Thursday, October 28, 2021

The Tingler Through a Kid’s Eyes

 It’s Halloween time, so lets make with a monster movie!
 
I was going to point out the real monsters were those with influence, almost all of whom are vaccinated (often by their company's mandate),  telling others to take a stand against a safe and effective method of promoting public health and safety for the greatest number of people (used since the 1800’s, and how our society gets rid of diseases, including viruses) for their own gain.

I could also point out that requiring vaccines is much closer to having traffic laws than any kind of rights infringement. I've had (some relatively new, at the time) vaccines mandated at my job just to VISIT cardiac cath labs, never mind work in healthcare.  And those were to protect others, not myself, like the masks doctors wear are. Kind of like how they recommend flu shots for those in contact with people more at risk from the illness. (Recommend vs require, because the flu is much less deadly than Covid.)
 
But, It was our 20th anniversary earlier this week, and I'm taking off tomorrow...
Because I can't read a calendar.
I love you Rosa.
Therefore, I’d rather have fun instead of getting myself angry again.

But before the fun: Get vaccinated, and wear a mask inside in crowds. It's not all about you, its about everyone working together to reduce the statistical likelihood of those who can't fight it on their own getting it.  Just because some rules / behaviors don't make sense, it doesn't invalidate the statistical reduction of the methods. "Being brave and free" by refusing vaccines and masks is the same as "being brave and free" by running all the red lights. There's a reasonable chance you'll be OK, but the statistical likelihood of you, or more importantly someone else, ending up hospitalized or dead is much greater.

Anyway- Back to fun!

                                                   The Tingler 1959

Rosa, Anabelle and I watched The Tingler almost a year ago, and had a great time.  It took this long to complete writing it because there were so many comments, plus a tone shift. 
Also, I wasn't sure how to break it up since it all ran together faster and faster.

It’s been a favorite film my family for many years.
Mom saw an early TV broadcast , and still remembered it vividly from that. However, she has also had the privilege of encountering some of William Castle's “extras” in theaters.  Mom introduced it to my sister and I growing up, and it's great to pass it along.
Watching Anabelle switch from her usual snark at old movies to really getting into it was a joy.
 
In other words- here’s an extended, classic horror movie “kid’s eyes” for the season.
 

On the "coming up next" card:
Anabelle- “Vincent Price is in this, why didn’t you tell me? We would have watched it sooner”
 Me- "I did...repeatedly."
Anabelle- "Yes, but you didn't tell me when I was listening to you."

On the channel host stating, for William Castle, “Close enough was good enough.”
“Great. I’m so looking forward to this.”
 
On William Castle’s Introduction:
“Are we ever going to see this movie?”
*he mentions Percepto*
“You told me about this. Why would they do this?
Why is he so calm?”
 
On opening with an autopsy after showing the electric chair:
“I like how we’re not looking at it. Is anything there? There’s nothing there.”
*The body is shown*
“That was not there before. It [the table] was flat.”
 
On Price mentioning the source of fear:
"Isn’t it chemicals or something?"
 
On Price detailing the theory of the “Tingler:”
“It’s such a stupid name.
Fear killing you. This is very disturbing.”
 
On Martha’s first use of sign language:
“That was right.”
 
On Martha’s subsequent use of sign language:
“OK, that one was weird.”
 
On Price taking his coffee black:
“Obviously.”
 
On Martha being a mute:
“She’s useful 'cause of the ‘can’t scream’ thing…
She’s gonna die isn’t she?”
 
On Price explaining going rigid with fear is due to the Tingler:
“He’s crazy. This doesn’t make any sense.”
 
On the speech about being a bad husband:
“At least he isn’t a werewolf.
 
On the reference to, “Men who aren’t very nice:”
“All men.”
 
On Price telling his assistant Dave, “What we’re looking for is real:”
“No it’s not.
His assistant is accepting the idea of the Tingler
No, it’s stupid. Why is he OK with this? It’s so dumb.”
 
On the interesting book Price reads:
“The title is on the back of the book.
Wait, he’s injected people with LSD?”
 
On Isabel, Price’s wife, making out with someone in the driveway:
“Is she kissing a man who isn’t her husband? Nice.”
 
On Price’s reaction:
“He has a gun! He’s gonna commit a felony.
Is he gonna shoot Isabel? That isn’t very nice.”
 
On Isabelle saying, “Jealousy doesn’t look well on you:”
“Maybe you shouldn’t kiss men in your driveway.”
 
On their exchange of, “There’s a word for you,” “There’s several for you:”
“HEY!”
 
On Price going on about her father’s death while aiming a pistol at her:
“What is happening?
What does this have to do with the Tingler?
His hand is on the gun. He’s gonna shoot his wife.”
*He suggests making it look like she killed herself*
"Suicide. What? Pardon?”
*Repeats* “He’s gonna kill his wife!!”
*BANG!*
“HE JUST SHOT HIS WIFE!!!!!!
Hey, that’s a nice rug.”
 
