Editing 13 Ghosts

{{short description|1960 film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{about|the 1960 film|the 2001 remake|Thirteen Ghosts{{!}}''Thirteen Ghosts''}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = 13 Ghosts
| image          = 13ghostsposters.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[William Castle]]
| producer       = [[William Castle]]
| writer         = [[Robb White]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Charles Herbert]]
* [[Jo Morrow]]
* [[Rosemary DeCamp]]
* [[Margaret Hamilton (actress)|Margaret Hamilton]]
* [[Donald Woods (actor)|Donald Woods]]
}}
| music          = Von Dexter
| cinematography = [[Joseph F. Biroc]]
| editing        = Edwin H. Bryant
| distributor    = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1960|07}}
| runtime        = 84 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 84:21--><ref>{{cite web|url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/13-ghosts-film|title=''13 Ghosts'' (A)|work=[[British Board of Film Classification]]|date=May 16, 1980|access-date=July 27, 2016|archive-date=October 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004045210/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/13-ghosts-film|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = $1.5 million (US/Canada)<ref>"Rental Potentials of 1980", ''Variety'', 4 January 1981 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.</ref>
}}

'''''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 (actress)|Margaret Hamilton]], [[Charles Herbert]], [[Martin Milner]], [[Jo Morrow]], [[John van Dreelen]], and [[Donald Woods (actor)|Donald Woods]].<ref name="Jordan2014">{{cite book|author=Joe Jordan|title=Showmanship: The Cinema of William Castle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lBhHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT231|date=June 30, 2014|publisher=BearManor Media|pages=231–|id=GGKEY:7X0U2FR3T69}}</ref>

''13 Ghosts'' was released in 1960 as a [[double bill]] with ''[[12 to the Moon]]'', ''[[Escapement (film)|The Electronic Monster]]'' or ''[[Battle in Outer Space]]'', depending on the film market.

==Plot==
The [[occult]]ist 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 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 [[Decapitation|headless]] [[Lion taming|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|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 Rush by driving the terrified Rush 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, an unseen 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 (actor)|Donald Woods]] as Cyrus Zorba
*[[Margaret Hamilton (actress)|Margaret Hamilton]] as Elaine Zacharides 
*[[John van Dreelen]] as Van Allen

==Release and reception==
[[File:State Theatre Ad - 20 July 1960, Petaluma, CA.jpg|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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Scare tactic : the life & films of William Castle |last=Law |first=John W. |publisher=Writers Club Press |year=2000 |isbn=0595095445 |location=San Jose [Calif.] |pages=81–82 |oclc=60884288}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Beyond ballyhoo : motion picture promotion and gimmicks |last=McGee |first=Mark Thomas |publisher=McFarland |year=2001 |isbn=9780786411146 |location=Jefferson, N.C. |page=113 |oclc=47037541}}</ref>

Television and home video releases are edited to simulate the effect without the need for special glasses.

[[Howard Thompson (film critic)|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."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Howard |date=August 6, 1960 |title=Screen: Haunted House |journal=[[The New York Times]] |page=9 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|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."<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 29, 1960 |title=13 Ghosts |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=9 }}</ref> ''[[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."<ref>{{cite journal |date=January 1961 |title=13 Ghosts |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=28 |issue=324 |page=12 }}</ref>

==Remake==
The film was remade in 2001 as ''[[Thirteen Ghosts]]'', directed by [[Steve Beck (director)|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]].<ref name="Castle" />

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1960]]
*[[List of ghost films]]

== References ==
{{Reflist |refs= 
<ref name="Castle">
{{cite book
 | last = Castle
 | first = William
 | author-link = William Castle
 | title = Step right up!: ... I'm gonna scare the pants off America
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-PQqAQAAIAAJ
 | accessdate = March 30, 2012
 | year = 1976
 | publisher = [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[US]]
 | isbn = 9780399114700
 | oclc = 1974189
}}
</ref>

}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0053559|title=13 Ghosts}}
*{{Rotten Tomatoes|13_ghosts}}

{{William Castle}}
{{Sony franchises}}

[[Category:1960 horror films]]
[[Category:1960 films]]
[[Category:1960s supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:1960s ghost films]]
[[Category:American supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:1960s 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:1960s American films]]
[[Category:13 (number)]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]
[[Category:Films about inheritances]]