Scream Therapy, Courtesy of William Castle

In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, we dive spine-first into William Castle’s most infamous gimmick spectacular, The Tingler (1959). Vincent Price dons his lab coat once again, this time as Dr. Warren Chapin, a scientist who discovers that fear itself takes the form of a parasitic centipede living in your spinal column. The only cure? Screaming. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, screaming is literally what keeps you alive here. Castle knew this was nonsense, of course, but that didn’t stop him from wiring theater seats with electric buzzers to make audiences shriek on cue—branding the stunt as Percepto!

We walk through the film’s LSD-induced hallucinations, silent movie theaters with deadly consequences, and Price’s trademark delivery that can make even the word “Tingler” sound sinister. Along the way, we poke fun at Castle’s shameless carnival barker antics, the film’s love affair with pseudo-science, and why nothing good ever comes from dissecting corpses in your basement. By the end, you’ll understand why The Tingler is less a horror film and more a feature-length dare for audiences to play along. So buckle up, check your spine for wiggling centipedes, and for the sake of Vincent Price—scream, scream for your lives!