On Price taking her body to the lab:
“I just committed murder.
Lemme just take a look-see quick.
Why is he taking X-rays?”
*She moves*
“She’s alive!
Oh my God. She’s not dead”
 
On Price suggesting his wife met someone, “In the same alley, perhaps:”
“HAAAAAA!”
 
On Isabel being (understandably) enraged:
“OK, now I’m scared his wife is gonna kill him.”
 
On Price seeing the Tingler on the X-ray:
“Oh my God!!!
It’s the Tingler. A specimen!
Is he gonna shoot his wife again?”
 
On Price stating, “It doesn’t matter how or who,” when saying he needs to learn more:
“Did you threaten to shoot your wife again?”
 
On Price theorizing the Tingler could be alive:
“That’s creepy.”
*Whispers* “Parasite”
 
On Price saying they could, “Find someone willing to die for science:”
“What?
This man is not OK.”
 
On Price wanting to personally sense the Tingler:
“Uh huh.
He’s a psycho. I feel like I’m annotating Hamlet again.”
 
On Price’s “experiment” to experience the Tingler:
“He’s going on an LSD trip.
That’s what’s happening.
I don’t think this is the kind of tingling he’s looking for.”
 
On Price stating he’s “feeling normal:” as the effects start:
“You sure about that Warren?
 Rattigan is going on a trip.
Egghead's having a bad day
I’m thinking it’s the 100 milligrams of LSD!”
 
On Price freaking out that the window won’t open:
Rosa- “It is open.”
Anabelle- “Hello-o, LSD trip.”
 

On Price saying, “Really, things were pretty foggy:”
“It must be those *suddenly yelling* 100 milligrams of LSD.”
 
On Price figuring out a deaf mute (Martha) can’t scream:
“Well, maybe we should stop him.”
 
On Ollie (Martha’s husband) asking ,”How’s the experiment coming?:”
“Not bad, I have to kill your wife.”
 
On my family figuring out what happens when a character can’t scream:
Rosa- “Oh she can’t scream so the Tingler is there.”
Anabelle- *repeating* ”He’s gonna give her LSD.”
Rosa- “Yes.”
Anabelle- “He’s gonna kill this poor lady.”
Rosa- “So he can get the thing. Eww.”
Anabelle- “Does this end with him in the electric chair because it should?”
 
On Price saying he has, “Work to finish,” to Ollie:
Anabelle- “Like waiting for your wife to die.
You didn’t tell me this was about a murder.”
*Martha starts to see creepy things and freak out*
Anabelle- “Look at this poor woman.”
Rosa- “She’s hallucinating.”
Anabelle- “Yes and she can’t scream so she’s going to die.”
Rosa-.”OK, you’ve said that.”
Anabelle- “Their couch is nice.”
 
On Martha’s experience intensifying:
“It’s you. (Price) I saw a big hairy arm!"


NOTE- This is where things "took a turn" in our living room:

On there being blood in the sink. It is actually red, because William Castle is awesome, and shot this part on color film, using makeup and paint to have everything else in the scene be gray:
Anabelle- *SCREAMS* (for real)
“She’s afraid of blood!”
*its in the tub too, with a hand*
Anabelle- “ Oh my God! Eww!”
“WHY IS IT RED? I JUST REALIZED!!!!”
Rosa- “Oh yeah!”.
Anabelle-*sees sign* “They’re in New Jersey. WE’RE IN NEW JERSEY!!!!”
“This is terrifying!
She’s dead. He killed this woman!”
Why was it red?”
 
On Dave telling Price, “You look tired:”
“Yeah, I just killed a woman.”
 
On the knock on the door:
“Hey, it must be Ollie. Stopping by to say his wife’s dead."
*it is*
“Dead!" *screams* "He killed a woman!”.
 
On Martha sitting up during the autopsy:
Anabelle- “heavy fast breathing*
Rosa- *gasps* “The Tingler is moving her!”
Anabelle- “This is terrifying. She just moved.
Maybe we should figure that out.
This is scary. I’m not gonna be able to sleep.”
Rosa- “I’m going to smack Daddy.”
Me- “You laugh at these old movies.”
Anabelle-“This is scary.”
Rosa- “Why are they cutting her from the back?”
Me- “The old standard reverse autopsy cut?”
 
On the Tingler revealed:
Anabelle- “Ewwwww!”
Rosa- *grabs heart*
Anabelle- “Eww eww eww! It’s moving !!!!!!!!!”
*Ollie goes to look*
Anabelle –“Don’t!”
Rosa- “It’s your baby!”
Anabelle- “And it’s disgusting. Ewwwwww!”
 
