William Castle
Also Known As: William Schloss, Billy Castle, Bill Castle, William C. Castle
Biography: 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". Description above from the Wikipedia article William Castle, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Department: Directing
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Adult: No
Birthday: April 25, 1914
Age: 111 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: June 01, 1977
Popularity:
Known For:
The Spirit Is Willing
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-07-07
Popularity:
Let's Kill Uncle
Overview: 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.
Genres: Thriller Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1966-11-18
Popularity:
Hollywood Rated 'R'
Overview: 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.
Genres: Documentary Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-06-19
Popularity:
Homicidal
Overview: 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?
Genres: Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-07-26
Popularity:
Shanks
Overview: 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.
Genres: Fantasy Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1974-10-09
Popularity:
The Lady in Question
Overview: When a jury member takes in the defendant he couldn't convict, she has a bad influence on his son.
Genres: Romance Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-08-07
Popularity:
The Sex Symbol
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1974-09-17
Popularity:
It's a Small World
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-06-24
Popularity:
He Stayed for Breakfast
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-08-31
Popularity:
The Tingler
Overview: 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.
Genres: Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1959-07-29
Popularity:
13 Ghosts
Overview: 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.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1960-07-18
Popularity:
How to Plan a Movie Murder
Overview: The writer, director and star of the 1964 horror film Strait-Jacket in a humorous featurette in which they plan "the perfect murder."
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1964-01-01
Popularity:
Shampoo
Overview: A Beverly Hills hairdresser runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying to make heads or tails of his financial and romantic entanglements. His attempts to gather the money to open his own salon are continually side-tracked by the distractions presented by his many lovers.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-02-11
Popularity:
Zotz!
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1962-10-03
Popularity:
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Overview: 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.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2007-11-08
Popularity:
The Day of the Locust
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-05-07
Popularity:
Hollywood Story
Overview: An independent producer unwisely opens a can of worms after he decides to make a movie about the unsolved murder of a famous silent film director.
Genres: Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-06-01
Popularity:
When Strangers Marry
Overview: A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.
Genres: Mystery Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-08-21
Popularity:
Rosemary's Baby
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-06-12
Popularity:
Battle-Axe: the Making of 'Strait-Jacket'
Overview: 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.
Genres: Documentary Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2002-04-02
Popularity:
Mr. Sardonicus
Overview: In 1880, Sir Robert Cargrave, a London physician known for his experimental work in paralysis treatment, is summoned to Gorslava by the mysterious Baron Sardonicus—who is now married to Cargrave's former wife, Maude—to treat his disfigurement. When Cargrave arrives, he finds the masked baron is a cruel sadist who has threatened to harm Maude if he is not successfully cured.
Genres: Horror Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-10-08
Popularity: