10 Films Hollywood Should Have Remade Instead Of Ben Hur

Dark Castle launched itself with a pair of successful remakes of William Castle movies (House On Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts), so there’s clearly an audience for campy, tongue-in-cheek horror pictures. Given that most modern films don’t want you to have too much fun, the time is right for a remake of one of Castle’s best movies.

Starring Vincent Price, The Tingler is your typical story of an organism that attaches to the spine in moments of terror and can only be released by screaming. To ensure audience participation in the movie, Castle devised “Percepto”, a gimmick that required fitting random seats with war surplus motors that caused them to vibrate at key moments during the film. In one scene, the screen goes black and Price tells the audience, “Do not panic….but scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this theatre! Keep screaming!”

Not only is The Tingler a terrific example of a fun horror picture, it’s also a communal experience, something that’s been lost in this era of VOD. In the right hands, with the 50s setting retained, a remake could put the fun back into moviegoing.