A pathologist experiments with a deaf-mute woman who is unable to scream to prove that humans die of fright due to an organism he names The Tingler that lives within each person on the spinal cord and is suppressed only when people scream when scared.
Acting
Vincent Price's eyebrow acting deserves its own Oscar category
Practical Effects
The Tingler puppet: rubbery legend that moves like a drunk centipede
Direction
Castle's Percepto gimmick: actual theater seat buzzers in 1959
Director
William Castle
Vincent Price
Dr. Warren Chapin
Philip Coolidge
Oliver 'Ollie' Higgins
Judith Evelyn
Mrs. Martha Ryerson Higgins
Darryl Hickman
David Morris
Pamela Lincoln
Lucy Stevens
Patricia Cutts
Isabel Stevens Chapin
William Castle
Prologue Host (uncredited)
Bob Gunderson
Ryerson - Screaming Convict (uncredited)
Dal McKennon
Projectionist (uncredited)
Gertrude Astor
Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
Richard Barthelmess
David Kinemon (archive footage) (uncredited)
Gail Bonney
Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
William Castle paid $5,000 to wire theater seats with surplus aircraft motors; ushers would zap random audience members during the film. Some theaters allegedly refused after patrons fainted.
The LSD scene was added last-minute to capitalize on 1959 media panic about the drug—Price later called it 'the most ridiculous thing I ever did sober.'
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