Period 1/2: We will complete our viewing of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Since we'll need a little over an hour to complete the film, we will move to the library computer lab after the film and complete/turn in your short film script. This is the first deadline. I will not penalize students who need the extra holiday weekend to complete their scripts. Nevertheless, the script will be due today or Wednesday next week (May 31).
There will be a final exam (although the course is not over) on Friday, June 2. See the post above for details as to what will be covered on the exam.
HOMEWORK: See above. Additionally, please review and take notes on the following subject: William Castle. In the COMMENT section of this post, for homework, please write your comment/thoughts about some of the films found at the links. You may, of course, see a complete William Castle film and write about that as well.
Competing with a growing television audience, filmmakers in the 1950's had to entice viewers into seeing their films. Trailers were the ticket! The worse the film, the greater need for an effective trailer. Of the best promoters of his directing and producing work, William Castle looms over all others.
"William Schloss was born in New York City. Schloss means "castle" in German, and William Castle probably chose to translate his surname into English to avoid the discrimination often encountered by Jewish entertainers of his time. He spent most of his teenage years working on Broadway in a number of jobs. He left for Hollywood at the age of 23, going on to direct his first film when he was 29. He also worked an as assistant to Orson Welles, doing much of the location work for Welles' noir film, The Lady from Shanghai."
Castle was famous for directing low budget B-films with many overly promoted gimmicks. Five of these were scripted by adventure novelist Robb White. William Castle was called the Master of Movie Horror.
After a long career, William Castle died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1977.
His films include:
Macabre (1958): A certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of London was given to each customer in case he/she should die of fright during the film. Showings also had fake nurses stationed in the lobbies and hearses parked outside the theater. Utube clip: Macabre:
House on Haunted Hill (1959): Filmed in "Emergo". An inflatable glow in the dark skeleton attached to a wire floated over the audience during the final moments of some showings of the film to parallel the action on the screen when a skeleton arose from a vat of acid and pursued the villainous wife of Vincent Price. The gimmick did not always instill fright; sometimes the skeleton became a target for some audience members who hurled candy boxes, soda cups or any other objects at hand at the skeleton.
The Tingler (1959): Filmed in "Percepto". Some seats in theatres showing the Tingler were equipped with larger versions of the hand-held joy buzzers attached to the underside of the seats. When the Tingler in the film attacked the audience the buzzers were activated as a voice encouraged the real audience to "Scream - scream for your lives."
13 Ghosts (1960): Filmed in "Illusion-O". A hand held ghost viewer/remover with strips of red and blue cellophane was given out to use during certain segments of the film. By looking through either the red or blue cellophane the audience was able to either see or remove the ghosts if they were too frightening. 13 Ghosts.
Homicidal (1961): This film contained a "Fright break" with a 45 second timer overlaid over the film's climax as the heroine approached a house harboring a sadistic killer. A voiceover advised the audience of the time remaining in which they could leave the theatre and receive a full refund if they were too frightened to see the remainder of the film. About 1% demanded refunds, but were subjected to demasculation and called "cowards". Homicidal clip.
Mr. Sardonicus (1961): The audiences were allowed to vote in a "punishment poll" during the climax of the film - Castle appears on screen to explain to the audience their options. Each member of the audience was given a card with a glow in the dark thumb they could hold either up or down to decide if Mr. Sardonicus would be cured or die during the end of the film. Supposedly, no audience ever offered mercy so the alternate ending was never screened.
Zotz! (1962): Each patron was given a "Magic" (gold colored plastic) coin which looked nice, but did absolutely nothing.
Strait-Jacket (1964): Castle had cardboard axes made and handed out to patrons. This film, by the way, starred Oscar winner (not for this film) Joan Crawford - Mommy Dearest herself.
I Saw What You Did (1965): Seat belts were installed to keep patrons from being jolted from their chairs in fright.
Other film trailers from William Castle:
Watch the clips, write a comment about William Castle in the comment section below.
There will be a final exam (although the course is not over) on Friday, June 2. See the post above for details as to what will be covered on the exam.
HOMEWORK: See above. Additionally, please review and take notes on the following subject: William Castle. In the COMMENT section of this post, for homework, please write your comment/thoughts about some of the films found at the links. You may, of course, see a complete William Castle film and write about that as well.
William Castle: The Wonderful World of William Castle
Competing with a growing television audience, filmmakers in the 1950's had to entice viewers into seeing their films. Trailers were the ticket! The worse the film, the greater need for an effective trailer. Of the best promoters of his directing and producing work, William Castle looms over all others.
"William Schloss was born in New York City. Schloss means "castle" in German, and William Castle probably chose to translate his surname into English to avoid the discrimination often encountered by Jewish entertainers of his time. He spent most of his teenage years working on Broadway in a number of jobs. He left for Hollywood at the age of 23, going on to direct his first film when he was 29. He also worked an as assistant to Orson Welles, doing much of the location work for Welles' noir film, The Lady from Shanghai."
Castle was famous for directing low budget B-films with many overly promoted gimmicks. Five of these were scripted by adventure novelist Robb White. William Castle was called the Master of Movie Horror.
After a long career, William Castle died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1977.
His films include:
Macabre (1958): A certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of London was given to each customer in case he/she should die of fright during the film. Showings also had fake nurses stationed in the lobbies and hearses parked outside the theater. Utube clip: Macabre:
House on Haunted Hill (1959): Filmed in "Emergo". An inflatable glow in the dark skeleton attached to a wire floated over the audience during the final moments of some showings of the film to parallel the action on the screen when a skeleton arose from a vat of acid and pursued the villainous wife of Vincent Price. The gimmick did not always instill fright; sometimes the skeleton became a target for some audience members who hurled candy boxes, soda cups or any other objects at hand at the skeleton.
The Tingler (1959): Filmed in "Percepto". Some seats in theatres showing the Tingler were equipped with larger versions of the hand-held joy buzzers attached to the underside of the seats. When the Tingler in the film attacked the audience the buzzers were activated as a voice encouraged the real audience to "Scream - scream for your lives."
13 Ghosts (1960): Filmed in "Illusion-O". A hand held ghost viewer/remover with strips of red and blue cellophane was given out to use during certain segments of the film. By looking through either the red or blue cellophane the audience was able to either see or remove the ghosts if they were too frightening. 13 Ghosts.
Homicidal (1961): This film contained a "Fright break" with a 45 second timer overlaid over the film's climax as the heroine approached a house harboring a sadistic killer. A voiceover advised the audience of the time remaining in which they could leave the theatre and receive a full refund if they were too frightened to see the remainder of the film. About 1% demanded refunds, but were subjected to demasculation and called "cowards". Homicidal clip.
Mr. Sardonicus (1961): The audiences were allowed to vote in a "punishment poll" during the climax of the film - Castle appears on screen to explain to the audience their options. Each member of the audience was given a card with a glow in the dark thumb they could hold either up or down to decide if Mr. Sardonicus would be cured or die during the end of the film. Supposedly, no audience ever offered mercy so the alternate ending was never screened.
Zotz! (1962): Each patron was given a "Magic" (gold colored plastic) coin which looked nice, but did absolutely nothing.
Strait-Jacket (1964): Castle had cardboard axes made and handed out to patrons. This film, by the way, starred Oscar winner (not for this film) Joan Crawford - Mommy Dearest herself.
I Saw What You Did (1965): Seat belts were installed to keep patrons from being jolted from their chairs in fright.
Other film trailers from William Castle:
- The Old Dark House (designed by Charles Addams: the illustrator/writer who created "The Addams Family")
- The Night Walker
- Let's Kill Uncle
- Thirteen Frightened Girls
Watch the clips, write a comment about William Castle in the comment section below.
9 comments:
William Castle, known for his mastery over horror films, made sure that his trailers grabbed the audience. In addition to this, he is one of the first filmmakers to make his films interactive in the theaters, with skeletons, electronics, and coins all being things that the audience can sense. He is also known for his ability to make B movies, movies that were low budget, but were still highly marketable to the public. In terms of his film trailers, many of them seem to be pretty generic and involve a lot of non-diegetic sound to pull the audience in. For example, the suspenseful music alerts viewers that something terrifying will likely occur. His utilization of screams can also be found, especially in the trailer for The Tingler. Overall, although his films have not been praised for their amazing plot lines or flawless acting, they were popular for their gimmicky style and constant horror, making Castle a household name.
William Castle, famously know for his masterful horror movies as well as his B movies. Castle's ability to scare people made him a household name. Castle set out shock people literally. During the showings of his movies, the audience would feel a jolt in their seats from buzzers. William Castle's techniques in his film making, like his gimmicks made his flawed plot lines easier to swallow for audiences. William Castle has become a staple in the horror film industry.
William Castle utilized many unorthodox and effective methods to provide a shocking experience for his audience while they viewed his horror movies. He created the very first interactive movie theater experience, using various gimmicks to scare his audiences. His films, though usually lacking in quality plot lines and acting, were low-budget and very popular as a result of his gimmicks. Because of his interactive approach to movies, William Castle became extremely well known and praised in the realm of film.
William Castle was a wild guy in that he absolutely loved the jump scare aspect of horror. His soul duty was to simply get a shock from people (sometimes quite literally). This is scene from all of his films, from his famous ones to his B-rated ones, all of his films held an aspect of horror in them. He utilized everything in his power to either use violence, "spooky" text, or even really bad transitions to lure the audience in a false sense of security before he grabs them with the shock he was looking for.
These basic gimmicks led people to actually enjoy his cheesy films, that is to say, Castle horror films are more towards its past audience rather than the present ones. Though, his love of horror movies was really a powerful sensation that washed over his audiences. After all, he is called Master of Movie Horror.
William Castle is one of the most known directors during the rise of television, as his low-budget B films included many gimmicks. He was even called the "Master of Horror." As seen by the clips ("The Old Dark House", "Let's Kill Uncle", "The Night Walker", "Thirteen Frightened Girls"), the trailers were indeed extravagant with a bombastic narrator, weird and eye-catching fonts, and suspenseful music and screams. As such, the trailers distract from the lackluster plot and acting.
From the trailers of William Castle’s movies, I could see how our modern trailers came to be. The trailers build up the movie and promote it, much like modern ones. Also like modern trailers, advertising for the movie was manipulated, in some cases, to make the movie seem better than it actually would be. The main goal was to get audiences to the theater, and Castle’s over the top trailers brought audiences to the theater in droves. I thought the trailers looked like pretty good movies, so this kind of promotion would probably work on me. Castle also included “gimmicks” once in theater to keep his films fresh and different from the rest, like the $1,000 insurance policy for those who got too scared, and the “punishment poll” from Mr. Sardonicus.
William Castle was most famously known for purposely scaring people through his movies and during the sudden jolts and interactive things throughout the seats in movie theaters. His B movies were successful and his taste for horror initially shaped the rise of the horror genre during the uprising of television and movie making. The trailers were scary enough to intrigue a new type of audience and realm, making him one of most memorable directors in his time.
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