Thursday, August 4, 2011

Rotting Hill





You're welcome to stay overnight
At twelve the old place is locked tight
Bill Castle concocts
A passel of shocks
His skeleton's great for a fright.



Julie Mitchum, Alan Marshal, Vincent Price, Richard Long, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr. and Carol Ohmart in House on Haunted Hill (1959). Producer-director William Castle was fond of theatrical gimmicks, and House on Haunted Hill featured one he called "Emergo". Seeming to emerge from the screen, an inflatable glow-in-the-dark skeleton suspended on a wire was yanked out over the heads of the theater audience. Image source: Garbo Laughs

2 comments:

D Cairns said...

Argh! Nothing rhymes with "Emergo"!

surly hack said...

"Emergo" makes skeletons surge
From film screens they seem to emerge
The audience screams
and William C beams,
as gimmick and filmic converge