I was fortunate enough to spend a Saturday evening at the Trylon Cinema for a showing of the 1959 William Castle classic House On Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Elisha Cook, Richard Long and the sadly ill-fated Carolyn Craig.
It was presented in a fashion akin to Castle's original "Emergo", where, near the end of the film, when a skeleton appears to rise from an acid pit in the titular house's basement, theaters would loose a plastic skeleton on a pulley system over the audience's heads for a scare. The Trylon's presentation had a staff member running in to the theater at the proper time, waving a glow-in-the-dark skeleton with blinking red light embellishments, and screaming as he made his rounds down the main aisles.
I didn't get to stick around for the second feature, 1961's Homicidal, but I did get to sign the prefunctory waiver before entering the theater, and I got the FOR COWARDS ONLY novelty certificate ensuring I'd get my money back if I couldn't stomach the feature. At least I didn't have to take a seat in the COWARD'S CORNER in the lobby!
On the subject of Homicidal, I find it interesting that Hitchcock was inspired by House On Haunted Hill to make Psycho, and then Castle was inspired in-turn by Psycho to make Homicidal. It's no secret that Castle was a fan of Hitchcock's, and both were gimmick-meisters extraordinaire and clearly cut from the same cloth, even if one is largely considered comic book kitsch and the other highly-praised classic cinema.
Trailers for House On Haunted Hill and Homicidal below.
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