Vincent Price

Six scientists investigate a strange phenomenon at the creepy Headstone Manor, the site of a mysterious massacre years earlier that took the lives of 18 guests in one night. Six scientists investigate a strange phenomenon at the creepy Headstone Manor, the site of a mysterious massacre years earlier that took the lives of 18 guests in one night. It turns out that the house is the place of a Satanic cult led by a sinister monk who plans to kill the scientists who are inhabiting this house of Satan. —Anonymous

A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition. Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price) is a matinèe favorite Shakespearean actor of the old school, finding difficulty coping with new theater roles, who wreaks revenge on on the theater critics who give their annual Guild's "Best Actor" award to a new and upcoming actor rather than him. Incensed by their choice, he does this in the most ingenious and disturbing ways by imitating death scenes taken from his final repertoire of his beloved Bard's tales. Vincent Price is well supported by Dame Diana Rigg, as his dutiful daughter Edwina, and a bevy of the cream of British character actors, including; Ian Hendry, Sir Michael Hordern, Dennis Price, Robert Morley, and Arthur Lowe. —Brian Carruthers Edward Lionheart is an experienced Shakespearean actor who plays to packed theaters and is very popular among theatre audiences. But he is habitually treated with scorn and ridicule by professional critics. At an awards show, a critics' committee ignores him and gives the best actor award to a novice actor. Facing despair, Lionheart apparently commits suicide and the critics are amused by his demise. Secretly, a group of homeless people rescue Lionheart from a drowning death and agree to help him as he seeks revenge. Two years following his apparent death, Lionheart sets out to destroy the critics who ruined his life. He stages a series of murders and other crimes which are specifically based on violent scenes from William Shakespeare's plays. —Dimos I Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price) is as an actor overlooked for a critics' acting award, despite producing a season of Shakespearean plays. After confronting the Critics' Circle, an attempted suicidal dive into the Thames results in Lionheart being rescued by your typical paraffin/meths/turps swigging tramps. Lionheart then (presumed dead) exacts his grizzly, and quite amusing, revenge on the critics who denied him his finest hour. —Paul Batey A serial killer stalks London, targeting theater critics who he kills in methods inspired by Shakespearean plays. The police grow to suspect the killer is Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price), an egotistical actor who leapt to his presumed death after being denied an important award, mainly due to his refusing to appear in any play not written by William Shakespeare. The remaining critics and the Police find themselves helpless to stop Lionheart's increasingly baroque revenge, though they contact his daughter, Edwina (Dame Diana Rigg), in a desperate attempt to find something they can use against him. Everything builds to a reenactment of King Lear in which Lionheart will succeed or die once and for all. —rmlohner

Bad bank robber falls in love with granddaughter of miner he and his men planned to rob of gold, has change of heart. Bandits target a gold miner and his granddaughter in 19th century South Africa. Robert Gunnar is the bandit with a heart of gold, who is after Price's cache of gold, but falls in love with Diana Ivarson, who has hair of gold (bleach). —<rjs@ans.net> This film is a South African remake of the 1948 film "Yellow Sky" that starred Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter and Richard Widmark. Bank robbers come across old gold prospector and granddaughter, suspect they have gold, plan on taking it, bank robber leader falls in love with granddaughter you can figure out the rest. —Setlock

A man's obsession with his dead wife drives a wedge between him and his new bride. Some years after having buried his beloved wife Ligea, Verden Fell meets and eventually marries the lovely Lady Rowena. Fell is something of a recluse, living in a small part of a now ruined Abbey with his manservant Kenrick as the only other occupant. He remains infatuated with his late wife and is convinced that she will return to him. While all goes well when first married, he returns to his odd behavior when they return to the Abbey from their honeymoon. The memories of Ligea continue to haunt him as well as her promise that she would never die. —garykmcd Erudite recluse Verden Fell is truck by a meeting with lady Rowena, daughter of country lord Trevanion, who reminds him of his late wife, Ligeia, both being somehow associated with a black cat and the wild fox the lord loves hunting. They fall in love, marry and resolve he leave the ruined abbey where he buried Ligeia. However Rowena's devoted gentleman friend Christopher Gough discovers it cannot be sold as Ligeia was never declared legally dead, making Rowena's marriage involuntarily bigamous. After a hypnotic session shows Ligeia possesses Rowena, strange things keep happening. Verden relapses in gloom and seclusion, but Christopher gets his loyal old manservant Kenrick to assist in an exhumation. In the abbey, things turn to a spectacular, dramatical conclusion for all concerned, yet not quite. —KGF Vissers A nobleman always dresses in black and is obsessed with his dead wife. He believes his new wife has been possessed by his dead wife's evil spirit. —frankfob2@yahoo.com

A magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help. In this tongue-in-cheek movie inspired by Poe's poem, Dr. Craven is the son of a great sorcerer (now dead) who was once himself quite skilled at that profession, but has since abandoned it. One evening, a cowardly fool of a magician named Bedlo comes to Craven for help - the evil Scarabus has turned him into a raven and he needs someone to change him back. He also tells the reluctant wizard that Craven's long-lost wife Lenore, whom he loved greatly and thought dead, is living with the despised Scarabus. —Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net> The magician Dr. Erasmus Craven, who does not belong to the brotherhood of magicians, grieves the loss of his beloved wife Lenore and lives in a castle with his daughter Estelle. One day, a raven knocks on his window and Dr. Craven learns that the bird is actually the magician Dr. Adolphus Bedlo that was turned into a raven after challenging the powerful magician Dr. Scarabus that was an enemy of his father. Dr. Craven makes a potion to turn Dr. Bedlo back to the human form and Dr. Bedlo tells that he has seen Lenore in the castle of Dr. Scarabus. Dr. Craven decides to go in his coach with Dr. Bedlo to visit Dr. Scarabus, and Estella and Dr. Bedlo's son, Rexford, decide to go with them. They find an amicable Dr. Scarabus who invites them to stay for the night. Was Dr. Craven's father wrong about Dr. Scarabus? —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In this chilling adaptation of H.P. Lovecrafts The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward, Charles Dexter Ward (Vincent Price) travels with his wife Ann (Debra Paget) to Arkham to inspect a mansion he has inherited. The original lord of the manor was his Great Grandfather Joseph Curwen, a disciple of the devil, who placed a hideous curse on the villagers as they burned him at the stake. Slowly Ward feels the spirit of his ancestor possessing him and seeking a desperate vengeance on the descendants of those who previously thwarted his plans. Accursed mutants...evil possession...will anyone escape The Haunted Palace? In the town of Arkham, in 18th century New England, Ezra Weeden (Leo Gordon) and Micah Smith (Elisha Cook Jr.) follow a young woman named Fitch at a distance. She seems to be in a trance as she walks through a cemetery to a palace door where she knocks and is ushered in by a woman named Hester. Declaring this is the home of Satan himself, Ezra and Micah go to get help. Meanwhile, Hester takes the Fitch woman to Joseph Curwan (Vincent Price), who leads her through a secret door downstairs to a platform in an ancient dungeon cellar. He chains her between two posts on the platform and then he chants in Latin. The woman finally awakes screaming at the sound of some beast growling from below. The townspeople armed with torches arrive at the palace door and knock. Curwan opens it and produces the Fitch girl alive and well, but still in a trance. She answers yes to his claims that she came of her own free will, but when asked by Weeden for her name she cannot answer. The townspeople accuse Curwan of being a warlock and tie him to a tree. He calls out their names: Ezra Weeden, Micah Smith, Benjamin West, Priam Willet (Frank Maxwell), and Gideon Leach. He declares that he will rise from the dead and that this town and they and their families will bear his curse. Then he is set on fire and burned to death. 110 years later, a man who looks identical to Curwan, his great-great-grandson Charles Dexter Ward, arrives in Arkham with his wife Ann (Debra Paget), looking for the palace that he has inherited. They are warned that the village is cursed to which Charles scoffs. They enter a tavern called the Burning Man Tavern and tell the people theyre looking for the Curwen family house. Edgar Weeden (a dead ringer for his own ancestor, as are all the other main characters) warns them it is a palace of unknown origin brought stone by stone from some European country. Mr. Willet, a doctor, gives them directions there and shows them where the palace is on the side of a cliff. After they leave, Edgar warns the townspeople that Joseph Curwan has come back to Arkham. The Wards enter the palace and note that the portrait of Joseph Curwan looks just like Charles. Charles seems momentarily possessed by it. As they explore other rooms in the house, a caretaker named Simon (Lon Chaney Jr.) greets them. The attorney had contacted him and he was preparing it for their arrival. Not wishing to stay in a town with such unfriendly people, they tell him they