#13 - 13 Ghosts (1960)

13 Ghosts (1960)

(dir. William Castle)

When the Zorba family inherits an old mansion from an estranged uncle, they are elated, but become somewhat less enthusiastic when they learn that they have also inherited their weird uncle's collection of ghosts! The ghosts can only be seen through a special pair of goggles that serve no real purpose in the story but contribute to the film's gimmick, which I'll get to in a minute. After they move into the house, the usual spooky ghost stuff happens.

This isn't a very good movie. In looks and tone it feels more like a '50s sitcom than a horror film, and it is just about as scary as one. The ghosts are just these floating images superimposed on the film that don't really interact with the characters, and despite all the warnings that the family receives, they don't seem much of a threat at all. The silliest ghost is a chef with a huge goofy fake mustache, and there is also a headless lion tamer along with the lion who killed him - those count as two separate ghosts I guess. The rest are very generic ghosts that do nothing other than hover and make the standard moaning noises.

The only real reason this film is still remembered today is because the director, William Castle, was famous for the various gimmicks he created for his movies. His most famous film, House on Haunted Hill, had a gimmick called "Emergo", which was basically just a skeleton on a wire that flew out over the audience at a key point in the movie. Other gimmicks included vibrating seats to simulate the attack of a creature, and a film where the audience could vote on the villain's fate, and depending on the results one of two endings was shown (supposedly, no audience ever chose mercy). The gimmick that went along with 13 Ghosts was a "ghost viewer", which the audience could look through to either see the ghosts or hide them. At certain points in the film (usually after a character puts on the goggles) the film is tinted blue, indicating that the audience should look through the viewer, and it returns to black and white once the ghost scene is over. Castle himself appears at the beginning of the movie to give instructions on how to use it. It is all very campy, but was probably fun at the time. Unfortunately, no viewer was included with the version I watched, although the blue/red tinted portions were left intact.

I can't recommend this one. Other than the gimmick, it's pretty dull and forgettable. I like the poster, though.