Professor Kinema was kind enough to share this shameful theater giveaway for Homicidal. Another brilliant gimmick to get into that theater seat, the Coward’s Corner made sure you didn’t sneak out during the more lurid moments of the movie. Of course, this is a William Castle movie, so while fun and scary, definitely not like sitting through Hostel, for sure. Here’s how it worked. A ‘fright-break’ would be given near the climax to give the more scared among the audience a chance to hoof it to the lobby, where they’d have to wait in a cardboard booth with a fake nurse. Of course, Castle made sure to really lay it on with a yellow light to follow the individual, as they followed yellow footsteps on the floor to the booth. All this while a pre-recorded message added “Watch the chicken!” Of course, the audience ate it all up. Not so much the person doing the walk of shame, though. There was a refund if anyone dared do it, but that rarely happened. Genius. Pure genius. At today’s ticket prices, I’m sure doing something like this would lose money pretty quick, though. Shame or savings? Hell, I’d go with savings.