plan to leave at once. But he encourages them to at least spend the night, since there is no place else to go. In his home, Edgar feeds some creature that is behind his locked and barred attic door. It grabs his hand through the bars and Edgar has to use a candle to chase it off. He tells his wife that "it" knows Curwan has come back to Arkham. At the palace, the more Ward looks at the painting, the more it seems to possess him. The next morning, Charles tells his wife that he is now planning to stay, just for a few weeks to get the place ready to be sold. She doesn't like it, but agrees to remain. As Charles and Ann walk through town early on a foggy morning, they find the tavern door locked. Then a series of mutated people - a young girl with no eyes, and four other similarly blind, half-blind or otherwise deformed men slowly approach the Wards menacingly until they are surrounded. But the sound of a bell tolling in the distance causes them to disperse and walk away. Later, Dr. Willet tells them all those people were born mutated. Weeden had gathered them together to try and chase the newcomers away. He tells the story of Joseph Curwan, who came to town 150 years ago. His first wife died in childbirth so he took the most beautiful woman in town, Hester, as his mistress a woman who had been promised to Ezra Weeden. Over the years, terrible noises were heard from the castle, and young girls often disappeared at night then were returned with no memory. They concluded he was a warlock a conjurer of the dead. He was thought to have found a legendary book, the Necronomicon, which gave him formulas to summon dark gods from beyond, who had once ruled the world, and now were waiting to take it back again. He was trying to mate the gods with humans to create a new race through which the gods could gain control. The townspeople feel that the mutations were failed experiments. Willet himself can't explain the mutations and advises them to flee the village as if a madman with a knife was chasing them. That night, Charles hears the sound of voices outside but there is no one there. He goes outside to look and Simon finds him and suggests he "ask Mr. Curwan." He takes him to the portrait room. After Ward has stared at the portrait for a time, Simon addresses him as Joseph. Ward begins to speak in a different sinister tone of voice. Curwan is now possessing Ward's body, but he tells Simon he feels Ward is still fighting him and he will lose possession of him shortly. He tells Simon and another old friend Jabez to keep Ward there so that he can soon possess him completely. They present him with the Necronomicon. Ann comes downstairs hearing them talk, but when she arrives they are all gone except Ward, who is back to his normal self for now. A week passes, and Ward is still there. The townspeople discuss putting a stop to him. Meanwhile, late one night, he digs up the grave of Hester Tellinghast and he and his crew bring the body into his palace down to the secret cellar. When Ann asks where hes been, he cruelly scolds her and sends her back to her room alone. Joseph's voice calls to him declaring he will never leave him alone and that his will is too strong to fight. When Ann comes back to confront him, he tells her she must leave tomorrow. Ann goes downstairs later looking for Charles but finds Simon instead and faints. Meanwhile, Joseph is chanting in Latin for Hester to return to life, which she finally does, but she is too weak to stay alive. Joseph weakens from the effort and is taken back upstairs where Charles has no memory of what happened. He fears he is going mad, and tells Ann they must both leave in the morning. The next morning they try to leave quickly, but Simon says he must make out a receipt for the week's expenses first. Ann goes ahead to the cab, but Charles stays and falls under Joseph's spell again. Dr. Willet tells Ann about the grave robbery, and says Charles may have done it. Charles emerges from the house, acting like Joseph and blaming the others for trying to frame him and scare him away. He declares he has decided to stay. Ann tells Willet how her husband changes personalities more and more since the first night he arrived. Inside, Joseph declares that Charles is dead and he now has full control. But before he does his work, he must get his revenge against the descendants of the ones who burned him alive. At the bar, Weeden talks about the grave robbery and tries to stir the townspeople into fighting back against Ward, saying if they do nothing to save themselves they deserve whatever they get. Meanwhile, the possessed Ward unbolts the door to Weeden's locked attic, releasing the creature. Weeden returns home to be attacked by the thing, and both die when they fall into the fireplace. Ward tears the name Ezra Weeden off his revenge list. Peter Smith is appalled when Ward later attends Weeden's funeral from a distance. Night falls, and while Peter Smith is out walking alone, Ward tosses gasoline on him and sets him on fire. Micah Smith's name is removed from the list. Simon warns him to stop feasting on revenge, but Curwan