William Castle

William Castle

Born: April 25, 1914
Died: June 1, 1977
in New York City, New York, USA
William Castle  (April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies. Castle began directing films in the early 1940s, and later television, before moving on to the "gimmick films".

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Movies for William Castle...

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Title: Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Character: Self
Released: November 8, 2007
Type: Movie
Chronicles the last great American showman, filmmaker William Castle, a master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks.
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Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
Title: Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: April 2, 2002
Type: Movie
A look back at the classic 1964 film of horror and suspense starring Joan Crawford as an axe-murderer just released from the mental hospital. Includes footage of the filming and interviews with several of those involved, as well as a look at the movies it was influenced by and those that were in turn influenced by it.
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Hollywood Rated 'R'
Title: Hollywood Rated 'R'
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 19, 1997
Type: Movie
A roller-coaster ride through the history of American exploitation films, ranging from Roger Corman's sci-fi and horror monster movies, 1960s beach movies, H.G. Lewis' gore-fests, William Castle's schlocky theatrical gimmicks, to 1970s blaxploitation, pre-"Deep Throat" sex tease films, Russ Meyer's bosom-heavy masterpieces, etc, etc. Over 25 interviews of the greatest purveyors of weird films of all kind from 1940 to 1975. Illustrated with dozens of films clips, trailers, extra footage, etc. This documentary as a shorter companion piece focusing on exploitation king David F. Friedman.
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Horrible Horror
Title: Horrible Horror
Character: Self in '13 Ghosts Trailer'
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
A collection of trailers and previews from various low-budget horror films of the '50s and '60s.
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The Day of the Locust
Title: The Day of the Locust
Character: Director
Released: May 7, 1975
Type: Movie
Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.
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Shampoo
Title: Shampoo
Character: Sid Roth
Released: February 11, 1975
Type: Movie
George Roundy is a Beverly Hills hairstylist whose uncontrolled libido stands between him and his ambitions. He wants the security of a relationship. He wants to be a hairdressing "star" and open his own salon. But the fact that he beds down with the wife, daughter and mistress of a potential backer doesn't help. It also does little for his relationship with his current girlfriend.
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Shanks
Title: Shanks
Character: Grocer
Released: October 9, 1974
Type: Movie
Malcolm Shanks is a sad and lonely man, deaf, mute and living with his cruel sister and her husband, who delight in making him miserable. His only pleasure, it seems, is in making and controlling puppets. Thanks to his skill, he is offered a job as a lab assistant to Dr. Walker, who is working on ways to re-animate dead bodies by inserting electrodes at key nerve points and manipulating the bodies as if they were on strings. When the professor suddenly dies one night, Shanks gets the idea to apply their experimental results to a human body, and then to start exacting some revenge.
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The Sex Symbol
Title: The Sex Symbol
Character: Jack P. Harper
Released: September 17, 1974
Type: Movie
A thinly-disguised version of the life of Marilyn Monroe, detailing her ups and downs in life and how her erratic behavior contributed to her deteriorating career.
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Title: Ghost Story
Character: J.B. Filmore
Released: September 15, 1972
Type: TV
Ghost Story is an American television anthology series that aired for one season on NBC from 1972 to 1973. Executive-produced by William Castle, it initially featured supernatural entities such as ghosts, vampires, and witches. By mid-season, low ratings led to a shift -- for the most part -- away from paranormal themes and a title change to Circle of Fear.
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Rosemary's Baby
Title: Rosemary's Baby
Character: Phone Booth Man (uncredited)
Released: June 12, 1968
Type: Movie
A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family.
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The Spirit Is Willing
Title: The Spirit Is Willing
Character: Mr. Hymer (uncredited)
Released: July 7, 1967
Type: Movie
When Ben and Kate Powell rent a haunted New England house by the sea, their son Steve gets blamed for the destruction caused by three unruly ghosts.
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Let's Kill Uncle
Title: Let's Kill Uncle
Character: Russell Harrison (in car wreck) (uncredited)
Released: November 18, 1966
Type: Movie
A 12-year-old orphan who has just inherited a fortune is trapped on an island with his uncle, a former British intelligence commander who intends to kill him. A young girl is the boy's only ally against the sarcastic uncle, who uses hypnotism, a pool of sharks, fire, and poisonous mushrooms as weapons.
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How to Plan a Movie Murder
Title: How to Plan a Movie Murder
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1964
Type: Movie
The writer, director and star of the 1964 horror film Strait-Jacket in a humorous featurette in which they plan "the perfect murder."
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Zotz!
Title: Zotz!
Character: Himself (prologue)
Released: October 3, 1962
Type: Movie
Jonathan Jones, a professor of ancient languages, comes into possession of an ancient coin. He translates its inscription, which gives him three powers: to inflict pain, slow down time or kill. Soon, he's pursued by enemy spies who have learned about the magic coin.
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Mr. Sardonicus
Title: Mr. Sardonicus
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: October 8, 1961
Type: Movie
A search for a winning lottery ticket in his dead father's grave causes Sardonicus' face to freeze in a horrible grimace, until he forces a doctor to treat his affliction--with even more grotesque results! The audience gets an opportunity to vote--via the "Punishment Poll"--for the penalty Sardonicus must pay for his deeds...
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Homicidal
Title: Homicidal
Character: Self, Prologue Host (Uncredited)
Released: July 26, 1961
Type: Movie
A woman named Emily checks into a hotel and offers the bellboy $2000 to temporarily marry her. We soon find out Emily is the caretaker of a wheelchair-bound mute named Helga, who was the childhood guardian of a pair of siblings: Miriam Webster and her half-brother, Warren, who is about to inherit the estate of their late father. Who is the mysterious Emily and what are her intentions?
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13 Ghosts
Title: 13 Ghosts
Character: Himself (uncredited)
Released: July 18, 1960
Type: Movie
Reclusive Dr. Zorba has died and left his mansion to his nephew Cyrus and his family. They will need to search the house to find the doctor's fortune, but along with the property they have also inherited the occultist's collection of 13 ghosts.
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The Tingler
Title: The Tingler
Character: Prologue Host (uncredited)
Released: July 29, 1959
Type: Movie
A pathologist experiments with a deaf-mute woman who is unable to scream to prove that humans die of fright due to an organism he names The Tingler that lives within each person on the spinal cord and is suppressed only when people scream when scared.
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Hollywood Story
Title: Hollywood Story
Character: Himself (uncredited)
Released: June 1, 1951
Type: Movie
A producer takes over a small film studio and - sensing that it'll be a good movie- begins investigating an old murder of a silent film director shot in his office years ago. He finds that his life is threatened as he digs deeper into the mystery.
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It's a Small World
Title: It's a Small World
Character: Cop (uncredited)
Released: June 24, 1950
Type: Movie
Harry Musk is one in a million. That means that he's the one out of a million children who is perfectly proportioned but will never grow larger than a typical six-year-old. Adult, pint-sized Harry longs to be part of the big world.
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When Strangers Marry
Title: When Strangers Marry
Character: Seen in Photograph Given to Police
Released: August 21, 1944
Type: Movie
A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.
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He Stayed for Breakfast
Title: He Stayed for Breakfast
Character: Policeman
Released: August 31, 1940
Type: Movie
Set in Paris, this romantic comedy revolves around the beautiful estranged wife of a wealthy banker who hides a handsome and fiery Communist fugitive in her apartment.
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The Lady in Question
Title: The Lady in Question
Character: Angry Juror #1 (uncredited)
Released: August 7, 1940
Type: Movie
When a jury member takes in the defendant he couldn't convict, she has a bad influence on his son.