13 Ghosts (1960)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

William Castle

Writer:

Robb White (written by)

Release Date:

July 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

IT'S FUN TO BE SCARED BY 13 GHOSTS (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A family inherits what proves to be a haunted house, but a special pair of goggles allows them to see their ghostly tormentors.

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Haunted House | Mansion | Supernatural | Seance

Cast

Charles Herbert	...	Buck Zorba
Jo Morrow	...	Medea Zorba
Martin Milner	...	Ben Rush
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Hilda Zorba (as Rosemary De Camp)
Donald Woods	...	Cyrus Zorba
Margaret Hamilton	...	Elaine Zacharides
John Van Dreelen	...	Van Allen

Also Known As:

Thirteen Ghosts

Runtime:

85 min | 82 min (black and white version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (No. 19630) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | UK:PG | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec)

Company:

William Castle Productions

Trivia:

Margaret Hamilton's character Elaine Zacharides is often referred to by Buck as a witch. This is an in-joke in reference to Hamilton's most famous role, the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Buck puts on the glasses and sees the lion, we hear it roaring but its mouth doesn't move until a few seconds after.

Quotes:

Buck Zorba: [as Ben walks in the door] Ben I found it
[grabs the railing and shakes it to reveal the hidden area in the stairs]
Buck Zorba: .
Ben Rush: Good boy, have you told anyone else about this?
Buck Zorba: Course not , lets tell them now
[runs towards the dining room, ben grabs his arm stopping him]
Buck Zorba: ow you're hurting.
Ben Rush: Sorry buck , we can't tell them yet.
Buck Zorba: But we're moving out tomorrow.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: 13 Ghosts/The Tingler (#1.37)" (2008)

Actually.... I liked it better than the modern version

Yes, it may be old but I find it better than the "new revised" version that terribly stunk. Sure, when we see floating candles and furniture we can only imagine a small thin piece of string on the tip but hey, at least they used their imagination and had fun with it. The part played by the wicked witch from "The Wizard of Oz" was the best part. She was perfect in the film. As well as the family. They played their parts better. The father didn't act as stupid as the one in the modern version and the rest of the actors/actresses were better as well. There were alot of parts in the film that did not match the ones in the modern version but hey, thats why I liked it better they didn't have all those boring motives that the modern version had. And the ghosts were even scarier even though you could tell that it was a man in a costume with a reflecting light.