insists on continuing his task. He goes to make love to Ann, but she scratches him and makes him leave. She then summons Dr. Willet for help, telling him Joseph Curwan is killing her husband. Ward arrives suddenly in mid-conversation and tells the doctor the house is affecting his wife. He pretends he is unchanged, asking the doctor to take her to Boston. She reluctantly agrees, and leaves at once with the doctor. As they pass through the town, the townspeople show Willet and Ann the burned body of Smith and declare that her husband killed him. Willet decides they must get Ward out of the palace before the townspeople kill him. Alone with Simon and Jabez, Charles succeeds in bringing Hester completely back from the dead. Ann and Willet go back to the palace but can't find Ward. Willet remembers how Ward just appeared when they were talking by the picture. They look at the nearby wall and find the secret door to the cellar. In the cellar, they find the empty coffin of Hester and the Necronomicon. Charles, Simon, Hester and Jabez confront them. Joseph tells of a project - the most important ever attempted by humans - that they were working on "a few years ago". They don't fully understand it, they just obey. Simon takes Willet away while Ann is chained to the posts. Ward chants in Latin. Jabez tell Willet they are "honoring" her. The grate below the posts is opened, and an unearthly creature begins to rise from the depths below. The townspeople charge to the palace and open the door calling for Joseph Curwan and setting the place on fire. They toss the portrait of Curwan in the fire. When they do, Ward is freed of Joseph's possession. He runs to his wife and unchains her before the creature arrives. Simeon and Jabez attack him, calling him a traitor. He pleads for Willet to take Ann to safety. The doctor gets her outside safely and then goes back for Charles. He finds him alone and collapsed in the cellar, and barely manages to get him out the front door before the flames consume the palace. Leaning against a tree, Ward tells them he is all right now, thanks to Ann and Dr. Willet and that he looks forward to repaying their kindness. But the sinister tone of his voice and the half smile on his face as he turns back around indicate that he is once again possessed by Joseph.

Three tales of terror involve a grieving widower and the daughter he abandoned; a drunkard and his wife's black cat; and a hypnotist who prolongs the moment of a man's death. Three stories adapted from the work of Edgar Allen Poe. A man and his daughter are reunited, but the blame for the death of his wife hangs over them, unresolved. A derelict challenges the local wine-tasting champion to a competition, but finds the man's attention to his wife worthy of more dramatic action. A man dying and in great pain agrees to be hypnotized at the moment of death, with unexpected consequences. —David Carroll <davidc@atom.ansto.gov.au> "Tales of Terror" presents three adaptations of good stories by Edgar Allan Poe directed by Roger Corman. (1) "Morella": The twenty and something years old Lenora returns to the derelict house of her estranged father Locke. Her mother Morella died after giving birth to Lenora and Locke still grieves and blames Lenora for the death of his beloved wife. Lenora finds the corpse of Morella on her bed and Locke tells that he could not leave her in a coffin six feet under. Locke tries to make amends for abandoning Lenora but something supernatural happens. (2) "The Black Cat": The drunkard Montresor is an abusive man that spends the money that his wife Annabel earns working drinking wine in a tavern. He also mistreats her black cat. One day, Montresor meets the connoisseur of fine wines Fortunato Luchresi and he disputes his knowledge with him. Fortunato brings Montresor home and woos Annabel. When Montresor discovers that his wife is having a love affair with Fortunato, he plots an evil scheme to seek revenge. (3) "The Case of M. Valdemar": The wealthy Ernest Valdemar is terminal feeling great pain. He hires the hypnotizer Carmichael to relief his pain and asks his beloved wife Helene and his Dr. James to get married to each other after his death. However Carmichael controls his mind and Valdemar dies but his soul stays trapped in his body. Carmichael tells Helene that he let Valdemar go only if she marries him but his attitude brings tragic consequences. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor. Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of the brutest torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis finds this hard to believe. After some investigating he finds out that it was extreme fear that was fatal to his sister and that she may have been buried alive! Strange things then start to happen in the Medina castle. