Boo X 2 Part 2: "Thirteen Ghosts"

Poster for the 1960 Version

Never one to miss an opportunity for exploitation, Castle's 1960 thriller 13 Ghosts used 3D as its gimmick, though Castle called it "Illusion-O!" and was too cheap to shoot the whole movie stereoptically. Instead, he came up with a way to shoot only certain scenes in 3D, requiring both his actors and audience to us special glasses to see the ghosts.

Cyrus Zorba inherits a house from his occultist Uncle Plato. Moving his young family in, Cyrus discovers that the house comes with a housekeeper (played by the Wicked Witch of the West herself, Margaret Hamilton), a buried treasure and 12 ghosts which can only be seen using the goggles developed by Plato. Of course, the real villain turns out to be the family lawyer, who wants the money for himself. When he tries to kill Cyrus' young son Buck, Plato's ghost appears and kills the lawyer, making him the 13th ghost who sets the other 12 free. It's a rather silly movie with cheap effects, though some of the ghosts (a murderous chef, a headless lion timer and a flaming skeleton among them) are fun. And the 3D viewers used by the audience were shaped like ghosts. I wonder if any of them are still around?

With the success of the House on Haunted Hill remake, Terry Castle and Dark Castle entertainment tried to recreate the same success with a 2D remake, not-so-cleverly titled Thir13en Ghosts. This time, Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham) is the occultist, attempting to capture a junkyard ghost called 'The Juggernaut' with his assistant, Dennis (Matthew Lillard). When Cyrus is killed by a stack of falling cars, he leaves his house to his impoverished widowed nephew Arthur (Tony Shaloub), who moves in with his children and their nanny. The house is an improbable mansion made almost entirely of glass etched with strange Latin phrases and runes. The ghosts are tapped in the basement and are horrifying monsters who can also only be seen using the special glasses invented by Cyrus. It turns out that house is actually a machine powered by the 13 ghosts of the "Black Zodiac" and is intended to open the Eye of Hell (yes, really). It also turns out that Cyrus faked his death to lure Arthur to the house to become the 13th ghost (Arthur's wife is already one of the 12) and turn the machine on.

The ghosts are quite gruesome, but the over-complicated plot and ridiculous acting by some normally gifted actors combine with the most ridiculous set ever to make Thir13en Ghosts an abject failure. I saw this movie with my sister in Florida (one of the few we've seen together since she moved) and we looked at each other after it was over and just laughed at how stupid the it was.

I do have to admit, I was surprised that even while shooting on a glass set, no crew reflections were caught on camera (or if they were, they were digitally removed in post). This time, I suggest that you stick with the original for silly fun and avoid the remake for just plain silliness.

More, anon.
Prospero

What's the Gimmick?

Oh, William Castle... your kind is not likely to be seen again. Castle was a producer/director who in the 50's and 60's became known as "The King of the Gimmicks."William Castle started his film career making cheap exploitation films in the 40's like Black Marketing and When Strangers Marry.

Then, in 1958, he made a strange little movie called Macabre, in which a doctor had 48 hours to find his kidnapped daughter who had buried alive. Castle offered every ticket buyer a $1000.00 Lloyd's of London Life Insurance policy should they die of fright while watching the movie. I have no idea if anyone ever collected (though I doubt they did), but the gimmick worked and Macabre was a hit with audiences.

Soon after, Castle was using all sorts of weird and wacky gimmicks to get audiences to attend his films.

Next came the Vincent Price thriller House on Haunted Hill, which featured Castle's patented "Emergo" technology. Emergo simply consisted of a plastic skeleton on a wire, which swooped down over the audience just as a skeleton emerged from a vat of acid in the movie. Cheesy? Without a doubt. Effective? Just ask the audiences who attended the 1959 fright fest.

That same year and starring Vincent Price again, Castle made a delightful little picture called The Tingler. It was about a scientist (Price) looking for the thing that caused fear. He discovered that a creature he dubbed the 'Tingler" was responsible for our fearful reactions to fearful situations and that only by screaming could the Tingler be killed. So, what better way to find the Tingler than by terrorizing a mute woman who was unable to scream, so that he might remove the creature from her spine and study it further? Of course, the monster escapes and makes its way to a movie theater where Price encourages the patrons to scream in order to save their lives. And this is where the gimmick came in. Certain seats in the actual theatre were rigged with a mild electrical shock, so that patrons could experience the effects of the Tingler for themselves. Castle dubbed this gimmick "Percepto."

In 1960, Castle jumped on the 3D bandwagon with a movie called 13 Ghosts, about a young man who inherited a haunted house from his uncle. Using special glasses invented by his uncle, the ghosts could be seen by anyone wearing them. He called this process 'Illusion-O.'

Next came 1961' Homicidal, a rip-off of Hitchcock's Psycho, in which audiences were given a "Fright Break" during which they might leave the theater before 'dying of fear.'

I just want to know where the bullet hit Warren/Emily, to kill him/her so quickly.

By the early 60's, gimmicks had lost their appeal and castle was making films like The Old Dark House, a comedy based on the novel by J.B. Priestly:

Recently, some of Castle's films have bee remade, with his daughter as Producer. I particularly liked 1999's House on Haunted Hill starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs and "Heroes" star Ali Larter, despite its rather silly ending:

Of course, the 2001 version of Thir13en Ghosts, starring the usually brilliant Tony Shaloub, leaves much to be desired. The presence of Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth and Academy-Award Winner F. Murray Abraham do nothing to elevate this schlockfest to a movie worth seeing:

I am looking forward to the planned remakes of The Tingler and The Old Dark House (I appeared in Priestly's "An Inspector Calls" not too long ago), though I fear they may recieve the same treatment as Thir13en Ghosts, which does not bode well.

Still, Castle produced (Rosemary's Baby) and directed (I Saw What You Did) some seminal Horror movies from which modern producers and directors can take many a lesson.

Gimmicks still abound in Horror. Most recently, those gimmicks have been relegated to the Internet (Paranormal Activity), but they still make us want to see those movies. If Castle was alive today, I think he'd be most pleased with the state of modern Horror movies.

More terrors, anon.
Prospero