In the 1950s and 1960s, horror movies were making studios huge profits on shoestring budgets. But after the market hit horror overload, directors and studios had to be extra creative to get people to flock to theaters. That’s when a flood of different gimmicks were introduced at movie theaters across the country to make a film stand out from the crowd. From hypnotists to life insurance policies and free vomit bags, here’s a brief history of some of the most memorable horror movie gimmicks.
1. PSYCHO-RAMA // MY WORLD DIES SCREAMING (1958)
In order to truly become a classic, a horror movie can’t just work on the surface; it has to get deep inside of your head. That’s what Psycho-Rama tried to achieve when it was first conceived for My World Dies Screaming, later renamed Terror in the Haunted House. Psycho-Rama introduced audiences to subliminal imagery in order to let the scares sink in more than any traditional film could.
Skulls, snakes, ghoulish faces, and the word “Death” would all appear onscreen for a fraction of a second—not long enough for an audience member to consciously notice it, but it was enough to get them uneasy. Obviously Psycho-Rama didn’t really catch on with the public or the film industry, but horror directors, like William Friedkin in The Exorcist, have since gone on to use this quick imagery technique to enhance their own movies.
2. FRIGHT INSURANCE // MACABRE (1958)
Director William Castle didn’t make a name for himself in the film industry by directing cinematic classics; instead, he relied on shock and shlock to help fill movie theater seats. His movies were full of what audiences craved at the time: horror, gore, terror, suspense, and a heaping helping of camp. But his true genius came from marketing—and the gimmicks he brought to every movie, which have since become legendary amongst horrorphiles.
His most famous stunt was the life insurance policy he purchased for every member of an audience that paid to see Macabre. This was a real policy backed by Lloyd’s of London, so if you died of fright in your seat, your family would receive $1000. Now who wouldn’t want to roll the dice on that type of deal? Of course, the policy didn’t cover anyone with a preexisting medical condition or an audience member who committed suicide during the screening. Lloyd’s had to draw the line somewhere, right?
3. HYPNO-VISTA // HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959)
How do you make your routine horror movie stand out from the crowd? Hypnotize your audience, of course. Thus Hypno-Vista was born. For this gimmick, James Nicholson, president of American International Pictures, suggested that a lecture by a hypnotist, Dr. Emile Franchel, should precede Horrors of the Black Museum, which had a plot focusing on a hypnotizing killer.
For 13 minutes, Dr. Franchel talked to the audience about the science behind hypnotism, before attempting to hypnotize them himself in order to feel more immersed in the story. Nowadays it comes off as overlong and dry, but it was a gimmick that got people into theaters back in 1959. Plus, writer Herman Cohen said that eventually the lecture had to be removed whenever the movie re-aired on TV because it did, in fact, hypnotize some people.
4. NO LATE ADMISSION // PSYCHO (1960)
Though this isn’t the most gimmickiest of gimmicks, Alfred Hitchcock’s insistence that no audience member be admitted into Psycho once the movie started got a lot of publicity at the time. The Master of Suspense’s reasoning is less about drumming up publicity and more about audience satisfaction, though. Because Janet Leigh gets killed so early into the movie, he didn’t want people to miss her part and feel misled by the movie’s marketing.
This publicity tactic wasn’t completely novel, though, as the groundbreaking French horror movie Les Diaboliques (1955) had a similar policy in place. This was at a time when people would simply stroll into movie screenings whenever they wanted, so to see a director—especially one so masterful at the art of publicity—that was adamant about showing up on time was a great way to pique some interest.
5. FRIGHT BREAK // HOMICIDAL (1961)
Another classic William Castle gimmick was the “fright break” he offered to audience members during his 1961 movie, Homicidal. Here, a timer would appear on the screen just as the film was hurtling toward its gruesome climax. Frightened audience members had 45 seconds to leave the theater and still get a full refund on their ticket. There was a catch, though.
Frightened audience members who decided to take the easy way out were shamed into the “coward’s corner,” which was a yellow cardboard booth supervised by some poor sap theater employee. Then, they were forced to sign a paper reading “I’m a bona-fide coward,” before getting their money back. Obviously, at the risk of such humiliation, most people decided to just grit their teeth and experience the horror on the screen instead.
6. THE PUNISHMENT POLL // MR. SARDONICUS (1961)
The most interactive of William Castle’s schlocky horror gimmicks put the fate of the film itself into the hands of the audience. Dubbed the “punishment poll,” Castle devised a way to let viewers vote on the fate of the characters in the movie Mr. Sardonicus. Upon entering the theater, people were given a card with a picture of a thumb on it that would glow when a special light was placed on it. “Thumbs up” meant that Mr. Sardonicus would be given mercy, and “thumbs down” meant … well, you get the idea.
Apparently audiences never gave ol’ Sardonicus the thumbs up, despite Castle’s claims that the happier ending was filmed and ready to go. However, no alternative ending has ever surfaced, leaving many to doubt his claims. Chances are, there was only one way out for Mr. Sardonicus.
7. FREE VOMIT BAGS // MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970)
Horror fans are mostly masochists at heart. They don’t want to be entertained—they want to be terrified. So when the folks behind 1970’s Mark of the Devil gave out free vomit bags to the audience due to the film’s grotesque nature, how could any self-respecting horror fan not be intrigued? It wasn’t just the bags that the studio was advertising; it also claimed the film was rated V, for violence—and maybe some vomit?
8. DUO-VISION // WICKED, WICKED (1973)
Duo-Vision was hyped as the new storytelling technique in cinema—offering two times the terror for the price of one ticket. Of course Duo-Vision is just fancy marketing lingo for split-screen, meaning audiences see a film from two completely different perspectives side-by-side. In the 1973 horror film Wicked, Wicked, that meant watching the movie from the points of view of both the killer and his victims.
Seems like a perfect concept for the horror genre, right? Well, Duo-Vision wasn’t just employed during the movie’s most horrific moments; it was used for the movie’s entire 95-minute runtime. The technique had been used sparingly in other films—most notably in Brian De Palma’s much better film Sisters (1973)—but it had never been implemented to this extent. A little bit of Duo-Vision apparently goes a long way, because it fell out of favor soon after.
October 26, 2016 – 10:00am