Tiburon International Film Festival

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Year:  2007
Running Time:  80 minutes
Country:  USA
Genre:  Documentary
Cast:  John Waters, John Landis, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Terry Castle, Budd Boetticher, Marcel Marceau, Jacqueline Scott, Anne Helm, Bob Burns, Pamela Lincoln Yergen...
Showtime:   Tuesday, March 18, 2008 @ 07:40 PM
Director:  Jeffrey Schwarz

Description:  Spine Tingler! traces how an obscure director for hire reinvented himself as a pop-culture icon. From his first job as Bela Lugosi's assistant to butting heads with Robert Evans, this jaw-dropping tale is told through revealing interviews with daughter Terry Castle, John Waters, Joe Dante, Leonard Maltin, Roger Corman, John Badham, Diane Baker, Marcel Marceau, and many more. Spine Tingler! brings back those days when movies were pure fun and spine tingling excitement, when a producer could ride on a "smile and a shoeshine," and when ballyhoo was as American as apple pie. William Castle's story is an inspiration to dreamers everywhere, and this film is an affectionate portrait of the man and the showman.

Throughout the 1950's and 60's, William Castle produced and directed a series of horror films marked by their outrageous audience participation gimmicks. Castle treated moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts and life insurance policies — and they loved every minute of it. Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story is a documentary about the last great American showman. It is a rags to riches tale of a legend of exploitation and master of self-promotion, yet a man privately plagued by a fear of failure and a desperate desire to be respected among his peers.

Northern California Premiere

In Attendance: Jeffrey Schwarz (Director), Terry Castle (Actress) & Matt Hanger

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