Horror's Wildest Marketing Stunts: Castle to Blair Witch

In 1959, a producer sent crews to bolt buzzers under theater seats so the audience would feel the movie. This is horror's wildest marketing stunts, from William Castle's gimmicks to a website about missing filmmakers. Castle's Macabre insurance policy, the Emergo skeleton, Percepto buzzers and a myth check on whether they gave electric shocks, Hitchcock's no-late-admission rule for Psycho, The Exorcist's lines in the cold, The Blair Witch Project's fake legend, and Paranormal Activity's "Demand It" campaign. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: the buzzing seats 00:28 William Castle: the showman 00:43 1958: Macabre 01:03 1959: House on Haunted Hill 01:23 1959: The Tingler 01:47 Myth check: electric shocks? 02:09 1960: Psycho 02:24 Hitchcock's rules 02:42 1973: The Exorcist 02:58 The audience is the ad 03:15 1999: The Blair Witch Project 03:36 The fake legend 03:57 The payoff 04:18 2009: Paranormal Activity 04:36 Demand it! 04:53 The crowd as trailer 05:09 What they share 05:29 The lesson Films mentioned: Macabre (1958, William Castle) · House on Haunted Hill (1959, William Castle) · The Tingler (1959, William Castle) · Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock) · The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin) · The Blair Witch Project (1999, Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez) · Paranormal Activity (2007/2009, Oren Peli) Sources: William Castle, Macabre, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Castle · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macabre_(1958_film) · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_on_Haunted_Hill · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tingler Psycho: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_(1960_film) The Exorcist: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film) · The New York Times, Jan 24 and Jan 27, 1974 coverage of the lines The Blair Witch Project: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project Paranormal Activity: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_Activity Note: reports of fainting and illness at The Exorcist are period press accounts, so the video says "reportedly". Budgets and grosses are rounded; accounts of Hitchcock's book-buying are also reported rather than confirmed. AI-generated visuals and narration: every image is original AI artwork (no film clips, frames, posters, trailers or character designs), and the narration is a synthetic voice. Research, script and commentary are original. Previous episode: Horror in the 1990s (A Decade a Week #8):    • Horror in the 1990s: Lambs to Scream | Dec...   Horror from 2000 to Today (A Decade a Week #7):    • Horror 2000 to Today: Cursed Tapes to Get ...   Subscribe:    / @midnightreelhorror   #horror #horrormovies #horrorhistory