In 1958, Carl Blackwell joined Halfpenny Pictures as executive producer of their horror movie division. Blackwell, like his contemporary William Castle, loved the idea of adding gimmicks to film screenings as a means of pulling the audience further into the action. The first film produced and directed under Blackwell was The Blue Ghoul’s Inferno, which employed multiple gimmicks. The film was predominantly presented in black and white except for the titular ghoul, which was painstakingly painted blue in every frame that it appears. In addition, theatres were outfitted with pyrotechnic tubing along the stage in front of the screen from which small flames would be emitted during the film’s climax – a feature that Blackwell advertised as “Scorcho!” Around one quarter of the theatre seats were equipped with warming devices (made from repurposed World War 2 electric hotplates) so that random patrons’ behinds would suddenly grow hot when the ghoul appeared. Unfortunately, the “Scorcho” run of The Blue Ghoul’s Inferno was cut short after one theatre burned down.
Blackwell greeted viewers in a short filmed segment before the feature, delivering the following monologue:
“Greetings, my friends. My name is Carl Blackwell, and I come before you with a warning. The motion picture you are about to see is not a work of fiction. It is a story compiled from actual documented cases of encounters with the Blue Ghoul of Burton Agnes Hall in Yorkshire, and it is not for the faint of heart. If you have a sensitivity to extreme changes in temperature, then I urge you to leave this theatre now, for this film is being presented with patented Scorcho technology. When the ghoul appears on screen you may be alarmed to discover that you feel a surge of great heat shoot up your spine. This indicates that you have been marked by the ghoul, and your soul has been judged…as unclean. If you do not feel the ghoul’s fiery touch, then you may congratulate yourself on leading a pious life…but look to your left. Look to your right. For not everyone’s life has been free of sin. And the Blue Ghoul could be lurking beside you at any moment…”
