THE TINGLER: Halloween fright from the 50s

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.