10 Fun Horror Films You Need To See

To ensure audience participation in The Tingler, William Castle devised “Percepto”, the gimmick where random seats were fitted with war surplus motors that caused them to vibrate at key moments during the film. In a prologue, the director informed viewers that if they became aware of a tingling sensation during the picture, they could obtain immediate relief by screaming.

While researching the effects of fear on human beings, Dr Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) becomes convinced that “there’s something inside every frightened person that’s as solid as steel.” Using his cheating wife as a guinea pig, he discovers The Tingler, the organism that attaches to the spine in moments of terror and can only be released by screaming. If someone died unable to scream, their body would contain a perfect Tingler specimen….

Enter theatre-owner Martha Higgins (Judith Evelyn) and her louse of a spouse Ollie (Philip Coolidge). Martha, being a deaf mute, cannot scream. She also faints at the sight of blood and Ollie, unbeknownst to the Doc, is planning to do away with her. Can you see where this is going?

In the film’s most famous sequence, the screen goes blank while Price tells the audience, “Do not panic….but scream!  Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this theatre! Keep screaming!”