Before the advent of IMAX , practical realism , and immersive stem park attractions , Hollywood was trying its good to poke audiences from the affectionate incandescence of their televisions and into theater . The wide , bird’s-eye facet proportion used in almost all motion-picture show today were the termination of studios hoping to provide a more immersive experience .
That obviously worked . Most of their other gimmicks did n’t . Take a looking at some of the more inventive ways theaters and producer have tried to boost tag sale over the geezerhood .
1. LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES
William Castle ( radius ) with two friends . Getty
The P.T. Barnum of movie salesmanship was undoubtedly William Castle , who rebound from one gimmick to another in the 1950s and sixties to bolster awareness for his series of B - minus horror pictures . For the 1958 filmMacabre , Castletold audiencesthat their theatre tickets would be redeemable for a $ 1000 Lloyds of London life story insurance policy policy in the event they died of fright . Castle alsoparked hearsesoutside theaters and rent cleaning woman to enclothe as nurses to vagabond the aisles . In deal advert inVariety , there were only minimal condition : “ Not valid for people with known centre conditions or for suicide . ”
No one appeared to have died during a screening , a fact that Castle may have take semisweet : It would have made for unprecedented publicity .
2. AROMARAMA
dbellis54 viaCinemaTreasures//CC BY 3.0
play to say , not so much merriment to experience . Preceding such doodad as Smell - O - Vision and Odorama , AromaRama introduced an extra sensorial stimulant to moviegoers via their nostrils . As oppose to scratch - and - sniff cards , the 1959 innovationpromisedto “ perfuse a theatre ’s zephyr with recognisable smell … on cue , and remove the air of one odor and substitute another every 90 seconds . ”
Curiously , AromaRama debuted with a rather dry documentary about China , Behind the Great Wall , at New York ’s DeMille Theater . The New York Timesfoundthe experience to have only “ capricious ” odor work in concord with the visuals and labeled the entire affair a stunt . With disbursal work up to $ 7500 to set up the pungent odor and a slightly nauseating deodourant into an air system , few have had the experience of sense a great motion-picture show .
3. SENSURROUND
How high was the movie industry on Sensurround , a soundtrack that could produce bass so deep that field seats rattled ? In 1974 , Universal wasbestowedwith a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for their piece of work in get the applied science up and running . rough 17 theaters across the country were equip with the necessary woofers and amplifier forEarthquake , a star - constellate disaster movie .
That kind of sensory assault came at a price : At Mann ’s Chinese Theater , the burden was so wakeless that it literally rock the adhesive plaster from the wall , force director toinstalla safety net over the consultation ; auditoriums with monumental chandeliers and other light fixtures kept their distance , fearing the vibe could cause a material - life sentence disaster ; the vibrations bled into neighboring covering elbow room ; projectionists pop aspirin because they were subject to the thudding soundtrack all day long . Sensurround was n’t a unfit idea — it was just too in force for its own good .
4. DUO-VISION
“ See the hunting watch , see the hunted , both at the same prison term ! ” Long before picture - in - word picture was ever implemented in telecasting , MGM had the fresh approximation to provide audiences more than one visual feed with 1973’sWicked , Wicked , a trope - filled serial killer thriller . For its entire running metre , viewers were subjected todual frames , with the figures on the left hand ( the victim ) oblivious to what was happening on the rightfulness ( a murderer lurking in the curtains ) . Only at times did the motion-picture show use the proficiency to add profundity to the story , as in the case of one skeletal system flashing back to a character ’s tumultuous past times .
Director Richard Bareallegedlygot the idea from drive down a main road and becoming intrigued by the dividing line in the road ; MGM had in the beginning intended to require theaters to run two 35 mm projectors at once before realizing they could just strike both frames on the same print . While other filmmakers have experimented with the proficiency , split - screen never caught on .
5. PERCEPTO
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Living down to his reputation as a carnival manufacturer , William Castle retain to stir up publicity for his celluloid by installing theater equipment that he nickname Percepto for 1959’sThe Tinglerstarring Vincent Price . In what must have been one of the former examples of synergistic amusement , a select number of butt wereequippedto give birth a vibration when the spine - bosom “ tingler ” wight invade a field onscreen . ( The box were actuallyairplane First State - ice machinesCastle grease one’s palms at a military surplusage . ) The only means to contend the epenthetic demon was to scream , which the audience did , no doubt egged on by the strange and uninvited motor buzz beneath their buttocks .
At a theater in Philadelphia , a truck driver became so incensed by the gimmick that he rise and angrily tear the seat from the level . Castle never brought Percepto out for an encore .
6. AUDIENCE VOTING
It was not the revelatory experience they had hoped for . Roger Ebertlabeledthe 20 - minute film “ violative and yokel - brained ” for being preoccupy with toilet sense of humour . He did not specify which colour button he used to latervote itthe year ’s bad film .
7. ALTERNATE ENDINGS
John Lambert Pearson viaFlickr//CC BY 2.0
The veridical secret to immense box office is to convince audiences to see films more than once . That kind of repeat business help pic likeStar Wars , Avatar , andTitanicto record grosses . Paramount essay to cuckold the system a mo with 1985’sClue , a slaying secret based on the add-in biz . theatre screening the movie would getone of four endingsthat would reveal a dissimilar killer , with the Leslie Townes Hope being that fans would then see the movie over and over to catch the alternate finales . ( After dropping one finish during yield , the studio apartment used a letters organisation — A , B , C,—innewspaper listingsso people could keep track of the remain three . ) regrettably , most did n’t want to see it even once : it waspummeledbyRocky IVin its opening weekend , in the end grossing just $ 14 million .
8. HYPNOSIS
At the height of the thingamajig fad of the previous 1950s , horror of the Black Museum(1959 ) made the most audacious attempt to appointment to please audiences by offering — or threatening — to hypnotise them . Dubbed Hypno - Vista , the conceitedness consisted of nothing more than aprolonged introductionby hypnotist Emile Franchel before the British - give rise moving picture — about a writer hypnotized to become a killer — Begin . Producer Herman Cohenlater insistedthe initiation was taken out of print post for TV broadcast because it actually did put viewers under Franchel ’s influence . Watch a component part of it above , if you make bold .
