Here, we finally come to the ignominious end of William Castle’s career. After Rosemary’s Baby, Paramount kinda threw Castle under the bus, and, to add insult to injury, all the major studios finally wised up and started making the same B-pictures he was making only with an A-budget, evidenced by the teaser ads currently pushing our feature film right off the page. Yeah, JAWS absolutely buried BUG at the box-office, but this bizarre, fever dream of a flick is a lot better than you’ve heard. Trust me.
Bug (1975) William Castle Productions :: Paramount Pictures / P: William Castle / D: Jeannot Szwarc / W: William Castle, Thomas Page (novel) / C: Michel Hugo / E: Allan Jacobs / M: Charles Fox / S: Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles, Richard Gilliland, Jamie Smith-Jackson, Patty McCormack, Jesse Vint
John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust is one ambitious, apocalyptic mind-f*ck of a movie that I both love and fear equally. Now, William Castle did not direct or produce this scathing look at old school Hollywood, but he has a magnificent, glorified cameo as the Cecil B. Demillian director of the ill-fated War and Peace knock-off, whose sound-stage collapsed out from under him. He also had a wonderful cameo in Shampoo. Both films are highly recommended, folks.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
The Day of the Locust (1975) Long Road :: Paramount Pictures / P: Jerome Hellman / AP: Sheldon Schrager / D: John Schlesinger / W: Waldo Salt, Nathanael West (novel) / C: Conrad Hall / E: Jim Clark / M: John Barry / S: William Atherton, Karen Black, Donald Sutherland, Burgess Meredith, Billy Barty, Richard Dysart, Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna
I believe I was born with a defective gene that explains away my preference for the Tottenham stomp of the Dave Clark Five over the Mersey beat of the Beatles. Perhaps this same mental defect explains my complete and total indifference to Rosemary’s Baby. Now, now. I don’t hate the movie. It has merit. It just, I don’t know, never really clicked for me. (My lifelong aversion to Mia Farrow probably isn’t helping matters, here, either. The old Beelzefudds were a hoot, though.) That’s me shrugging right now.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) William Castle Productions :: Paramount Pictures / P: William Castle / AP: Dona Holloway / D: Roman Polanski / W: Roman Polanski, Ira Levin (novel) / C: William A. Fraker / E: Sam O’Steen, Bob Wyman / M: Krzysztof Komeda / S: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Cook Jr.
The Spirit is Willing was my personal introduction to the kookie and ghoulish world of William Castle, seen many, many moons ago at the old Rivoli theater during some weekend matinee re-release in the early 1970’s. Before finally seeing it again, all I really remembered about it was a family moving into a haunted house, where a love-triangle-entangled trio of ghosts still lurk and cause all kinds of mischief; but the strongest and most impressionable image to four or five year old me was a slow-motion meat-cleaver massacre that explains the reason for the ghosts — and probably goes a long, long way in explaining my slightly bent taste in film. And for that, Mr. Castle, I am eternally grateful to you for properly corrupting my childhood.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
The Spirit is Willing (1967) William Castle Productions :: Paramount Pictures / P: William Castle / AP: Dona Holloway / D: William Castle / W: Ben Starr, Nathaniel Benchley (Novel) / C: Harold E. Stine / E: Edwin H. Bryant / M: Vic Mizzy / S: Sid Caesar, Vera Miles, Barry Gordon, Jill Townsend, John McGiver, John Astin, Robert Donner, Cass Daley
Sandwiched between two Joan Crawford gone wild vehicles, Barbara Stanwyck signed on and toned it down for this Bill Castle psychological thriller, teaming up with her former husband, Robert Taylor. This would be Stanwyck’s final feature and a rare Castle film I haven’t managed to see yet.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
The Night Walker (1964) William Castle Productions :: Universal Pictures / P: William Castle / AP: Dona Holloway / D: William Castle / W: Robert Bloch / C: Harold E. Stine / E: Edwin H. Bryant / M: Vic Mizzy / S: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Judi Meredith, Hayden Rorke, Marjorie Bennett, Lloyd Bochner
Apparently, the original The Old Dark House (1932) helped inspire artist Charles Addams to untold heights of ghoulishness. And so, he was recruited to design the opening title credits for this Castle / Hammer co-produced remake. Alas, the film is kinda all downhill from there. Now, I like Tom Poston, and found Zotz oddly endearing, but this version of The Old Dark House kinda stinks, locked in a morass where tedious and insipid meet on the graph. All is not lost, however, as its co-feature, Maniac, is another Hammer Castle cash-in that’s well worth your time.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
The Old Dark House (1963) William Castle Productions :: Hammer Film Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: William Castle, Anthony Hinds / AP: Dona Holloway / D: William Castle / W: Robert Dillon, J.B. Priestley (novel) / C: Arthur Grant / E: James Needs / S: Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Janette Scott, Joyce Grenfell, Mervyn Johns, Fenella Fielding, Peter Bull
Maniac (1963) Hammer Film Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: Jimmy Sangster / D: Michael Carreras / W: Jimmy Sangster / C: Wilkie Cooper / E: Tom Simpson / S: Kerwin Mathews, Nadia Gray, Liliane Brousse, Donald Houston, George Pastell
Despite assurances that the audience could decide the fate of our dastardly protagonist, no matter what rumor you’ve heard that out there, somewhere, an audience let Mr. Sardonicus off the hook, there is no evidence of an alternate, happy ending ever being shot let alone shown — except for that dramatic re-enactment on Wiseguy in what was perhaps the strangest TV season of episodic TV ever. Does anyone else remember that?
