For the marketing of the Saw films, they set up blood drives at various location in the US. If you donated blood then you would get a free ticket. Not necessary gimmicky but a interesting way to advertise the film and help a good cause

@RetroIsaac

2 жыл бұрын

Oh wow that is pretty cool.

@cassiemoyles4177

Жыл бұрын

That's funny as hell lol

@kevinkelley3906

Жыл бұрын

That is funny, cool and you get a free cookie. Count me in!!

@Noobie2k7

Ай бұрын

They did the same thing here in the UK too in some places.

@idletalker

20 күн бұрын

During the first six blood drives for Saw to Saw VI, they collected about 120.000 pints of blood. Absolutely rocks!

I'm REALLY CONFUSED that, in the everyone-has-a-cell-phone era, we haven't had a "Vote on which ending you want"/"Vote for who you think the killer is" gimmick - especially if you had an actually ambiguous/morally grey situation to vote on. That'd be really fun, and you could potentially have three or four endings, and that'd get people to watch again just for that.

@jaimayy

Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of the Clue movie, it had unique endings just like the clue game!

@JC_Cali

Жыл бұрын

Since Clue is one of my top 5 fav movies, I support this whole heartedly! It's a mystery too...

That opener with Vincent Price has already completely won me over. ❤️

@generaldisgrace2978

3 жыл бұрын

YES

Chelsea keeps doing a great job with the podcast.

@garfsexual6999

5 жыл бұрын

She always does

@kelleyworrall6583

4 жыл бұрын

I love the intro

@americascreepyuncle

3 жыл бұрын

@@kelleyworrall6583 😀

i saw the first rob zombie halloween at a midnight screening in high school. during the scene where kid michael beats the bully kid to death the video cut out for some reason so the whole theatre was completely dark with just the sound of the kid getting beaten to death and let me tell you it made it SO much more unsettling/disturbing

3D is a gimmick that comes back every 30 years. 1950s, 1980s, 2010s

@vandjack17

2 жыл бұрын

Can't wait for its return in 2040 - lol

@Lilbuckets2

Жыл бұрын

Well now it’s every avatar movie haha

@evabible9770

10 ай бұрын

So it’s Pennywise

billy is watching saw 3d in the background

@trollmemesxxyoloxx845

5 жыл бұрын

krowmex yeah I laughed when I saw that

@a_trueyoungblood182

5 жыл бұрын

krowmex omg 😜😂🤣

@swirls5000

4 жыл бұрын

“This gore is fantastic...”

I went to my first midnight showing when I was 11 years old. I saw The Dark Knight with my mom, and the crowd was extremely rowdy. Within a few minutes of sitting down I had soda spilled on my head and popcorn dumped all over my lap. One of my favorite moviegoing experiences by far

@cassiemoyles4177

Жыл бұрын

Hahahaha I love this whole sentence

@Badusername2000

Жыл бұрын

if that were me, someone would have their eyes clawed out by an 11 year old

@Rowan7131

6 ай бұрын

When my boyfriend and I saw Barbie the theater lost power right when the Kens were singing on the beach, and when it came back on 10 minutes later the movie had kept playing (I have no idea how, maybe just our room and the screen lost power while the actual projector kept going? Idk how it works 🥴). An employee came in and asked us where they needed to rewind to, and everyone started talking at once (it was a rowdy crowd, lots of laughter and talking at the screen, very fun experience), and the employee just stood there looking around helplessly, and after about a minute one lady yelled out “everybody hold on,” and enough people quieted down that she was able to tell the employee “you can just go back to America Ferrera’s speech, we can hear that again,” and the room just exploded with cheering and clapping 😂 The employee was like “but I have to put it back to where you actually were” but he was laughing, and she did tell him where we actually were, and he did put it back 😂 Such a fun experience, everybody enjoyed themselves so much and we were sitting up high enough that we could watch everyone’s reactions too.

Chelsea just makes me smile. She just seems so enthusiastic. Keep up the good work with the podcast.

James & Chelsea, I suffer from depression and anxiety and I just wanted to tell you that listening to your podcasts is really comforting to me, it’s like listening to friends talking. Thank you so much for helping me to heal you guys 💖

@RobertEOSPEEDWAGON1

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZyrusSmith wtf dude

@huiwhakitaki6600

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZyrusSmith Nobody cares about what you have to say

@jack_shippo

2 жыл бұрын

I hope you've been doing better! It's tough to suffer with that, I know from experience, and I'm glad you can find some things to help you get through it.

The Alex Theatre in Glendale does a bunch of the Castle gimmicks. They had the neon skeleton "flying" across the theater during House on Haunted Hill and they had a plant faint and get pulled out during The Tingler.

Unfriended: Dark Web had two different endings

@johana7560

4 жыл бұрын

4

I actually did a presentation on William Castle's gimmicks for a college course on immersion and cited Tingler as his best gimmick. It was cheap, woven in perfectly with the plot of the story, and the film itself holds up. What could be cool is if they did a remake and instead of having the deicer motors under the seats, people downloaded an app and it would make your phone vibrate instead.

literally the intro made me go ‘EEEEEEE’ out loud

@nosathirty

5 жыл бұрын

chichikk you can’t go ‘EEEEEEE,’ you have to say, shout, scream, etc.

@trollmemesxxyoloxx845

5 жыл бұрын

chichikk same and I wonder if they edited or they actually got him to do it. (This is a joke)

@chichikk

5 жыл бұрын

LostIn TheComments ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@nosathirty

5 жыл бұрын

chichikk sorry, I’m renaming my account “correcting you’re grammar” and so you are my first victim 👹

@jayvonwebb4864

5 жыл бұрын

*E*

I think Unfriended: Dark Web had different endings in theaters.

@Ryocniel

5 жыл бұрын

???!??!?!?! That shit got a sequel

Brock Baker? I recognize his voice from the Beauty & the Beast Drunk Disneys😎

@jessicaeskebk5945

4 жыл бұрын

WAIT WHAT?!? IMMA go Wacth that

Unfriended 2 had the 2 different endings in theatres. I loved the Vincent price stuff at the beginning was great! Also I think midnight screenings stopped around that Batman theatre shooting because I can’t remember any other midnight screenings that happened after that. Here in Canada we have the 7pm Thursday stuff but I deft remember lining up for the first pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter has huge midnight screenings here

I realize this video is almost a year old but I remember all my friends and I dressing up, CAMPING OUT ALL DAY, and doing trivia before the showing of the very first hunger games movie! We also saw The Avengers at midnight and all did makeup looks inspired by the characters lol (I was the Hulk)

william castle films remind me of an amusement park ride. It feels really charming and i would love to be a live audience to one of these films. excellent video!!!

Did you miss "Sensurround"? This was advertised with the movies _Earthquake_ and _Roller Coaster_ and was essentially theaters installed with subwoofers that took advantage of low rumbles in the soundtrack which could make the seats shake and possibly even be felt in the chest. This could be considered a thing that is standard today possibly with THX and Dolby Surround. I remember when Alien Encounter was at Disney they talked about specific "low tones" in the soundtrack that could be felt in the body but not heard with the ears and were chosen to heighten anxiety levels.

@a.a.g.h.1679

3 жыл бұрын

Dang I wish alien encounter was still around I would’ve loved to have experienced it

When I was in the 8th grade, I got to go on a school trip to Washington D.C and when we went to the air and space museum, there was a room dedicated to items from the Smithsonian museum, since the items where in an area rather was under going renovations, some of them included , the chains from the 70s show Roots, Archie Bunkers chair. But the biggest thing was props and equipment form The Wizard of Oz, like a pair of screen used ruby slippers, the camera, and one of the coolest things to me. The script , which was marked at the moment the film switched from black and white to color.

how did you guys get vincent price to say that when hes be dead for 25 years and hed be 107 now

@cristianlicaci8170

5 жыл бұрын

yeah ifound out a little to late cause after that i thought about it

@LivinMyJeffLife

5 жыл бұрын

It was Brock Baker. Check out the Beauty & the Beast Drunk Disneys😎

@trollmemesxxyoloxx845

5 жыл бұрын

horror nerdz edits

@nightflyer777

5 жыл бұрын

Horror movie magic. :)

@LazyCatIsFat

5 жыл бұрын

necromancy

Here in the UK some cinema chains hold secret screenings. Basically you have no idea what film you’re going to see, it’s usually a film that will be coming out in the next month or so, but it’s still pretty fun to go along and be in the dark about what you’re going to see right up until the opening credits begin.

Love the channel. Can you please tackle Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs? It could be a standalone podcast episode or a part of a broader podcast about race and horror. If you go that route, you could invite a special guest who is versed in issues of film and critical race theory to the extent that you and Chelsea are not. Other notable films might include early zombie movies, Night of the Living Dead, Tales from the Hood, Blacula and other blaxploitation era horror films, Candyman, the The First Purge / The Purge Anarchy, and of course Get Out. Potential themes for discussion include the first kill phenomenon, subversion of stereotypes, and the filmmakers’ commentary about past and/or contemporary race and class relations.

@tyronebullockjr7479

5 жыл бұрын

Brandee Blocker I like your idea and now there’s a Tales From The Hood 2 on Netflix

@krsc1506

5 жыл бұрын

People Under the Stairs is so great! Thanks for the reminder.

Paranormal Activity had 3 different endings, although Idk if different endings were showed when it was in theaters

“Was she a great big fat person?” FRIGHT BREAK I SCREAMED LMFAO

When I was a senior I went to the premiere of Deathly Hallows past 2 and my friends got the audience to recreate the mysteries ticking noise from potter puppet pals

I can't remember the titles that have done it, but something I was expecting to see here is horror films/cinemas that 'planted' people in the showing of a movie to faint, have fake panic attacks, and get carted out of the screening by fake paramedics to hype up how scary the film was.

These are so fun to watch especially going to film school and knowing exactly what you’re talking about

Movie Marathons! it would run from like midnight to 6am or something like that. 3 movies back to back. People would show up in their PJ's, bring pillows etc. It was wild

My grandma still has a set of blue plates that she got from going to the movie theater when she was 15. She said she would only go back because she wanted to complete the set, so I guess the gimmick of giving people plates to watch movies worked.

Saw one of the first showings of Return of the Jedi. Since it was a showing that let out late, there were no buses leaving Westwood. Sing-a-Long Sound of Music at the Castro Theater was awesome! It was packed and everyone was singing and yelling at the screen.

I saw a lot of the early MCU films opening midnight. I haven't heard of it happening recently.

Man you guys are blowing up. I started watching when you had about 400k subscribers and you guys are already close to 1.5 million! You guys definitely deserve it. This is by far one of my favorite channels on all of KZread. Keep being amazing!

This film is based on true events (story)... another gimmick, used by Coen brothers

At 9:50 when James asks about people thinking a train might hit him; that could be referring to Man with a Movie Camera (1929) by Dziga Vertov which has a trick shot of a train moving directly at/over the camera.

I remember one of my best friends at the time went to go see Paranormal Activity for the midnight showing! We were in Jr. High at the time and I was still a SUPER scaredy cat who couldn't even watch Child's Play. The only Midnight showing I was able to go to was cancelled just as we all sat down. It was around the time when the Colorado Movie Theater shooting occured and my sister, her bf at the time, and I went to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks (I was hopeful for it being good). We get in and there ended up being a dude pissed he didn't have a seat and just threatening he had a gun. We were all quickly evacuated afterwards, with the guy being arrested, and we got refunds. Last time we ever went to the Casino too (the movie theater was inside).

@NyxDiscordia33

3 жыл бұрын

I'm really sorry to hear that. I sincerely hope your life has been better since. Have a lovely day, Monica

Midnight screenings were some of my favorite movie going experiences. The funniest thing was that at the time the movie theatre didn't sell advance tickets; you could only get them the day of. So if you really wanted those tickets you'd have to be there lined up (because you know a bunch of other people were doing it too) at 10am when they opened. The only problem with that was that if it was on a Thursday I'd be in school when they opened. So I had to convince my mom to take time out of her day to go buy them for us.

When I was in university Splice came out, and people got super excited, cause it was by the same director who did Cube, which is kind of a cult classic here. Before going to the midnight showing a few guys turned their entire house into a remake of the Cube, right down to making replicas of the traps and claiming you "died" if you entered that box area (and of course "died" meant you had to do a shot). Even the movie theater had a fake slice and dice. I've never seen a movie release cause so much excitement for a movie released 12 years prior.

The new Cameras look amazing, the audio has really improved too! :) I'm so proud of James and the way he acts towards his community! I keep recommending your channel to all my friends!

I’m years late but when the sing-along version of The Greatest Showman was shown in theaters, there were people in full cosplay going up front and singing whenever their characters showed up on screen. There’s videos on youtube showing some of it, the rest of the audience seemed to rly love it

Chelsea is the personification of joy. I mean both she and James seem to really enjoy what they do, but Chelsea just permeates enthusiasm when she does her podcasts. It is so refreshing to watch the two of them bounce ideas off of one another.

Chelsea is so smart. James is a lucky guy.

this is a super cool and insightful discussion. thank you for producing and posting. i had no idea that synced sounds and speech was a debated topic but it complete makes sense

I hope y'all have a good day today

@Kitten_Cacophony

5 жыл бұрын

You too, mate!

@thatkidwiththehoodie

5 жыл бұрын

You too 💜

@gamergamer7508

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks bro

James i love your work. I came upon your channel about a month ago and I have seen every video of yours. I wish you the best of luck

If I’m remembering correctly my last true midnight screening was Dark Knight Rises. It’s probably the same with a lot of people because I think a lot of theaters started earlier screenings because of that shooting that happened.

Every time you guys cover film history in any way I am SO here for it. Also midnight showing were everything like my sister and best friend and I went to see one of the Harry Potter movies at a 12:01 showing and we waited in line for hours and everyone was dressed up and no one had assigned seats so it was a mad rush for seats when the line got in the theater. So wild

9:38 About the story of people thinking a train is gonna come off the screen and hit them, people who are experiencing film for the first time wouldn't even understand the concept of a screen. They wouldn't have the same understanding that we have with VR of what the limitations actually are. Makes sense to me that they'd be confused and panic-it could be a giant jigsaw trap that ends with a room full of people getting hit by a train!

If I have to list them, the midnight premieres I've gone too were: 1) Pearl Harbor (was about 6 and my dad wanted to see it). 2) TLOR: The Two Towers (was invited by a relative, I was 7) 3) The Incredibles (I was in a Blockbuster with my mom and my brother and a guy approched us in a marketing gimmick to win tickets for it, was 10). 4) Avatar (This was the first time I bought tickets for a premiere, it was the biggest movie of 2009 and was excited for it. And left dissapointed. Was 15) 5) Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Parts 1 & 2 (The reasons are obvious). 6) The Avengers (the movie was premiered on my birthday, as the majority of the MCU movies, so my brother invited me to see it). 7) The Hobbit: An Unexpeted Journey (I was 18, and bought the movies with my first paycheck, and invited my mom to come with me). 8) IT (This was the very first time I was truly excited about a movie premiere in 5 years since The Hobbit. I bought the tickets at the 1st second they were online. It was the Best midnight premiere experience I've lived, even the theater I went pulled a mimick in the bathrooms that really scared the shit out of people, will post it on Twitter for you to see it.) 9) Solo: A Star Wars Story (I knew that people didnt give a shit about it, so much that I checked online tickets for the midnight premiere that same afternoon and the theaters were almost empty, I bought tickets on that moment and went with my girlfriend).

I find it amazing tht i never went to film school, yet i know practically everything u guys learnt in school just goes to show tht documentries can be just as informative

I was at a midnight showing of Dark Knight, too. When Chelsea mentioned it, I was pretty jazzed. It's cool to think that I was doing the same thing as a KZreadr I follow, at the same time/same day.

I remember seeing a movie in the Smithsonian called "a walk through history" or something like that and at different times air would blow at your ankles making you think there were rats running around and stuff it was great lol

So two things 1) Cannibal Holocaust wasn't necessarily a gimmick in the way that it was marketed, but the director made the cast sign agreements to stay out of public eye to make the film seem real to the point that he was tried in court for seemingly making a snuff film. 2) Do you guys think the 2012 Aurora Shootings had anything to do with the decline of midnight showings?

