The-William-Castle-Story/overview?ex=1202533200&en=02a1f18a02d640f8&ei=5070&emc=eta1 [Accessed 11 October 2011]

Image Bibliography

Fig 1 . Spine Tingler! The Willaim Castle Story, DVD cover, 2007, [photography] http://media.screened.com/uploads/0/12/16021-spine-tingler-the-william-castle-story_large.jpg

Fig 2 . Spine Tingler! The Willaim Castle Story, Movie Still, 2007, [photography] http://www.joblo.com/images_arrownews/williamcastle.jpg

Fig 3 . Spine Tingler! The Willaim Castle Story, Movie Still, 2007, [photography] http://www.filmcritic.com/features/assets_c/2010/04/tingler-thumb-560xauto-28937.jpg