The Tingler

Movies to See Right Now

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Jumpy the dog and Ethan Hawke in IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE
Jumpy the dog and Ethan Hawke in IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE

We’re at the beginning of a very promising Fall movie season .

  • Mascots is the latest mockumentary from Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and it’s very funny. Mascots is playing in very few theaters, but it’s streaming on Netflix Instant, too.
  • John Travolta, Ethan Hawke and Jumpy the dog sparkle in the spaghetti western In a Valley of Violence.
  • The highly original documentary Tower retells the story of a famous mass shooting without dwelling on the shooter.  Only at the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley.
  • The indie drama Men Go to Battle is an insightful tale of two brothers that exceptionally illustrates the QUIET of pre-electric and pre-motorized North America. Men Go to Battle is available to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • If you are entertained by the epically disgusting, you can catch the horror comedy The Greasy Strangler before it hits the midnight cult movie circuit. The Greasy Strangler can be streamed from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The end of the thriller The Girl on the Train (starring Emily Blunt) is indeed thrilling. But the 82 minutes before the Big Plot Twist is murky, confusing and boring.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is Our Kind of Traitor, a robust globe-trotting thriller, enlivened by a lusty Stellan Skarsgård and played out in a series of stunning set pieces. Our Kind of Traitor is available to rent on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and to stream from Amazon Instant, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

On Halloween Eve, Turner Classic Movies is bringing us a campy Vincent Price horror classic from 1959, The Tingler. It has a scary premise – a parasite embedding itself in people’s spine and feeding on them – unaware until they feel a tingle AND THEN IT MAY BE TOO LATE! When finally revealed, the grown parasite is VERY scary-looking. Conveniently, the infested can weaken the parasite by screaming.

Vincent Price and his co-star in THE TINGLER
Vincent Price and his co-star in THE TINGLER

And on November 3, TCM plays the great political comedy The Dark Horse (1932). If you think that political handlers, dumb candidates, spin and sex scandals are creations of contemporary politics, you need to see this gem from 84 years ago.

Guy Kibbee and Warren William in THE DARK HORSE
Guy Kibbee and Warren William in THE DARK HORSE

Movies to See Right Now

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Vincent Price in THE TINGLER
Vincent Price in THE TINGLER

It’s been Scare Week at The Movie Gourmet, but here are this week’s recommended current films:

      • The Martian – an entertaining Must See space adventure – even for folks who usually don’t enjoy science fiction;
      • Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg’s Cold War espionage thriller with Tom Hanks, featuring a fantastic performance by Mark Rylance.
      • Sicario – a dark and paranoid crime thriller about the drug wars.
      • Prophet’s Prey – a Showtime documentary about child sexual abuse in a polygamous religious cult.

On Halloween, Turner Classic Movies is bringing us a campy Vincent Price horror classic from 1959, The Tingler. It has a scary premise – a parasite embedding itself in people’s spine and feeding on them – unaware until they feel a tingle AND THEN IT MAY BE TOO LATE!

You really haven’t sampled film noir if you haven’t seen Out of the Past (1947), and it’s coming up on Turner Classic Movies on November 5. Perhaps the model of a film noir hero, Robert Mitchum plays a guy who is cynical, strong, smart and resourceful – but still a sap for the femme fatale…played by the irresistible Jane Greer.   Director Jacques Tourneur told Greer, ” First half of the movie – Good Girl;  second half – Bad Girl.”

OUT OF THE PAST
OUT OF THE PAST

THE TINGLER: Halloween fright from the 50s

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Vincent Price in THE TINGLER
Vincent Price in THE TINGLER

On Halloween, Turner Classic Movies is bringing us a campy Vincent Price horror classic from 1959, The Tingler.  It has a scary premise – a parasite embedding itself in people’s spine and feeding on them –  unaware until they feel a tingle AND THEN IT MAY BE TOO LATE!  When finally revealed, the grown parasite is VERY scary-looking.  Conveniently, the infested can weaken the parasite by screaming.  Horror schlockmeister William Castle reportedly installed buzzers in the backs of some theater seats, so some audience members would get an actual tingle in the spine at the scariest moments.  In the trailer below, Castle preps his audiences to scream if they feel a tingle.  It’s a cult classic.