Also, somewhat coincidentally, as far as Mr. Sardonicus’ excellent co-feature is concerned, Jimmy Sangster might have been shooting for the same fearful beats as Alfred Hitchcock and Henri-Georges Clouzot, but, Scream of Fear (and Nightmare, and The Snorkel, and Maniac), I think, hews a helluva lot closer to the five-car contrivance twist-pile-ups of William Castle. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. Just giving credit where credit is due.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
Mr. Sardonicus (1961) William Castle Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: William Castle / AP: Dona Holloway / D: William Castle / W: Ray Russell / C: Burnett Guffey / E: Edwin H. Bryant / M: Von Dexter / S: Ronald Lewis, Audrey Dalton, Guy Rolfe, Oskar Homolka, Erika Peters, Lorna Hanson
Scream of Fear (1961) Hammer Film Productions :: Columbia Pictures / EP: Michael Carreras / P: Jimmy Sangster / D: Seth Holt / W: Jimmy Sangster / E: Eric Boyd-Perkins / M: Clifton Parker / S: Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee, John Serret
How about we just let the man speak for himself this round:
Video courtesy of videojaxx.
As Rowdy Roddy Piper once said, “Just put on the damned glasses!”
“I see dead people. AAAAAAUUUGGGGHHHH!”
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
13 Ghosts (1960) William Castle Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: William Castle / D: William Castle / W: Robb White / C: Joseph F. Biroc / E: Edwin H. Bryant / M: Von Dexter / S: Donald Woods, Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner, Rosemary DeCamp, Margaret Hamilton
Stop! Look! And Laugh! (1960) Harry Romm Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: Harry A. Romm, Martha Vera Romm / D: Don Appell / W: Saul Ward, Monte Collins / C: William O. Steiner / E: Jerome Thoms / M: Mischa Bakaleinikoff / S: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Paul Winchell,
Not since the four repeaters for King Kong vs. Godzilla have I been more disappointed in an unearthed ad campaign than what I found for The Tingler, perhaps William Castle’s most gonzoidal film of all time, relegated to second feature status to an also-ran Yul Brynner romantic comedy. However, unlike Emergo, looks like the Grand Theater took the plunge on Percepto and wired up a few seats.
And that, my friends, is awesome covered in awesome sauce.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
Once More, With Feeling! (1960) Stanley Donen Films :: Columbia Pictures / P: Stanley Donen / D: Stanley Donen / W: Harry Kurnitz / C: Georges Périnal / E: Jack Harris / S: Yul Brynner, Kay Kendall, Geoffrey Toone, Maxwell Shaw, Shirley Anne Field
The Tingler (1959) William Castle Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: William Castle / D: William Castle / W: Robb White / C: Wilfred M. Cline / E: Chester W. Schaeffer / M: Von Dexter / S: Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman, Patricia Cutts, Pamela Lincoln, Philip Coolidge
When Bill Schloss got into showbiz, he decided a name change was in order to give the old nom-de-plume a little more punch to get noticed; and thus, William Castle was born. And after cutting his teeth on a ton of B-features in the 1940s and ’50s, the director was intrigued by the huge success of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s imported thriller, Diabolique — especially it’s twist ending, and the promotional efforts that not only teased the frightful climax but at the same stroke worked very hard to keep that final shock / reveal a secret. But most important of all, Castle was keenly interested in the massive lines forming around the block wherever it played! With that as an inspiration the director decided to try his hand at producing his own fright flick and an industry legend was born — ready, willing and able to cash in on the bally-ho and the bullshit in a string of gimmick-driven pictures for over a decade, including this fantastic feature from the spring of 1959, House on Haunted Hill; an awesome Vincent Price-fueled spook-show teamed up with a standard police procedural, where a couple of hard-nosed cops try to track down a firebug before he strikes again. And with this latest feature, Castle also unleashed a new process called Emergo:
Video courtesy of brutallodotcom.
Seems an inflatable skeleton was trolled out over the audience during the film’s climax, but, alas, I fear the Capitol Theater might have opted out of using it since there is no mention of Emergo in the ads, meaning their patrons had to settle for just watching it with someone with warm hands — whatever the heck that means?!
With or without the gimmicks, the King of Schlock — or the Poor Man’s Hitchcock, call him what you will — the one thing you can say about any of Castle’s films was they were seldom — if ever — boring, and always a wonky good time.
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!
House on Haunted Hill (1959) William Castle Productions :: Allied Artists / P: William Castle / AP: Robb White / D: William Castle / W: Robb White / C: Carl E. Guthrie / E: Roy Livingston / M: Von Dexter / S: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr.
Arson for Hire (1959) Broidy Pictures Corporation :: Allied Artists / P: William F. Broidy / AP: Erwin Yessin / D: Thor Brook / W: Tom Hubbard / C: William Margulies / E: Herbert R. Hoffman / S: Steve Brodie, Lyn Thomas, Tom Hubbard, Wendy Wilde
While trolling around the Morgue of a small Micropolitan Newspaper, our boy efforts to unearth a few hidden Artifacts, Mementos, Eye-Candy and Matinee Double-Features and Dusk 'til Dawn Drive-In All Night Trash-O-Ramas on the genre films he loves from the days of yore.
If you detest the Infinity Scroll feature as much as I do, feel free to click on the Monthly Archive Links directly below to peruse the latest Updates at a much more reasonable load rate.
Scenes from the Morgue 
