William Castle made the films that inspired Hitchcock. He made the films that got remade in my teens by a production company with his name (Dark Castle Entertainment) created solely for the purpose of remaking his titles and he did some truly outlandish, some may even say problematic stunts in his day to promote his films but he was, in my opinion, one of the greats.

I had seen House on Haunted Hill (1999) and Thir13en Ghosts (2001) and enjoyed them both but not known the genius of their predecessors. Perhaps I’m just criminally out of the loop, but I feel as though Castle is lesser known than some of his peers of the time and underappreciated in the legends of horror.

So here I am, probably preaching to the choir. With 3 reasons why William Castle deserves to fill your next movie marathon night, with all the gimmicks and props to boot.

Castle Was A Character

Castle is well deserving of his own dramatized feature film; following his life from an eleven-year-old orphan, living with his elder sister in New York city, seeing Bela Lugosi perform on stage as Dracula and falling in love with horror, theater and storytelling in extravagant ways. To persuading Orson Welles to lease him his theater, orchestrating outlandish stunts to bait the press and draw in audiences, travelling to Hollywood at twenty-three to work for Columbia pictures and going on to produce and direct dozens of low budget, high grossing horrors (and films in other genres too).

He was fun, unafraid and unashamed, driven by the desire to frighten the life out of audiences and maybe make some headlines too.

He Knew A Good Story

Castle had an eye for good stories and an almost feverish or childish insight into how to make those stories more thrilling and enjoyable as an entire experience.

Take House on Haunted Hill (1959) for example. The story could be (and I believe this was the attempt with the remake) truly horrifying. A group of strangers are invited to a haunted house to stay the night for a large cash prize. If you can keep your wits about you and see through the night without attempting escape, you get the payout. The puppet master behind the wager is a sadistic millionaire who hates his wife and may be up to something far more sinister than a few bumps in the night (played mischievously by the great Vincent Price.)

The remake erred towards horror more than comedy but not to the extent that perhaps this premise could. The original however goes full blown slapstick, gimmicky, ridiculous and laugh out loud fun. Not to mention all the aesthetics and glorious moods of horror are still present. Castle clearly prioritized the enjoyment of the audience over a serious production but he paired it with such excellent storytelling that it always went down a treat. Despite very low budgets for many of his films, he brought in terrific numbers and made far more money on return. The success of House on Haunted Hill inspires Alfred Hitchcock to produce Psycho in 1960, which was shot on a low budget but was one of his most iconic titles.

Not to mention Rosemary’s Baby (1968). A film Castle acquired the rights to and worked tirelessly to see produced (though he had originally wanted to direct.) It’s clear from the titles he put his name on that he was a storyteller as much as a producer and a director. He could see the potential behind so many stories we’re familiar with today and would perhaps not have, if not for him.

Master of Gimmicks and Entertainer Above All Else

Castle created a cinematic experience that began long before you even arrived at the cinema. The press frenzie he orchestrated to accompany the release of most of his productions had audiences desperate to see what new gimmick he had thought up to send chills down their spines.

Propelling plastic skeletons over the heads of audiences for House on Haunted Hill and attaching animatronic “spine tinglers” to the backs of theater seats for The Tingler (1959) are just a few tricks he used to create a more real experience among the unreal.

If you do choose to throw a William Castle themed movie marathon night, perhaps you could invite some friends over and throw in some gimmicks of your own.

Castle died age 63 with over 50 titles to his name. He worked with some of the greatest actors and writers of the times and left millions shivering and laughing at his stories and stunts. If you haven’t seen any of his films I highly recommend the titles mentioned in this article as well as Straight Jacket and The Night Walker, both penned by Robert Bloch who of course wrote the original novel Psycho that inspired Hitchcocks adaptation.

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Written by Holly-Mae