I remember when Rugrats had a scratch and sniff thing in the movie. It was either Rugrats or another kids movie.

@__DY__

3 жыл бұрын

I remember that! I remember getting the card from Burger King lol

Check out the film "The Beast Must Die" from the 70s. It's one of my favorites and has a gimmick before a reveal where a narrator pauses the film's continuity and gives the audience 30 seconds to guess the mystery as a clock ticks. Also "King Willie" (Calvin Lockhart) from Predator 2 in a lead role.

Me and my buddy Tray went at 10 pm to see Suicide Squad on a Thursday night! We weren’t able to make a big showing of it, but it was still pretty sweet to be up late on a school night (Sophomore year) and be in the know on a movie others didn’t know! We try to keep the feel of midnight showings alive, but y’all were doing it absolutely correct!!

I love your guys' dynamic. Great episode!

I’m a high school junior, and when infinity war came out, I saw it at this old 1940’s era theater called the Pickwick. I went to the midnight showing in a Spiderman outfit. Didn’t feel so good after :/

I really want you all to cover "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" and how it fits in with other horror movies like scream and cabin in the woods that take shots at horror movie tropes and gimmicks.

As a gargantuan Vincent Price fan, that intro just made me combust.

*SPOOO-keee!* And not exactly a true midnight movie experience but it ended at like 1 am. My mom and I went to see the remake of King Kong one summer night late for no reason at all and neither of us knew how long the film was. We thought by the end of it, we'd be about by maybe 11 or so but as the movie went on, we were wondering exactly what time we'd be able to leave. Even more so, without intermissions my mom left to go to the bathroom during the dinosaur run and when she got back THEY WERE STILL RUNNING! Aside from the people still staffing the place because of the run-time of this ONE MOVIE, we were the only people left by the time it was over.

Okay so i have some cinema stories. We have the stupid no outside food allowed, so sometimes I would stuff chocolate bars down my shirt. during a screening of Deadpool 2 i was with a whole group of our friends and i had bought my waterbottle with me (those were allowed) and my friend (who was also my ex which makes this kinda awkward and cool) he had a 2 litre bottle of Vanilla Pepsi, i was famous for carrying this bag with me that could hold a surprising amount of stuff so we traded, i hid his pepsi and he took my water bottle, it was fun sharing food and drinks. We used to buy the biggest popcorn box and throw in the other snacks we had bought with us, so when we reached in it was a myriad of snacks: popcorn, crisps, maltesers, skittles, M&Ms, clinkers, jaffas, smarties, jelly beans, jelly dinosaur lollies. But my absolute favourite story is the time i saw IT with my friends and this person started clapping when the WB logo appeared and we all joined in. Later on i found it, that person was this 60+ woman who somehow managed to sneak in a bottle of wine and drank it throughout the film. Hell yeah lady you're my hero.

Chelsea is so adorable and James is my man ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and this topic was great. I especially love the little piece about exhibtors in the start!

I remember cabbage guy (amazing someone convinced the theater to let them bring in a big bunch of cabbages) showing up for the avatar the last airbender. I also remember the silence as we left the theater

I, Vincent PrYcE.

I wish James could get the glasses on his shirt to reflect "Dead Meat". Like he's watching the channel. That'd be dope as hell.

So excited for this episode. Love so many of Castle's films. Mr Sadonicus is always a favorite

I have an early film midterm tomorrow and this actually helped me immensely better understand film of attraction! excellent work and great research chelsea!

y’all know i’ma stay up late watching this

I feel like those cardboard advertisements sitting around theaters where you can sit with the characters or “become part of the scene” is a sort of gimmick for people before the movie even comes out, or now at theaters near me at least in the halls where all the theaters are there’s huge screens that look like 9 TVs stacked together have someone on it who would talk about the theater and would show ads for movies and moving movie posters. It’s actually pretty interesting

Something I've noticed some movies doing these days in 2024, 5 years after this podcast aired, is interactive advertising. Saw X and Scream VI come to mind. Where you could find a phone number to call, and John Kramer or Ghostface, respectively, would "talk to you".

