William Castle (1914-1977)
Born: April 24, 1914 (New York, New York)
Died: May 31, 1977 (Los Angels, California)
Inspired by Lugosi's Dracula performance on Broadway, Castle joined the touring company at the age of 15 as an assistant stage manager. Castle both acted and produced plays before moving to Hollywood at 23 to work for Columbia Pictures as a writer, assistant editor, bit actor, and production assistant. Castle noted in his autobiography: "I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to scare the pants off of audiences."
After directing romance and adventure films during the 1940's and early 1950's, Castle began directing horror films under his production company and released successful titles such as Macabre (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1960) and Thirteen Ghosts (1961). Described as being the poor man's Hitchcock, Castle would often find creative ways of marketing his horror films. The marketing campaigns would use various gimmicks such as having nurses stationed outside the theatre, providing life insurance for $1,000 to any patron who dies of fright during a screening or set up 'Coward's Corner' a station that would refund ticket prices if patrons were too scared. His films were also sold as featuring "Emergo", "Percepto", or "Illusion-O" vision, all gimmicks to "enhance" the viewing experience. When not working on his own projects, he would produce other films including Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Castle later went on to direct Straight-Jacket (1964) written by Psycho (1960) author Robert Bloch and starring the popular horror figure Joan Crawford. It was an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of recent releases What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). Bloch would write Castle's next film The Night Walker (1964), Barbara Stanwyck's final film. However, Castle's directing career began to wane as television lured audiences away from the gimmicky films. He became preoccupied with cost-cutting initiatives and creative marketing schemes than he was about the films being produced, famously stating "you can make a buck if you're the first to be second."
Died: May 31, 1977 (Los Angels, California)
Inspired by Lugosi's Dracula performance on Broadway, Castle joined the touring company at the age of 15 as an assistant stage manager. Castle both acted and produced plays before moving to Hollywood at 23 to work for Columbia Pictures as a writer, assistant editor, bit actor, and production assistant. Castle noted in his autobiography: "I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to scare the pants off of audiences."
After directing romance and adventure films during the 1940's and early 1950's, Castle began directing horror films under his production company and released successful titles such as Macabre (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1960) and Thirteen Ghosts (1961). Described as being the poor man's Hitchcock, Castle would often find creative ways of marketing his horror films. The marketing campaigns would use various gimmicks such as having nurses stationed outside the theatre, providing life insurance for $1,000 to any patron who dies of fright during a screening or set up 'Coward's Corner' a station that would refund ticket prices if patrons were too scared. His films were also sold as featuring "Emergo", "Percepto", or "Illusion-O" vision, all gimmicks to "enhance" the viewing experience. When not working on his own projects, he would produce other films including Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Castle later went on to direct Straight-Jacket (1964) written by Psycho (1960) author Robert Bloch and starring the popular horror figure Joan Crawford. It was an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of recent releases What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). Bloch would write Castle's next film The Night Walker (1964), Barbara Stanwyck's final film. However, Castle's directing career began to wane as television lured audiences away from the gimmicky films. He became preoccupied with cost-cutting initiatives and creative marketing schemes than he was about the films being produced, famously stating "you can make a buck if you're the first to be second."
castle's 'Fright Break' and post-screening interviews
|
|
watch 13 Ghosts trailer & House on Haunted Hill (1959)
|
|