13 Ghosts

13 Ghosts
Directed by	William Castle
Produced by	William Castle
Written by	Robb White
Starring	Charles Herbert Jo Morrow Rosemary DeCamp Martin Milner Donald Woods
Music by	Von Dexter
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	July 1960
Running time	85 min / 82 min (black-and-white version)
Country	United States
Language	English

13 Ghosts is a 1960 horror film directed by William Castle and written by Robb White. To the dismay of some of the cast members, Castle gave top billing to 12-year-old Charles Herbert.^[1] It was remade in 2001 under the title of Thirteen Ghosts, directed by Steve Beck.^[2]

Plot

When occultist uncle Dr. Plato Zorba wills a huge ramshackle house to his nephew Cyrus and his impoverished family, they are shocked to find the house is haunted. Their new furnished residence comes complete with a spooky housekeeper, Elaine, plus a fortune in buried treasure and 12 horrifying ghosts. His family soon discovers that these spirits include a decapitated man, a fully grown lion, a wailing lady and a flaming skeleton, who are held captive in the eerie house and must find an unlucky thirteenth ghost to free them. Dr. Zorba leaves a set of special goggles, the only way of seeing the ghosts. However, there is someone in the house who is also looking for the money and is willing to kill for it.

Cast

• Charles Herbert as Buck Zorba
• Jo Morrow as Medea Zorba
• Rosemary DeCamp as Hilda Zorba
• Martin Milner as Ben Rush
• Donald Woods as Cyrus Zorba
• Margaret Hamilton as Elaine Zacharides
• John van Dreelen as Van Allen

Illusion-O

As with most of his productions, Castle used a gimmick to promote the movie. For 13 Ghosts, audience members were given a choice: the "brave" ones could watch the film and see the ghosts, while the apprehensive among them would be able to opt out of the horror and watch without the stress of having to see the ghosts. The choice came via the special viewer, supposedly "left by Dr. Zorba."

In the theatres, scenes involving ghosts were shown in a "process" dubbed Illusion-O: the filmed elements of the actors and the sets — everything except the ghosts — were displayed in regular black-and-white, while the ghost elements were tinted a pale blue and superimposed over the frame. Audiences received viewers with red and blue cellophane filters. Choosing to look through the red filter intensified the images of the ghosts, while the blue filter "removed" them. Despite Castle's claims to the contrary, not many heart attacks or nervous breakdowns were averted by the Illusion-O process; although the blue filter did screen out the ghostly images, the ghosts were visible with the naked eye, without the red filter.

Because the ghosts were indeed viewable by the naked eye, the movie ran for years on television with no viewer needed to see the ghosts. DVD editions have varied in their preservation of the Illusion-O effect, with the latest DVD release including versions with and without the ghost outlines and a set of special viewers.

References

External links

• 13 Ghosts at the Internet Movie Database
• 13 Ghosts at AllRovi

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