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Shanks

SHANKS

Name: Shanks
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Released: 1974-10-09
Duration: 93 min
Rating: 4.0
Cast: Marcel Marceau, Tsilla Chelton, Philippe Clay, Cindy Eilbacher, Biff Manard

1974 • US HMDB

October 9, 1974

Malcolm Shanks is a sad and lonely man, deaf, mute and living with his cruel sister and her husband, who delight in making him miserable. His only pleasure, it seems, is in making and controlling puppets. Thanks to his skill, he is offered a job as a lab assistant to Dr. Walker, who is working on ways to re-animate dead bodies by inserting electrodes at key nerve points and manipulating the bodies as if they were on strings. When the professor suddenly dies one night, Shanks gets the idea to apply their experimental results to a human body, and then to start exacting some revenge.

Directors

William Castle

Cast

Marcel Marceau

Malcolm Shanks / Old Walker

Tsilla Chelton

Mrs. Barton

Philippe Clay

Mr. Barton

Cindy Eilbacher

Celia

Biff Manard

Goliath

Helena Kallianiotes

Mata Hari

Larry Bishop

Napoleon

Don Calfa

Einstein

Phil Adams

Beethoven

Read Morgan

Cop

William Castle

Grocer

Fantasy Horror

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Comments (0)

Crew

Production: Steven North (Producer) — William Castle (Executive Producer)

Screenplay: Ranald Graham (Screenplay)

Music: Alex North (Original Music Composer)

Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc (Director of Photography)

REVIEWS (1)

Marco Castellini • December 13, 2025

The Verdict

A puppeteer resurrects his master, a scientist who could bring the dead back to life through electric shocks. The same actor, the famous mime Marcel Marceau, plays both the puppeteer and the scientist. The film is more valuable from a "historical" perspective than for its actual quality. In the horror movie genre, Castle has definitely done much better.

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