Cyrus Zorba (Donald Woods) works in a museum and is completely broken. His wife Hilda Zorba (Rosemary De Camp) calls him and tells that their furniture has just been takes since he has not paid the installments. During the night, Cyrus, Hilda and their teenage daughter Medea Zorba (Jo Morrow) celebrate the birthday of their son and brother Buck Zorba (Charles Herbert),who is a fan of horror books, and he wishes to have a house of their own with furniture. Out of the blue, Cyrus learns that he has inherited an old mansion from his uncle Dr. Zorba. He visits the lawyer Benjamen Rush (Martin Milner) that tells that the house is haunted and he can not sell it. Further, together with the house, he receives the weird housekeeper Elaine Zacharides (Margaret Hamilton),a hidden treasure and the collection of 12 ghosts that belonged to Dr. Zorba, who was a master of the occultism.

The family moves to the mansion and soon Cyrus discovers a set of special goggles that makes possible to see the ghosts. When Buck accidentally discovers the hidden fortune in the house, the ambitious Benjamin lures the boy with the intention of stealing the money for him. But Dr. Zorba's ghost is also in the house and will protect his family. "13 Ghosts" is an original movie directed by William Castle, actually a family entertainment. The plot is very simple but the greatest attractions are the ghosts in Dr. Zorba's mansion. The DVD delivers special goggles that allows the viewer to see the ghosts in a unique frightening experience. The only problem is to repeat the scenes to share the goggles since everybody wants to see the ghosts. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "13 Fantasmas" ("13 Ghosts")

13 Ghosts is produced and directed by William Castle and written by Robb White. It stars Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Rosemary DeCamp, Martin Milner, Margaret Hamilton and Donald Woods. Cinematography is by Joseph Biroc and music by Von Dexter.

When the Zorba family inherit a house from the recently deceased Dr. Plato Zorba, they think their luck has turned for the better. But pretty soon it becomes evident that Plato was known to be a dabbler in the supernatural and the house is haunted by a number of ghosts…….

By the time of 13 Ghosts' release, William Castle was well into his stride as a showman producer. Following on from The Tingler, one of his best films that featured his best gimmick (Percepto),he brought to his target audience Illusion-O, basically a two coloured viewer that the audience could use if they did or did not want to see the ghosts in the film, a subtitle flashed on the screen prompted use of the viewer. Unlike The Tingler, 13 Ghosts isn't a good enough film to be considered better than the gimmick that accompanied it. Yet there's a glorious sense of fun about the film, anyone under the illusion (o) that Castle was trying for a serious horror to scare the teenagers, could do with listening to Von Dexter's score for some of the ghostly goings on. Wonderfully tongue in cheek, the whole thing is played for nervous smiles rather than shrieker schlock.

The effects used (red images in a black and white movie) are more than good enough for tone and purpose of this particular production, in fact if you watch in the dark in the right frame of mind, then the ghosts do have a creepy enough vibe to them. The narrative, while hardly taxing for the brain, does contain a couple of surprises, while the presence of the wonderful Margaret Hamilton (Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West) is a major plus point, especially since she closes the picture down with eyebrow shifting glee. Critics across the years have always been hard on the film, and for sure it's weak in direction, writing and a high percentage of the acting, but it was a hit at the box office. There was a market for it back then, and there still is now, you just gotta be into fun and in an undemanding horror/comedy mood.

Just above average for a cheeky chiller blues lifter. 6/10

William Castle's horror films from the late 50s and into the 60s were generally cheesy fun. They had no illusions about being deep entertainment and the silliness was intensified by Castle's introductions to the films as well as gimmicks like Illusion-O and Percepto. To many, they are just dumb but they also brought in the crowds and resulted in films that have a certain campy charm.

13 GHOSTS is cheesy fun and in this case Castle's big gimmick was Illusion-O--special lenses that supposedly let you see ghosts--just like the people in the film saw them when they wore the professor's special glasses. Subtle, it ain't--but it is pretty corny fun.

The film begins with a professor and his wife lamenting about his terribly low salary. That night when the youngest is blowing out his birthday cake (in a home with almost no furniture--it's all been repossessed),he wishes for a nice furnished house. Almost immediately, they receive word that they are to inherit a haunted house owned by an uncle who they don't even know. The only stipulation is that they occupy the home for one year. But, because the house is so haunted and filled with screaming banshees and flying objects, it seems very unlikely that they'll stay for the year--let alone more than a few days.

Aside from the family, the home is occupied by the housekeeper, Elaine. This part is played by Margaret Hamilton and Castle deliberately exploited her past role as the Wicked Witch of the West (in the WIZARD OF OZ) and her character is spooky and weird.

There is one other major character, a lawyer played by Martin Milner. He seems like a nice guy and is the man who is the executor of the crazy uncle's estate.

All in all, it's a well made film with very modest pretensions. It's not meant to be THAT scary and it sure isn't meant to be Shakespeare--just solid entertainment.

By the way, this film is bundled with a Castle dud, 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS. Ignore this film but by all means watch the many excellent DVD extras--especially the short film about Illusion-O.