Bringing "13 Ghosts" Back From the Grave

26 ghosts and counting. 13 Ghosts utilized creative film tricks to give the audience a new ghostly experience. Thir13een Ghosts took things to the next level with its intricate and detailed set design which added to the realism of such an impossible house. Ambition was something the films were not lacking but maybe the directors bit off more than they could chew and left certain areas of the story undeveloped.

13 Ghosts (1960)

A Nuclear Family Adjusts to Apparitions

Amidst financial difficulties, the Zorba family receives news of a distant relative’s passing. Plato Zorba was a wealthy occult enthusiast and in the event of his passing, he left his old mansion and a pair of strange glasses to his nephew Cyrus Zorba (Donald Woods). Cyrus, his wife Hilda (Rosemary DeCamp), daughter Medea (Jo Morrow), and son Buck (Charles Herbert) are told by Plato’s lawyer Ben (Martin Miller) that the house is haunted. Ben says there are eleven ghosts in the house which are revealed to be a screaming woman, a pair of hands, a burning skeleton, an Italian chef who kills his wife and her lover, a hanged person, an executioner, a lion, his headless tamer, and a decapitated head. Cyrus uses the strange glasses after hearing wails in the house and finds that they let him see ghosts. Cyrus finds Plato’s journal in a secret room and learns that his uncle became a ghost in the mansion when he died and that there are millions of dollars hidden in the home. Buck finds two hundred dollars on the floor and Ben makes a deal with him to keep it secret and help him find the treasure. The house’s maid Elaine (Margret Hamilton) performs a séance with Cyrus, Hilda, and Medea where the ghost of Plato possesses his nephew and says that someone will die in the house that night. Afterward, as the family sleeps, Ben dresses up as a ghost and tries to kill Buck, but the ghost of Plato comes back and kills Ben first. Ben had killed Plato to take his money but found it had been hidden. With the threat gone, the money found by Buck, and the spirits found, the Zorbas decide to stay in the home. But Elaine knows the ghosts will be back.

Filmed at the Winchester Myster House

As was Director William Castle’s signature for many of his films, 13 Ghosts featured a gimmick called the “Illusion-O,” a card with see-through filaments, one red and one blue. Castle himself appears at the beginning of the film to explain to the audience that, in marked scenes, the red filament would reveal the ghosts and the blue, for the timid, would conceal them. The character of Elaine is often called a witch and holds a broom in the first scene. This is because the actress Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of OZ. Additionally, the house is no ordinary house, at least not in the exterior shots. Most exterior shots of Plato Zorba’s mansion were of the Winchester Mystery House. Sarah, the wife of William Winchester, continuously kept the home under bizarre construction after her husband’s death. Her husband was the treasurer for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, which his father founded. She claimed as long as she continued building, the ghosts of those killed by Winchester guns would not come after her. The house has mysterious staircases that lead to nowhere and doors that lead into walls or even directly outside, stories off the ground.

It Feels Like Leave It to Beaver: Spooky Edition

Castle himself opens the film, explaining how to use the “Illusion-O.” The best thing about this little gadget was not its function but how it connected the viewer to the film. Since the characters too had a pair of ghost glasses, the viewer could feel more immersion and feel as though they were part of the action. Unfortunately, I did not have a pair of these spectacles to watch the film with, but the ghosts were visible in the blue scenes just fine. I do wish I did, however, because this film needed all the help it could get.

Mostly, it is hard to ignore that the ghosts have no substance. The viewer is hardly told about their backstories and they do not interact with the main characters. They briefly terrorize Cyrus when he steps into a secret room but there is no personality with their actions. Even the Italian chef ghost seems to do what he does blindly, and I could barely take his ghost scene seriously with the sped-up, cartoonish voices of his wife and her lover. It did not help that the chef who appeared with only a chef hat, apron, and mustache looked like Chef Boyardee.

In a mansion that houses twelve ghosts for most of the story, only one has any real intent and that is Plato. Even by his reports on why ghosts exist, Plato has the only reason to remain in the mansion beyond death. His spirit orchestrated the whole ordeal to take revenge on his killer. Only he knew there would be thirteen ghosts in the house after all was through, so he was the one trying to tell Cyrus about Ben’s greed.

For a horror film, easily the most unsettling thing is its upbeat ending. We assume Ben died, and poor Buck, a child, watched the whole thing. Flash to the final scene and the family is happily counting their newly found cash. No one seems to have a care about the trauma Buck went through and even let him keep the mask Ben wore to pretend to be Plato’s ghost! They are all happy enough to have financial stability again and even elect to stay in the mansion which for any normal person would hold terrible memories. A happy, morbid, ending.

---

Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

The Kriticos' Just Can't Catch a Break!

After a fire that destroyed his home and took the life of his wife, Jean, Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub) lives in a cramped apartment trying to make ends meet. He lives with his daughter Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth), son Bobby (Alec Roberts), and his nanny Maggie (Rah Digga). They are suddenly informed that Arthur’s estranged uncle Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham) has died and left him his mansion and money. Once in the house, whose walls are made of ghost-proof glass, a psychic disguised as an electric company employee, Dennis (Matthew Lillard), claims he needs to check the fuses. He then pleads with Arthur to leave as the house holds twelve malevolent spirits. A machine is set into motion and the entire house begins to shift, one by one releasing the ghosts. Bobby becomes lost and sees that one of the spirits is that of his mother and disappears. Arthur and Kathy are attacked by the Jackal spirit while looking for him. A spirit liberator, Kalina (Embeth Davidtz) comes out of nowhere and keeps the spirit at bay, but not before Kathy, too, disappears. Maggie, Dennis, Arthur, and Kalina regroup in the library where Kalina reveals the house is designed to use the ghosts to open Hell’s Eye and that a sacrifice of pure love from Arthur is the only way to stop it. Once again, they break away trying to find Kathy and Bobby. In the house’s control room, Maggie sees Cyrus alive and is knocked out by Kalina who has been working with him. Meanwhile, Dennis is killed defending Arthur. With all the ghosts released, the house begins to open the Eye. Cyrus, having no further need for her, kills Kalina. Arthur sees his children trapped in the center of the machine surrounded by the ghosts. Maggie comes to and starts tampering with the controls, causing the machine to fail. The ghosts all rebel and kill Cyrus, further weakening the machine. Arthur leaps to his children through the machine’s blades and shields them as the machine is destroyed. As the dust settles, the spirits are freed and the Kriticos’ see Jean’s ghosts once more before she departs.