On Isabel grabbing a bottle:
“She took the LSD. Does she know what’s going on????
Oh she’s gonna kill him!”
 
On Price telling Ollie to take Martha's body home and call the funeral parlor in the morning:
Rosa- *laughs* “But she’s open.”.
*Price tells Ollie to notify the police too*
Anabelle- “I’ll just tell them you killed my wife.”
 
On Isabel using the bottle:
Anabelle- “She dumped all the LSD into a glass.
All of it.
ALL
OF
IT.”
Rosa- “She figured out how to get him to stop working and go to sleep.”

On Ollie revealing the mask he used to scare his wife to death:
Anabelle—“Um. Pardon?”
Rosa- “That’s why he was so calm.”
Anabelle- “what? What!? WHAT!?!?!?!”
 
On the Tingler on the loose near sleeping Price (it was tranquillizer not LSD):
“I don’t like it. It’s ugly.
Look it’s on the rug.
I don’t like the rug anymore, there’s Tingler on it.
His vocals are blocked he can’t scream!!!
Go go go. Nooooooo!"
*Price Screams*
“Wheeew!”
 
On Price and his assistant heading to the funeral parlor:
“They’re going to put it back???
Why is this story taking so many turns?”
 
On Ollie packing a suitcase:
Rosa- “Ollie’s leaving too.”
Anabelle- “He’s probably leaving with Isabel.”
 
On Ollie saying Martha tried to kill him as an excuse:.
“Wait, he (Price) didn’t inject her with LSD?”
 
On the Tingler leaving the apartment through the loose board and going into the theater:
*Panicked*
“Oh my God!
Could you imagine seeing this in a theater!!?”
*Laughs at guy in movies getting stopped by girl, See’s Tingler*
“Oh my God –again!”.
 
On the silent film:
Rosa- * laughs at faces made in the movie*.
Anabelle- “Silent movies are like Fantasia.”
*Both get into the action of the silent film, the Tingler appears on screen*
Rosa- “The Tingler is dancing.”
 
On the pitch black, “The Tingler is loose in this theater, scream for your life," moment:
“Is this when they electrified people’s seats?!?!?
What is wrong with them?
This is scary”
*Breathing hard*
 
On the electric chair showing up again:
Anabelle- “Chekov’s electric chair”.
Rosa- “Ollies gonna kill him.”
 
On Ollie left alone with Martha’s body with the returned Tingler that sits up again:
Rosa- "Well, hello, Ollie!”
*Ollie makes “the face”* 

On the final speech "Ladies and gentlemen, just a word of warning. If any of you are not convinced that you have a Tingler of your own, the next time you are frightened in the dark ... don't scream”
“What?  Why not?
Scream!  Definitely scream!”
 
 

5 comments:

Mom / Grandma said...

ALL RIGHT JEFFREY. GREAT BEGINNING, VERY LOGICAL. If Only more People were Logical.
Now to the "Tingler". You know I love this movie. But I love all the comments even more. Anabelle's confusion at who gets killed and who does it is exactly what happened in the Theaters. Add to that the electric seats, everyone was talking about it. You, Anabelle & Rosa did great justice to this movie. It is the perfect Halloween gift to me.

Dina Roberts said...

Happy Anniversary to you and Rosa!!!!!

I am so thankful that you two found each other and made Annabelle. I mean I'm happy for you guys, because I'm not 100% selfish. But mostly I'm thankful, because if you guys didn't have your lovely family, I wouldn't have all the great travel posts to read.

And...yeah. The anti-vax stuff is infuriating. We have a outspoken anti-mandate person in the family. Though he's vaccinated...even got the booster. I think too many people look at the threat (or lack of threat) to their own life but don't consider or understand how vaccines can protect the community.

I think your red light analogy is quite good. I can imagine people saying "I always stop at red lights. I just don't feel it should be required for everyone. It should be up to the individual to make that choice".

Jeff McGinley said...

Thank you very much Mom. More importantly, thank you for introducing me to the glorious world of horror films before my time that shaped a great deal of who I am.

Dina, thank you for the well wishes and compliments.
People don't understand that vaccines work on individuals, but the true benefit comes from the systemic approach. The problem with the pandemic from the beginning is people need a basic grasp of statistics to see why directions taken will help.

Thank you both again.

Jesse said...

I got to see this with the electric seats once! What was amazing about it was that even though very few people got shocked in the theater, the presence of all those car batteries and wires running everywhere kept everyone on edge the whole movie, and really added to the effect.

Related -- Just saw another William Castle movie... Strait-Jacket with Joan Crawford... definitely recommend!

Jeff McGinley said...

That's so cool. Knowing about it add suspense, when they did it by surprise added a whole other dimension.

I'll have to look for Strait Jacked, thanx!