Let me start by telling you, darlings, the one reason to see this film is the great Judith Evelyn. Just as she stole "Rear Window" five years before, with her portrayal of spinster Miss Lonelyhearts, so she does here as Mrs. Martha Ryerson Higgins, a deaf mute. Her big scene is the entire show, I can tell you.
As for "The Tingler," well, it is a lobster-like creature that has to do with the nervous system and can be removed from a person's spine. Everyone is alleged to have one, and if I recall correctly--and I may not, so let tomorrow prove it--the only way to stop it is to scream one's lungs out.
In the theater, there was a device used called "Peercepto," in which various audience chairs were wired to give off slight electrical shocks. And, at some point, Vincent Price--or is it William Castle?--screams out, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Tingler is in the theater. Scream!!!!!!!!!!"
I once saw this in a theater, and while I did not experience Peercepto, someone, a staff or selected audience member, ran though the place with something clutching at him, screaming his head off. Ah, the fun times of youth.............
So, this will be a very special "Svengoolie," girls! Meanwhile, I cannot wait to see what Sventoonie is going to deconstruct tomorrow.
How about Louise Fletcher, as 1980's "Mama Dracula???????????????"
Yes, let us raise a glass in honor of Louise Fletcher...
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
ReplyDeleteI agree. I wish the Film Forum here
would do a Louise Fletcher Festival.
But the current programmers are clueless.
I wonder if they take suggestions...
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
ReplyDeleteI think they do, but do they really act on them?