Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Tingler Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson October 21, 2018

There was an article by film writer Chris Garcia in the late nineties about a Texas couple who gave a William Castle retrospective in the theater they owned and tried to simulate the same experience as the original audience. As he prepared to screen an archival print of The Tingler at the Alamo Drafthouse auditorium, co-owner Tim League randomly inserted electronic buzzers under a whole bunch of seats. When late in the film Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) announces: "Attention! The Tingler is loose in this theater! Scream! Please, scream for your life!" League pressed seven switches in the projection booth, giving unsuspecting patrons an unexpected jolt. This is quite similar to what that showman and impresario Castle did to the press critics before the The Tingler opened. Castle wired 150 seats (45 volts each) with this special "Percepto!" device, a gimmick that exhibitors would continue across the country. The Tingler is definitely a film that tinkers and plays with its audience. Much like Hitchcock in his films' trailers and before his TV show, Castle was a major authorial presence and significant marketer of his work. Both loved to manipulate his audience. Castle's signature is felt, for example, when Dr. Chapin puts his unfaithful wife Isabel (Patricia Cutts) at gunpoint and sequesters her in his laboratory. He shoots her in the stomach but is she really dead? She doesn't make a sound but we still she her breathing. Why isn't there any blood? Chapin carries her on a slab and sure enough, she pops up! Castle plays this up for amusement and estranged husband and wife even have a good laugh together.

The Tingler refers to a long lobster-like organism in the body that takes over the vertebrae when a person experiences fright or fear. A scream can prevent it from bending the spinal column and potentially destroy it. Martha Higgins (Judith Evelyn), a deaf-mute whose the wife of movie theater owner Ollie Higgins (Philip Coolidge), is one of Chapin's patients in fear. He gives her barbiturates to help her sleep better but they only seem to perpetuate her into a sleepwalking nightmare.

The Tingler was proclaimed by critics to be the first picture to feature LSD. It's interesting to see how Price's character experiments and uses it (some of the lab scenes are the funniest and best in the film). The film gets campier as Warren and Isabel quarrel and play potentially fatal tricks on the other. The film isn't all pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo, though. Castle demonstrates what a true cinephile he was when Henry King's 1921 silent film, Tol'able David, is shown in the basement of the Higgins theater. Although I haven't seen this early King picture, the climatic scenes that were screened to viewers within the film are very effective since they coincide nicely with the suspense the Tingler generates as it moves up a woman's leg. The Tingler gave Price a role as the eccentric surgeon/scientist that he absolutely nailed. The supporting cast is solid, especially Judith Evelyn, who would have made a great performer in the silent era.

The Tingler Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! Factory has released The Tingler on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25. The 1959 film appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. During Castle's intro (Screenshot #10), the grain sparkles like glitter. Wilfrid M. Cline's black-and-white photography looks very strong with excellent grayscale. There are some noirish shots (e.g., #4, 13, et al.) where the blacks are ultra-crisp. There are no big image stability issues, although I did notice some flicker around background objects. Some tiny white specks and dirt creep up in one scene but this is a very clean print. Cline incorporates one scene with color (blood red in #s 19 & 20). Here, the image is noticeably grainier with a very thick and dense texture. Shout! has encoded the main feature at a mean bitrate of 25995 kbps. My video score is 4.25.

Shout! provides its standard twelve chapter markers for the 82-minute feature.

The Tingler Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! supplies one sound track: a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1674 kbps, 24-bit). (There is no "Stereo Scream" within the film, although you can view and listen to two scream snippets in the bonus.) This is a very clear-sounding monaural mix. I thought I heard background hiss in Chapin's lab but it was his tape recorder! Dialogue is flat but authentic and intelligible. As film historian Steve Haberman notes in his commentary, composer Von Dexter had a short career in movies, only writing scores for William Castle's films. His music for The Tingler is very foreboding and mimics the intended emotions the audience feels about the characters and their predicaments. There are a number of high and low sounds fluctuating between the musical cues and the dialogue. The track shows very good range and depth for its age.

Shout!'s usual English SDH are available through the menu or via remote.

The Tingler Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary by Author/Historian Steve Haberman - Haberman delivers his usual mini bios and filmographies of the movie's players. He also discusses stunts and gimmicks Castle employed on his other films, particularly House on Haunted Hill. There are several lulls of silence where Haberman seems to be taking a break. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW I Survived the Tingler – An Interview with Pamela Lincoln (4:10, upscaled to 1080p) - Lincoln portrays Lucy Stevens, Darryl Hickman's love interest in The Tingler and wife off-screen. While this brief interview is a home video premiere, it looks like it was recorded in the late nineties. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Unleashing "Percepto" – An Interview with Publicist Barry Lorie (2:58, upscaled to 1080p) - Lorie muses about the buzzards installed under the seats. This was also filmed during the early DVD years but makes its first appearance on the digital format. In English, not subtitled.

• Scream for Your Lives! William Castle and "The Tingler" (15:38, upscaled to 1080p) - a vintage featurette that was produced for the 1999 Sony DVD. It includes interviews with some of the actors as well as a Vincent Price biographer. In English, not subtitled.

• William Castle's Drive-In "Scream!" Audio (0:50, upscaled to 1080p)

• Original "Scream" Scene (0:45, upscaled to 1080p)

• The Original 1959 Theatre Lobby Recording (2:39)

• Theatrical Trailer (2:23, upscaled to 1080p)

• Still Gallery (5:53, 1080p) - fifty-two images consisting of original posters, color lobby cards, production stills, and behind-the-scenes photos of Castle and his crew on the set of The Tingler.

The Tingler Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Tingler is often considered one of William Castle's better-made works and I encourage you to check this out from "The Master of Shock." In the UK, Powerhouse Films will very shortly put out William Castle at Columbia Volume One, a limited edition box set that includes a different commentary than the one here. It retains several of the featurettes on the Shout! disc and adds a couple new interviews. It does not port over, however, this pretty informative commentary by Steve Haberman. The Tingler is RECOMMENDED to fans of Castle and Price. Completists will want to own both the Shout! and Powerhouse set. (It doesn't appear that the latter will give it a stand-alone release.)