Defining the Ghosts

This is the second film put out by Dark Castle Entertainment and their second remake of a William Castle film. This film was Steve Beck’s directorial debut. While the background stories of the 12 ghosts are largely untold in the film, a special feature on the film’s DVD details each of the ghost’s lives and deaths, narrated by Cyrus. The only main character to be killed by a ghost in the film is Dennis at the hands of The Juggernaut. Furthermore, the Juggernaut is the only ghost to kill anyone in Thir13en Ghosts.

Engaging Visuals but Too Much Explanation

I think one of my favorite things about the films that come out of Dark Castle Entertainment is the musical choices. On a personal level, I appreciated the use of the song “Excess” by Tricky, a forgotten gem. Ironically enough, before watching the film I had already been listening to that song often on the Queen of the Damned soundtrack; to say I was pleasantly surprised hearing it in Thir13een Ghosts is an understatement. In all seriousness, the song works exceptionally well in aiding the tonal setup of the film. You’re definitely in for something unsettling. You’re definitely in for something different. You’re definitely in for something weird.

In this haunted house film, the house is a machine. Though the special effects are unpolished, the set design is impeccably detailed. Every glass pane is filled with meticulous writing and the geometric layout would make Euclid proud. With see-through walls and floors, they also somehow managed to light the film without making it too bright or dark. For a machine designed by the devil, this all added to the believability.

While there are plenty of things to be excited about in this film, there are also plenty of pitfalls. At the forefront of its problems is how often everything was explained by characters. Arguably, a mystical machine powered by ghosts needs backstory but between Dennis (sorry, Matthew Lillard) and especially Kalina, that is all they do. The function of the machine is even reiterated at the climax where it is not needed. It slows down the pacing and detracts from the tension the scene was aiming for. After all, why did we sit through Kalina’s long winded explanation the first time if we were just going to be subjected to it almost verbatim again?

Many ideas do not feel like they have been fully fleshed out. There is the plot twist where it turns out Kalina is working for a very much alive Cyrus and they lied to Arthur about how to stop the machine. So much gets turned on its head within a span of five minutes that it does not translate well. Then there are the rooms in the house; it comes across that each one is linked with a ghost (the bathroom for The Angry Princess, the kid’s room for The First-Born Son, etc.) but we only ever see three rooms. There is nothing wrong with wanting to expand upon the ghosts, once you embark on that endeavor, you should finish it.

Even with the film’s shortcomings, Beck does his best to deliver something unique. Visually, it stands out for its eye-catching location and puzzle of a house. Matthew Lillard, while not the greatest actor of all time, also gives it his all in his performance and it makes for an enjoyable watch. This is a fun film, but you will neither be frightened nor impressed with the story.

---

An Unearned Ending

As it should be in a film titled Thir13en Ghosts, the ghosts all have a personality and individuality which ties into the story. This is the biggest improvement possible in Beck’s remake. Castle’s ghosts from 1960 were stiff and did not interact with the Zorba family. They existed in the house with neither purpose nor intent except for the ghost of Plato. Come on, if the film is called 13 Ghosts, then at the least the ghosts should provide to the story.

A signature of the original film, William Castle’s Illusion-O gimmick was not forgotten in the remake. Though one does not need duel colored spectacles to see

hidden ghosts this time around, the characters in the film do. Just like its predecessor, it is not possible to see the ghosts in Thir13en Ghost without the use of specially designed glasses. The glasses are no longer clunky and thick; they are sleek and understated but stand out enough to feel like more than just another prop. Sometimes it is better to be subtle.

This is not to say Thir13en Ghosts is a perfect version of 13 Ghosts. For one, the fact that Ben slowly manipulates the Zorbas to get close to Plato’s money, adds mystery to the 1960 story. As the story unfolds, the viewer’s feelings of distrust and betrayal towards him grow. This buildup makes his demise satisfying. Meanwhile, the villain in Beck’s version essentially does not turn up until the very end. While Cyrus is painted as the mastermind behind everything there’s little time to build any emotion beyond apathy for him, so his death does not make an impact. “Oh, he’s dead? Oh, he’s not dead? Oh, he’s dead again? Oh, well.”

Both films suffer from the same integral issue: the main characters do not earn their victory at the end. In both instances, it is the ghosts who take care of the problem, and the characters only bear witness. The ghost of Plato comes back to avenge his death at the hands of Ben and the family gets all his money. The end. Similarly, Arthur’s heroic leap into the gyroscope where his children are trapped does nothing to stop the machine as it was already falling apart. And what destroyed it? Yes, Maggie’s tempering but ultimately when the ghosts throw Cyrus into the blades. The endings just happen with no lessons learned and no change occurring within the characters.

Edited by Miles Ericksen