What is your favorite scary movie?

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by jannieC

There was another movie I saw as a child that messed with me but I can't remember the name of it. It was about a man (piano player, I think) whose hand was chopped off. The hand would crawl around and attack people. For years (Okay, to this day and I'm 37 years old) I could not sleep with my hands out of the blankets). Does anyone rememebr this?

I remember that movie...black and white right? one real bad scene was when it strangled a man while he was driving. Was it called The Thing?

that reminds me, there was an old Vincent Price movie called The Tingler that scared me as a child....and there was another movie about this really creepy octopus monster that lived in a wall....dont remember much about it except that ONE EYE looking at everyone when it got exposed! ARRGH!
Some of those old movies were far better (I dont mean the campy ones!)
I found a review of the Tingler:

THE TINGLER
Unrated (PG these days)
Copyright 1959 William Castle Productions.
Reviewed a long time ago.


Warren - Vincent Price! Pathologist who has been studying fear and its effect on the human body. The sharpness of his scalpel is only matched by his razor wit.
Isabel - Warren's cheating wife, she hates being married to a man not drawn to parties and social events.
David - Warren's assistant and a good guy, worries at times that the doctor might go too far.
Lucy - David's girlfriend and Isabel's younger sister.
Oliver - Unhappy man, helps his wife run an old theater, but does not like being married to a spinster.
Martha - Oliver's deaf and mute wife who has a serious phobia about blood, in addition to constantly washing her hands and making sure her safe is locked. Dies of fright.
The Tingler - Creature that feeds on fear and lives inside the human body. The one removed from Martha's corpse looks like a disgusting centipede.


Films based on crazy scientific premises (not that I critique any of those) are usually something I find easy to poke fun at. However, after watching this one for only a few minutes I had already suspended belief, entirely willing to go with the idea of a parasite living along my spine; a creature capable of killing me unless those very tensions we experience, in moments of terror, are screamed away.

We begin with a humorous introduction by William Castle, he gives us that trademark wry smile while talking about how scared we shall be watching his film. Then the grand showman hints at "Percepto" and members of the audience experiencing the Tingler sensation. Theaters had some seats set up to give the reclining watcher a mild electric shock, sort of a "tingling" along your spine! Imagine it, as a youngster, watching this film on a Saturday afternoon when suddenly a jolt makes you jump in the seat! Popcorn flies everywhere and friends wonder what in the heck your problem is. Who is going to sell the idea of electrocuting the audience these days? Surely, I was born twenty-five years too late.

Warren's duties as a coroner for Death Row bring him into contact with Oliver (whose brother-in-law was fried in the chair) and Martha. From idle conversation the disillusioned husband learns of Warren's belief that a person can die of fear, giving him the perfect chance to dispose of Martha. Assisted by the patented "hand reaching around the door" and a bathtub full of blood (in color!) his plan works and the poor lady is killed by her own terror.

Oddly enough if anyone in this film should want to kill off their spouse, it would be the good doctor. Isabel flounces her infidelity in Warren's face several times. He always catches her stealing kisses in the front yard or notices a strange tie clip left astray, she is lucky he does not take more drastic action.

Something happened a few paragraphs back that was important... ...oh, Martha died! Warren performs a spontaneous autopsy to remove the huge Tingler, its growth unchecked by screaming due to her voiceless nature. The actual removal is performed behind a screen and watching that ghastly shadow being pulled from a woman's lifeless body allows one's imagination to run wild.

Of course the Tingler manages to escape and cause panic in a theater - much like the one the audience was in. Now, as Price urges the audience to "Scream! Scream for your lives!" the projector is turned off and electric current is applied to those lucky patrons. After a few moments the thing is paralyzed by screaming and the interactive part of the film ends. The Tingler can now be returned to the host body (well, corpse) where the characters believe it will naturally expire.

The film keeps you guessing at a few points (hats off for not spelling everything out letter by letter), in fact I am still not certain Warren had nothing to do with the mute lady's death. Wouldn't that be delicious? He used Oliver as an unknowing patsy all along, having guessed the husband's scheme and providing a helping hand with the mysterious injection.