Product: 13 Ghosts (1960)
Rating: 4.0
A Castle Classic...
Maybe time has dulled the effect this movie had on me when I first saw it some forty years ago, but it still has its moments. William Castle artfully blended scares with laughs in this film and the combination works very well. The movie makes heavy use of sound effects along with some innovative visual effects which all add up to a very foreboding atmosphere...just the kind of atmosphere for ghost hunting! I won't spoil it by detailing the action; I'll let you see it for yourself. Too bad there isn't a ghost viewer packaged with each tape (it wouldn't work with TV, but it would be a great piece of nostalgia!) For those who don't know, the theatre gave each attending patron a ghost viewer. The viewer was made out of two layers of cardboard, decorated with drawings of ghosts, with two cellophane lenses (one blue lens and one red lens) sandwiched in between. One lens would make the ghosts show up really well while the other lens would make them pretty much invisible. During the movie, when the ghost alert was given (you were warned, although I don't remember how, when the ghosts were going to appear so that you could be ready with your ghost viewer), I watched through the lens that hid the ghosts so that I wouldn't have to see those horrid creatures (although once or twice I sneaked a peek through the other lens.) I even took my viewer home and checked out my bedroom before going to sleep...just to be sure, you understand. It would also be nice to see the original before-feature footage of William Castle explaining how to use the ghost viewer. Oh well, memories notwithstanding, this is still a very good movie and one worth watching. I hope you won't be number 13!