American movie producer and
director (1914-1977). Castle produced
horror movies, many of them
pretty good, but he's best known as a
producer of
memorable gimmicks.
Though his best known
films (he produced both "
Rosemary's Baby" and "
Shampoo") were
gimmickless, most of his
pictures featured some sort of
gimmick designed to draw in
audiences. In "
The House on Haunted Hill" (the
original--not that
lame-ass sequel), a
skeleton was
rigged to fly over the audience. In "
The Tingler", the
theater seats were
wired for "
Percepto", which delivered
mild electric shocks to certain
audience members.
"
Mr. Sardonicus" featured a "
Punishment Poll", which let the audience decide the
fate of the
villain. In "
13 Ghosts", the gimmick was "
Illusion-O" (basically,
3-D--but when there were no
ghosts to be seen, you could just take off the
glasses and avoid the usual
3-D headaches). For "
Macabre", Castle offered a free
insurance policy covering
death by fright. And in the
Joan Crawford chiller "
Strait Jacket", every
moviegoer received a
free cardboard ax.
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)