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> After the mysterious death of Elizabeth Barnard Medina, her brother Francis Barnard travels from London to Spain and without previous notice he arrives at the castle of her husband Nicholas Medina. He is received by Nicholas' sister Catherine Medina that invites Francis to have dinner with her brother and her. Francis learns that their father Sebastian Medina was a cruel torturer of the Spanish Inquisition and Nicholas is a traumatized man that has witnessed the murder of his uncle Bartolome and his mother adulterer Isabella being tortured and killed by his father when he was a kid. During the dinner, the family's friend Doctor Charles Leon unexpectedly arrives and Francis discovers that his sister died of heart attack after visiting the torture chamber in the dungeons. Soon the place is haunted by strange events and Nicholas suspects of his servants Maximillian and Maria but Francis is convinced that Nicholas is the responsible for the death of his sister. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Francis Barnard visits the castle of Nicholas Medina, his late sister's husband, to pay his respects and find out how she died. The castle was used to torture victims during the Spanish Inquisition and that feeling of terror remains within parts of the castle. It appears that the spirit of his sister is haunting the castle. —grantss When his sister Elizabeth dies suddenly, Francis Barnard visits his brother-in-law Don Medina to find out exactly what happened to her. Don Medina lives a lonely life since his wife's death. He loved her dearly and can't explain what she died of. Francis clearly isn't welcome and it is only Don Medina's sister Catherine that seems to have an interest him. As Francis and Catherine explore the events surrounding Elizabeth's death, Francis learns of Don Medina's horrific childhood experiences and discover an attempt to drive him mad. —garykmcd

The movie opens on a white screen. Then William Castle enters and informs us, "I am William Castle, the director of the motion picture you're about to see. I feel obligated to warn you that some of the sensations, some of the physical reactions which the actors on the screen will feel will also be experienced for the first time in motion picture history by certain members of this audience...And remember this: A scream at the right time may save your life." The screen goes dark and a man's screams are heard. His head (an uncredited Pat Colby) floats towards the audience. Two women's heads (left is an uncredited Gail Bonney, right is an uncredited Amy Fields), screaming, join the man. We fade in on a convict being led to the execution chamber. He is Ryerson (an uncredited Bob Gunderson) and two guards drag him to his fate--the electric chair. Standing in the hall is his brother-in-law, Ollie Higgins (Phillip Coolidge). Title and credits are shown over the march to the chamber. In a nearby lab, Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) prepares for the state required autopsy of the convicted and executed man. The body is wheeled from the execution chamber to the lab on a gurney. Chapin does his work and Ollie comes in to watch. They chat about the electrocution and Chapin notes, "This man's vertebrae are cracked. They're nearly splintered in two." He explains he's seen this before, always related to fear and this is the focus of his research. Ollie postulates it might be what causes your spine to tingle. Chapin is amused and dubs the force, "The Tingler," something he has been researching for years with no name. Chapin asks rhetorically, "Fear causes tremendous tensions in the body. If you can't relieve them, why can't they become strong enough to kill you?" Chapin completes the death certificate and prepares to leave. Ollie asks for a ride back into town and the doctor agrees. Chapin stops his car in front of a walk-in theater. It specializes in old, silent movies. Ollie offers the doctor a cup of coffee. He first checks in with his wife, Martha (Judith Evelyn) who is working in the box office. She is a deaf-mute and reminds her husband about working the opening of the theater. Ollie and Chapin enter the rooms above the theater. Martha enters the apartment and places cash in a large safe by the front door. She enters the kitchen and washes her hands. She stares at Chapin and refuses to shake his hand, miming that they are loaded with germs. Besides being deaf-mute, Martha has a serious OCD condition and a serious phobia about something else Chapin discovers after he accidently breaks a saucer. He reaches into the sink to retrieve the broken pieces of a saucer and cuts his hand. The sight of the blood sends Martha into a rigid, dead faint. Chapin treats her and explains to Ollie that her inability to scream allows the tension to build. She does not actually faint, but experiences something he calls a psychosomatic escape. Chapin brings the woman around with smelling salts. Martha immediately checks the safe to verify the money is still there. Satisfied her money is safe, she refuses to go downstairs to open the box office until Ollie and the doctor have left. Doctor Chapin leaves and drives home. Chapin arrives home, a large expensive house in an upscale neighborhood. His wife has money and an independent nature. Feeling neglected at home she indulges her desire for male company openly. Lucy Stevens (Pamela Lincoln) walks