I'd love to see your reviews of classic Castle pics and Vincent Price films Dead Meat- they're so over the top and campy unlike the darker tone that remakes tended to take. Fantastic work on this podcast, they are always very well researched and fun to listen to. Keep up the good work!

So good! I remember doing the midnight release for the last two Harry Potter movies and being on campus right before for a HP party.

I'll mention, when you are discussing the Wizard of Oz going from black and white to color may seem strange but whether or not they intended it they sort of added an element of the book. In the first chapter Baum is setting the scene in Kansas, in it he spends a bit of time pointing out the drabness, the grayness and sun bleached nature of the mirthless plain and the bright and colorful contrast of the fairyland of Oz follows. So the nature of that cinemantic element of color(or lack thereof) adds that dimension to the on screen adaptation.

Great episode!

When I was in my late teens/early twenties, a popular gimmick was All-Night Movie Marathons. There would be a few marathons to choose from, each showing 3 or 4 new or recently released movies and they would last all night. You’d go in at about 8pm and come out at 6am.

Inception’s midnight premiere was insane. It wasn’t big enough that you had to wait a few days for friends to see it, unable to really explain and trying to not overhype it.

I saw mad max in a D-box chair lol, great podcast as always guys. Keep up the great work. Love you both

Not really horror, but Black Mirror Bandersnatch was soooo gimmicky with the “choice” of how the story plays out...

One of the recent Japanese Ring films had a gimmick where at a certain point in the movie, Sadako would "climb out" of your cell phone.

The sixth Harry Potter movie's midnight showing had a kid run across the front as Harry, chased by Death Eaters. This was before the movie started, and it was great. We all had a really fantastic time before that movie started.

I remember my first and last smellovision. Spy Kids 4D in 2011. I was one psyched little kid

Im from Michigan, and I love all the references you guys give to the state!

I LOVE the intro you guys :) great idea

The MJR Waterford doesn't have any craziness. All we have are the sets of claps during the opening ad. "It's more than just a movie, it's a big night out!" *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*

These podcasts are the best.

Killing it!

the telegraph thing clip has me laughing so hard and i don’t know why, i never thought they sounded that horrid but i guess it makes sense

James and Chelsea I work at a haunted house at six flags and I just wanted to let y’all know that when I am scaring people in my mask I have my headphones in and I’m listening to y’alls podcast. Thank y’all so much for giving me something fun to listen to while I’m working!!!

Y'all know Betrayal at House on the Hill? Of course you do! 😱😱😱 Favorite board game 👌🏽

Emergo is like the name a magician would give his member.

That gimmick with the skeleton on a pulley was used in the cinema scene in Scream 2.

I have a lot of nieces and nephews who are around high school age. Sadly midnight showings aren’t really a thing anymore. As a parent with young children, I appreciate the earlier “Friday” showings. But it’s definitely not the same. My most memorable midnight showing was Spider-Man 3 (go figure). I went as J Jonah Jameson meaning I wore a suit, fake cigar, and did my hair similarly. Best part was that we all brought silly string and shot it off after the intro

went to a Glasgow Film Theatre showing of The Room at 23:45 a couple of years ago and the ushers handed out bundles of wooden spoons to throw at the screen!

I’m just waiting for a podcast where James propose

@Ryocniel

5 жыл бұрын

I'm just waiting for a podcast where James grammar

@BrokenGodEnt

5 жыл бұрын

@@Ryocniel it really do be like that sometimes

@colinduncan2703

4 жыл бұрын

Joseph Makowski Boy do I have news for you

Going to see the Minions 2 in suits really hits that sweet spot you were talking about.

$100 in 1958 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $887.74 in 2019, a difference of $787.74 over 61 years.

I remember going to the midnight screening to a few of the Harry Potter films. That was so much fun, people dressed up or with themed shirts and cheering when the doors opened. Wish they would bring back real midnight screenings.

I love how Homicidal is kind of a ripoff of Psycho, but Serious Director Hitchcock was at the same time taking cues from William Castle.