13 Ghosts

1960 film the 1960 film the 2001 remake Thirteen GhostsThirteen Ghosts January 2025 July 2016 13 Ghosts 13ghostsposters.jpg Theatrical release poster William Castle William Castle Robb White Charles Herbert Jo Morrow Rosemary DeCamp Margaret Hamilton Donald Woods Von Dexter Joseph F. Biroc Edwin H. Bryant William Castle Productions Columbia Pictures 1960 07 84 minuteshttps://bbfc.co.uk/releases/13-ghosts-film 13 Ghosts (A) British Board of Film Classification May 16, 1980 July 27, 2016 October 4, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201004045210/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/13-ghosts-film dead United States English $1.5 million (US/Canada)"Rental Potentials of 1980", Variety, 4 January 1981 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross. 13 Ghosts is a 1960 American supernatural horror film produced and directed by William Castle, written by Robb White and starring Rosemary DeCamp, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Herbert, Martin Milner, Jo Morrow, John van Dreelen, and Donald Woods.Joe Jordan Showmanship: The Cinema of William Castle https://books.google.com/books?id=lBhHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT231 June 30, 2014 BearManor Media 231– GGKEY:7X0U2FR3T69 13 Ghosts was released in 1960 as a double bill with 12 to the Moon, The Electronic Monster or Battle in Outer Space, depending on the film market. Plot Occultist Dr. Plato Zorba bequeaths a large house to his impoverished nephew Cyrus. Along with his wife Hilda, teen daughter Medea, and adolescent son, Buck, Cyrus is informed by lawyer Ben Rush that the house comes with ghosts that Dr. Zorba has collected from around the world. The will stipulates that the family must stay in the house and cannot sell it, or it will be turned over to the state. The family is shocked to find that the house is really haunted by 12 ghosts. The furnished mansion also comes with a creepy housekeeper, Elaine, who conducts seances, and unknown to the family, a hidden fortune concealed somewhere on the property. The spirits include a wailing lady, clutching hands, a fiery skeleton, an Italian chef continuously murdering his wife and her lover in the kitchen, a hanging lady, an executioner holding a severed head, a fully grown lion with its headless tamer, a floating head, and a ghost of Zorba himself, all held captive in the eerie house and looking for an unlucky 13th ghost to free them. Dr. Zorba also leaves a set of special goggles, the only way of seeing the ghosts. A Ouija board warns the family that a death will occur in the house. Rush, the estate executor, knows Zorba's fortune is hidden somewhere in the house, having unsuccessfully searched for it previously. When two $100 bills fall loose after Buck slides down the stairs, Rush tricks Buck into secretly searching for the money. After Buck finds the cash under the stairs, Rush carries the sleeping boy out of his room and attempts to murder him in the same way that he killed Zorba, using a four-poster bed equipped with a descending canopy that fatally suffocates people. Zorba's ghost appears, killing the terrified Rush by driving him under the canopy as Buck awakens and escapes. Rush has become the 13th ghost. The next morning, Cyrus and his family count the recovered money and decide to stay. Elaine says the ghosts have left but predicts they will return, much to Buck's delight. Unseen by the family, a force blows the special glasses into smithereens. Elaine gets a broom and permits herself a small, enigmatic smile. Cast Charles Herbert as Arthur "Buck" Zorba Jo Morrow as Medea Zorba Rosemary DeCamp as Hilda Zorba Martin Milner as Benjamin Rush Donald Woods as Cyrus Zorba Margaret Hamilton as Elaine Zacharides John van Dreelen as Van Allen Release and reception 180px|thumb|Advertisement from 1960 As with several of his more famous productions, producer William Castle used a gimmick to promote 13 Ghosts, as audience members were given the choice to see the ghosts. In theaters, most scenes were in black-and-white, but scenes involving ghosts were shown in a process dubbed "Illusion-O". The filmed elements of the actors and the sets – everything except the ghosts – had a blue filter applied to the footage, while the ghost elements had a red filter and were superimposed over the frame.Scare tactic : the life & films of William Castle Law John W. Writers Club Press 2000 0595095445 San Jose [Calif.] 81–82 60884288 Audiences received viewing glasses with red and blue cellophane filters. Unlike with early 3D glasses having one eye red and the other cyan or blue, the Illusion-O device required viewers to look through a single color with both eyes. Looking through the red filter intensified the images of the ghosts, while the blue filter "removed" them.Beyond ballyhoo : motion picture promotion and gimmicks McGee Mark Thomas McFarland 2001 9780786411146 Jefferson, N.C. 113 47037541 Television and home video releases are edited to simulate the effect without the need for special glasses. The 2001 DVD release, however, reinstated the Illusion-o effect and included a replica of the red and blue ghost viewer. Another gimmick for the film saw the first 20 million to buy a ticket receiving a key, one of which would unlock a supposed "haunted house" Castle had purchased in France. The filmgoer whose key opened the door would become winner of the house; however, it is unknown if the prize was ever claimed.Ross Jonathan The Incredibly Strange Film Book 1993 Simon & Schuster 0-671-71097-4 187–188 Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film "a simple, old-fashioned haunted house yarn" that "would be a lot better off without this gimmick."Thompson Howard August 6, 1960 Screen: Haunted House The New York Times 9 Variety wrote: "The idea is sound and exploitable, but the execution doesn't fully come off," explaining the ghosts "lack personality and aren't frightening, so that there isn't sufficient tension in the sequences during which the 'ghost viewer' comes into play."June 29, 1960 13 Ghosts Variety 9 The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a workmanlike but not very frightening horror film ... the ghosts, which are a dull red colour, are far less effective when witnessed than when their presence is merely suggested, especially when their viewability depends on a process as unremarkable as Illusion-O."January 1961 13 Ghosts The Monthly Film Bulletin 28 324 12 Remake The film was remade in 2001 as Thirteen Ghosts, directed by Steve Beck. As with the original, the film was distributed by Columbia Pictures, except in the United States and Canada, where it was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. See also List of American films of 1960 List of ghost films References Castle William William Castle Step right up!: ... I'm gonna scare the pants off America https://books.google.com/books?id=-PQqAQAAIAAJ March 30, 2012 1976 G. P. Putnam's Sons New York City, New York, US 9780399114700 1974189 External links 0053559 13 Ghosts 13_ghosts Category:1960 horror films Category:1960 films Category:1960s ghost films Category:American supernatural horror films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:1960 English-language films Category:Films directed by William Castle Category:American haunted house films Category:Films set in country houses Category:Films with screenplays by Robb White Category:1960 American films Category:13 (number) Category:Films about inheritances Category:Ouija Category:1960s haunted house films Category:English-language supernatural horror films