down the stairs. She is dressed for her date. She is Chapin's sister-in-law. Her boyfriend, David, works for Dr. Chapin. They are both pathologists. She tells Chapin her sister is out on a date. Chapin takes a certain amount of responsibility for the situation. They discuss Lucy's financial situation, her sister controls the inheritance and refuses to share it with her little sister. The doorbell rings and Lucy answers it. It is David Morris (Darryl Hickman) and he apologizes for being late. David was late because he was out trying to catch a stray cat for their experiment. David also gives Chapin the drug he requested. [Note: LSD was still legal back in the 1950s and was being used by Psychiatrists for research.] David warns Dr. Chapin that, "It can produce pretty weird effects." Chapin relays the story about Martha and her blood phobia and her fear reaction. Chapin tells David he is now convinced what he is looking for is tangible and solid. He now calls it, The Tingler. David and Lucy go out on their date. Dr. Chapin sits and reads a preliminary report titled, "Fright Effects Induced by Injection of Lysergic Acid LSD25." It is late, 1:00 a.m., and Chapin sees his wife out the window. She is kissing her date good night. Chapin decides to kill two birds with one stone. He retrieves a gun from the hutch drawer, it is loaded with blanks but she doesn't know that. He confronts Isabel (Patricia Cutts) in the entry way. They exchange catty dialog and decide to have a drink. Chapin mentions Lucy and David and threatens that unless she gives Lucy her inheritance, she will be dead. He pulls a gun and escorts her into the lab. He tells her that her "suicide" can be better arranged there. Isabel refuses to give Lucy her money, so Chapin "shoots" her. She collapses in fear. He places her body on the X-Ray table and takes three pictures of her spine in rapid succession. He wakes his wife and tells her, "You're not hurt, dear. It was just a blank cartridge. Thanks for helping with the experiment. You played your part excellently." She is furious. A cat in the cage calls out. He gleefully tells Isabel, "I was going to use this cat. But you made a much better subject. Have you two met? In the same alley, perhaps?" Isabel threatens, "When my turn comes, and it will come, it won't be an experiment." The next day, David pulls up in his old car. He brought the dog Chapin requested. Chapin is excited to show Dave the X-Rays he took of Isabel. It shows The Tingler in stages of growth and deployment along the spine. Chapin and Dave discuss what they know and what they need to find out. They speculate that The Tingler may be a solid mass, and a living organism. That evening, Lucy, Dave, and Dr. Chapin have coffee in the living room. Chapin wants to scare himself to do more research, "to personally sense the power of The Tingler, in a genuine fear situation. In a controlled experiment, with my own fear perhaps I can find out all the things we have to know. Only nothing scares me." Chapin suggests, then demands that Dave take the night off. Dave suspects Chapin may try something stupid and dangerous. His fears are realized. Dave and Lucy observe, from outside the lab, Chapin take the LSD and have a bad trip. Chapin carefully tape records all his observations and symptoms. He is able to experience fear, but despite his desire to stifle a scream, he does scream and the thing that makes his spine rigid disappears. Lucy, David, and Chapin discuss the experiment, and Dave notes that a deaf-mute is unable to scream. At the movie theater, Dr. Chapin stops to see Ollie. He came to see how Martha was doing. Ollie says it must have been very traumatic because she is off her routine. Chapin walks up to see Martha. He gives her a sedative and puts her to bed. He sends Ollie to the drug store to fill a prescription for Martha. Sometime later, Martha wakes. Strange things happen: lights go off on their own, windows close, a rocking chair moves with no one sitting in it, and doors open and close on their own. A creature with a scarred face and oversized teeth menace her with a knife. She eventually is locked in the bathroom and sees blood flowing from the hot and cold water faucets in the sink. [Note: The movie is black and white, but the sink and tub sequences are in color, to emphasize the blood.] The tub is full of blood and an arm rises out of the thick liquid towards the frightened woman. She goes rigid and clutches her spine with one hand. The bathroom medicine cabinet opens and there she sees her own death certificate. She collapses to the floor, dead. Dr. Chapin arrives home to the phone ringing. There is no one on the line by the time he answers it. He finds two drinking glasses on the coffee table and concludes his wife has been entertaining. A gold tie clip confirms his suspicions. The doorbell rings, and Dr. Chapin answers it. It is Ollie and he has brought his wife's body over to the Chapin home. They carry Martha in and place her on the exam table in the lab. Chapin confirms she is dead, and has been for at least an hour. Chapin records the time and circumstances