AFI Dallas International Film Festival - ‘Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story’

(USA, 2007, 82 mins)

Directed By: Jeffrey Schwarz
Featuring: Terry Castle, John Waters, Joe Dante, Leonard Maltin, Roger Corman, Marcel Marceau

This fantastic and little-known Hollywood story reveals William Castle—largely remembered for installing electrical shocking devices in seats for added scares at his horror films—as a fascinating, multidimensional man.

A master of ballyhoo and a brand name in movie horror, Castle in the 50s and 60s treated delighted moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts and life insurance policies. But his career began as assistant to director Orson Welles, where he did much of the second unit location work for The Lady From Shanghai. Driven by a fear of failure and longing for respect from his peers, Castle's life was a rags-to-riches tale of a larger-than-life showman who reinvented himself as a modern P.T. Barnum. And his influential role in producing and nearly directing one of the most revered horror films of all times, Rosemary’s Baby, alone is worth the price of admission.

Director Jeffrey Schwarz tells the tale, lining up interviews with Joe Dante, Leonard Maltin, Stuart Gordon, John Landis, and the provocative John Waters.

Information from the AFI website