13 Ghosts (1960)

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 | Ouija | Supernatural

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:

The movie was filmed in "Illusion-O" and a pair of special glasses where needed to see the ghosts. This resulted in a number of sources incorrectly stating that the film was originally shown in 3D. The "ghost viewers" contained a red filter and a blue filter but unlike 3D viewers, both eyes would look through the same color filter. One color would cause the ghostly images to intensify while the other color caused the images to fade.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Buck slides down the banister and walks off, we see money fall to the floor (at 49:03) from somewhere above the banister railing within five spindles or three steps of the bottom of the stairs. Later (at 01:08:02) Buck finds money in a compartment in the sixth step from the bottom of the stairs.

Quotes:

Ben Rush: Are you all moved in?
Buck Zorba: There wasn't anything to move except us.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007)

This movie actually scared me!

The reason I watched this film in the first place was because one of my favorite actors (Martin Milner) is in it, but now it's one of my favorites. I don't generally like horror films, but this one is great. It has everything: ghosts, spooky little people, screaming women, weird special affects, and people who are more than they seem. I actually laid awake that night listening to noises in my house! Plus the little boy in this movie is a pretty good actor.

The one complaint I have is that the ghosts are hard to see. I'd like to see this released either on DVD or again on video, but this time with the special illusion affects William Castle put in it in tact, and special glasses could come with the DVD/video.

This may look to some like a typical cheesy 50's & early 60's horror film, but it's one of the best.