to complete the death certificate. Martha's body rises up on the table, still covered in the sheet. She settles back down, and Ollie is convinced she is still alive. Chapin assures him she is quite dead, but wants to find out why she moved. He removes a Tingler from around her spinal bones. It is about 16 inches long and resembles a black lobster or huge earwig with pincers on the front and back. Chapin calls for a glass tank, but before he can secure the creature it pinches his arm. His screams causes the creature to release the grip on his arm and fall limp on the table. Isabel enters the lab. She is repulsed by the creature. Ollie asks how strong it is, and Chapin replies, "Strong enough to kill a man, easily and quickly." Chapin puts The Tingler in a wire mesh carrying case. Isabel grabs a small vial from the lab and before leaving looks at The Tingler with a certain fascination. She pours the contents of the vial into a glass on the bar. Ollie agrees to take Martha home and notify both a funeral parlor and the police. Isabel suggests a celebration for the discovery, something her husband has been seeking for years. She pours two drinks and offers Chapin one, but he demands the other instead. She agrees, knowing her husband does not trust her, but he gets the spiked one anyway. She asks about The Tingler. He explains that it is very powerful. Ollie calls and tells Chapin that Martha is now at a funeral parlor and he has called the police. Chapin passes out from the drink before Ollie can complete his conversation. Ollie gathers up the paraphernalia he used to scare his wife to death: the mask, knife, and other items. As Chapin sleeps it off, Isabel brings in The Tingler in its carrying case. She lets it loose to do its murderous thing. It crawls over to Chapin and proceeds to strangle him with its fore-pincers. Fortunately, Lucy arrives home, hears his struggles, and screams disabling The Tingler's grip on the doctor's throat. It falls to the rug in front of the couch. The next day in the lab, Chapin tries to destroy The Tingler. He holds a blow torch and tells David, "Nothing affects it. You can't destroy the thing." Dave is excited at the medical discovery, but Chapin explains that he is not going to share the discovery with anyone, not at a convention or with a journal article. Chapin explains his reasons, "The Tingler exists in every human being we now know. Look at that. It's an ugly and dangerous thing. Ugly because it's the creation of man's fear. Dangerous because a frightened man is dangerous. We can't destroy it, because we've removed it from its natural place." Chapin decides it has to be put back inside Martha's body and hopes it will be re-absorbed. Lucy comes into the lab and reports that Isabel has left, taken her clothes and moved out. Dave reports that the police got no report of her death. Chapin grabs his bag and the Tingler in its cage and departs for Ollie's place. Ollie is home packing. He empties the safe of cash. Chapin arrives and confronts the man. He finds the objects Ollie used to frighten his wife to death. While preparing Martha's body, The Tingler escapes from its cage and gains entry to the theater below via a loose floor board. Chapin and Ollie start their search for it. As the audience watches an old movie, The Tingler searches out prey. One woman (an uncredited Amy Fields) screams when it latches on to her leg. Chapin douses the lights and tells the audience there is no cause for alarm. The projectionist (an uncredited Dal McKennon) prepares for a reel change. The Tingler crawls through the opening in the wall. The Tingler causes the film to flutter and break. Its' crawling silhouette shows on the theater screen and Chapin and Ollie see it. The audience in the theater murmurs. Chapin again tells the audience not to panic, and implores them, "Scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this theater! And if you don't scream, it may kill you! Scream! Scream! Keep screaming! Scream for your life!" Chapin and Ollie run to the projection booth. The projectionist is being choked by The Tingler. His scream causes the thing to release its grip on his throat. Chapin loads it into a film canister and carries it back upstairs to where Martha's body is located. Ollie admits that Chapin gave him the idea to kill his wife. Chapin places it back into Martha. Chapin informs Ollie, "This time you're going to the police with me." Ollie pulls a gun and corrects the good doctor, "You're wrong. You're going by yourself." Chapin calls the man's bluff, and walks out. Ollie walks towards the door, but it slams shut on its own. The window shuts and Martha's sheet covered body rises up. She stands and stares at her husband. He silently screams in fear. The screen goes black. We close with final words of wisdom from Dr. Warren Chapin, "Ladies and gentlemen, just a word of warning. If any of you are not convinced that you have a Tingler of your own, the next time you're frightened in the dark, don't scream."

A newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man help expose political corruption in New York City.