- Percepto – In 1955, writer/director/producer William Castle made a movie called “The Tingler”, a crazy film about a bug growing in your back and squeezing your spine that is weakened and killed only with your scream. That’s what the movie is about. And because he thought this experience is worth living in reality as well, he installed vibrating buzzers in theaters all across America. Those buzzers would vibrate and buzz the lower backs of audience members in a simulation of the Tingler.
- Odorama – While there were many other attempts of creating a smell-o-vision experience in the theaters, it wasn’t until 1981 when someone managed to do it right. The movie “Polyester” by John Waters had incorporated this interesting gimmick, where the audience would receive some scented cards, like the ones you get in women’s magazine. And yes, one of those scents was a fart.
- Super Niche Casting – There is an absolutely dull movie called “Terror of Tiny Town”, a western musical from 1938. The cast of this movie was composed only of tiny people, so it’s a perfectly straight western movie, except everyone is short.
- Punishment Poll – In 1961, the same creative and brilliant William Castle made a movie with Columbia Pictures about a jerk who gets his face weirdly frozen into a smile/grimace. But because Columbia Pictures put a lot of pressure on Castle, he had to rewrite a happier ending. He then thought to give the audience the possibility of choosing the ending for the main character. He had two endings in-store, a good end, and a bad end and the audience had to vote which ending Mr Sardonicus should get. Surprisingly (or not), the audience only choose the bad ending, so Castle made a point out of it, by saying the audience is just a bunch of screwy sadists.
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