13 Ghosts (1960)
Genre Horror
Studio Columbia Pictures
Movie Release Date 1960
Country USA
Language English
Audience Rating NR
Running Time 85 mins
Format DVD
Color Black And White
IMDb Rating 5.6
Cast
Charles Herbert Buck Zorba
Jo Morrow Medea Zorba
Rosemary DeCamp Hilda Zorba
Martin Milner Ben Rush
Donald Woods Cyrus Zorba
Margaret Hamilton Elaine Zacharides
John Van Dreelen Van Allen
William Castle Himself in prologue & epilogue (uncredited)
Roy Jenson Ghost (uncredited)
Crew
Director William Castle
Writer Robb White
Producer William Castle
Plot
This terrific haunted-house thriller proved an unforgettable experience for 1960 audiences. Set in the mansion of a deceased scientist named Dr. Zorba, the story finds the late occult practitioner's nephew discovering a bunch of elusive spooks on the premises that can be seen only through Zorba's ghost-viewing glasses. Produced and directed by legendary showman William Castle, master of such garish, audience-pleasing gimmicks as flying skeletons and electric-shock theater seats, 13 Ghosts was hyped with an innovative process called "Illusion-O." Movie patrons were furnished with special, red-and-blue-colored glasses that allowed them to choose to see the titular specters or not. This DVD not only provides a working replica of the Illusion-O viewer but offers both a straight, black-and-white version of the feature (no viewer necessary) and a version with the film's original tinted scenes requiring the viewer for extra fun. Also included is Castle's own introduction, in which he explains the Illusion-O technique. --Tom Keogh
Features
Anamophic
Color Closed-captioned Widescreen Black & White
Personal Details
My Rating 6
Seen It Yes
Viewing Date 10/23/2009
Index 43
Collection Status In Collection
Purchase Date 10/13/2001
Purchase Price $14.99
Condition Excellent
Store Best Buy
Owner Thomas Eisenmann
Reviewed Widescreen Review
Bit Rate 192 KB
Anamophic Yes
Links IMDB
DVD Empire
Edition Details
Barcode 043396065505
Region Region 1
Release Date 9/11/2001
Packaging Keep Case
Screen Ratio 1.85:1
Subtitles Chinese; English; French; Korean; Portuguese; Spanish; Thai
Audio Tracks ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono [CC]
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono
Layers Dual Side, Single Layer
No. of Disks/Tapes 1
Widescreen Review
Story Synopsis:
Surely, this was fun back in the ‘60s. William Castle’s gimmick-flick 13 Ghosts came with Ghost Viewer/Ghost Remover glasses (one pair comes with the DVD, but you can be certain that there is an order form to purchase more so the rest of your family can see the ghosts too). Cyrus Zorba (Woods) and his impoverished family get the shock of a lifetime when they inherit a huge, ramshackle house from his strange scientist uncle. Their new house comes complete with a witch, er housekeeper (Hamilton...yup, the wicked witch from The Wizard Of Oz) and 12 horrifying ghosts. As the terrified family soon discovers, these haunting ectoplasms include a decapitated man, a wailing lady, and a flaming skeleton, who are held captive in the eerie house and must find an unlucky 13th ghost to free them! (Suzanne Hodges)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 DVD exhibits a dated black-and-white picture that should be quite satisfactory. Images are generally sharp, often with nicely rendered detail. The gray scale is well balanced with a good gradation of visual information between the deep blacks and fairly bright whites. The source element is inundated with film grain, scratches, and flecks of dirt and artifacts. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
The Dolby® Digital 2.0 soundtrack is big fat mono. When Pro Logic®-decoded, the audio is properly placed in the center channel. The vintage audio sounds nicely restored and free of distracting background noise. At reference level, there is the tendency for the sound to seem strident and forward at times. (Perry Sun)