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One of Hollywood’s most notorious showmen gets his due in this entertaining and spooky collection.

Hollywood has relied on gimmicks to help sell tickets since the dawn of celuloid. Nothing has been beneath the studios when it comes to putting butts in theater seats, and no man did this more creatively than William Castle. No producer or director I can think of went to such great lengths to sell tickets than Castle. No gimmick was beneath him and he took great glee in coming up with new and bizarre ways to promote his films. While with Columbia, he hit his peak, directing and producing eight films that became his legacy, and Columbia has rounded up the eight films in a boxed set called simply the William Castle Film Collection.

While this collection doesn’t include the two films that really launched Castle’s career (Macabre and House on Haunted Hill—both made away from Columbia), the eight it does feature are the epitome of his work. We get some of his most famous work, such as the original 13 Ghosts (which was released in theaters with a gimmick that allowed audiences to choose whether they wanted to see the ghosts in the film or not through the use of special glasses), Homicidal and Strait-Jacket. There’s also some really obscurities here like Zotz! and 13 Frightened Girls. No film exemplifies Castle’s work more than The Tingler, a Vincent Price vehicle about a creature that feeds on the fear of humans. To promote the film, Castle had theaters set up with gadgets that would cause mild shocks to select seats in theaters, replicating the titular monster’s attack. There’s also The Old Dark House and my own personal favorite gimmick film, Mr. Sardonicus (with this one, Castle promised to let audiences choose the fate of the main antagonist, but since he knew he made Sardonicus such a bastard, audiences would have no choice but to condemn him to death – thus he really only ever supplied one actual ending).

The special features on this set are astounding. Virtually every film has its own set of extras, from alternate footage for 13 Frightened Girls to trailers and retrospectives and other neat stuff. One disc is devoted to a documentary on Castle and really hits all the main points. Even it has an optional commentary.

Castle was one of a kind, and it’s great to see Columbia releasing this set – three of the movies of which are new to the DVD format. The restorations looked great and it’s a neat set to have so near Halloween. B-movie fans will have this playing all day long.

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