Saturday, May 07, 2011

Movie review – “13 Ghosts” (1961) ***

No wonder kids loved William Castle films – he made it feel like you were in the movie. Not only did he get exhibitors to distribute special glasses, he speaks to the audience at the beginning telling them how to use glasses to view ghosts, he provides subtitles to let them know when it’s time to use them, has a ten year old boy as the hero, and he appears at the end. 
This actually isn’t a bad ghost story – yes I’m being generous but it’s quite spooky. It’s about a family who move into a haunted house – dad is an absent-minded palaeontologist, which is different, mum sort of hangs around and is exasperated, there’s a hot elder daughter with the name Medea (Jo Morrow), and a younger brother… very Andy Hardy. The daughter romances a lawyer (Martin Milner), the boy bonds with a creepy old lady. There’s Ouija boards, séances, dodgy adults, kooky dads, dinosaur skeletons, dark rooms, and thirteen ghosts to choose from (including a lion tamer who lost his head). Good fun, brightly done.

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