I'm writing from home tonight, off until next Friday as previously mentioned. Tonight I watched an awesome movie, "13 Ghosts" (1960), once again directed by low budget impressario William Castle. This one was taken from his five film Horror Collection which I unwrapped tonight, having finished his Western Collection last night. I mentioned to you that, while Castle's Westerns are very good, he was mostly known for his horror movies. After seeing "13 Ghosts" I can see why. The seamless craftsmanship is there, giving you a lot a bang for your buck, but there is quite a difference in the overall cinematic value. You remember what I said about his Westerns, that they are like "study films", in the sense that, while the movies are very entertaining there is a slight flatness to the drama, likely due to the need to shoot quickly and get every scene down in one take due to budget concerns.
With "13 Ghosts", made 17 years after his debut feature "Klondike Kate" (reviewed here recently), you can see the progress he has made. "Ghosts", though still bearing many of Castle's efficient technical trademarks, feels like an A-Grade film. The story begins at the Los Angeles County Museum Of Natural History. A Paleontologist is giving a tour of the dinosaur exhibits. Later in his office he gets a call from his wife, telling him that their furniture is being repossessed due to failure to make payments.
He and his family are broke. As they sit in their empty house, they celebrate the birthday of the 10 year old son, who blows out the candles on his birthday cake and makes a wish, for a house with furniture that no one can ever take away.....
Before any of this happens, the movie starts with one of the best title sequences I have ever seen, and then William Castle himself appears, to give you an introduction and a few instructions on how to use the blue and red glasses that were passed out to moviegoers at the theater in 1960 when it opened. I am not certain the glasses were 3D, but maybe more like a filtering device the way Castle explains it. I will say no more, because it's a great introduction and you should see it for yourself.
Back to the action, the boy's birthday wish comes true. The next thing you know, the family has received a telegram informing them that they have inherited the mansion of the paleontologist's late Uncle. Of course it is a creepy old Victorian, overgrown with trees and vines (probably shot somewhere in Los Angeles before they tore 'em all down). They meet with the late Uncle's lawyer, played by a young Martin Milner of "Adam-12" fame, and he informs them that they may not want to live in the house because it is inhabited by ghosts.
Naturally, the family does not believe this, and besides - the house is a windfall for them. They have no money and were close to being homeless.
Ahh, but they should have listened to Martin Milner.
"13 Ghosts" delivers real atmosphere, shot in crisp, mid range grey-scale and lit with background shadows and elongated angles. There is some great camerawork here, a big step up from Castle's Westerns, and I found myself thinking that "13 Ghosts" must have had a big stylistic influence on horror directors to come. In fact, there are shots reminiscent of Hitchcock's "Psycho", which Castle could not have copied because the two films were released the same year, 1960.
Castle later became known for the so-called "gimmicks" in his horror movies, like having a vibrating buzzer installed under the seats in theaters showing his film "The Tingler" (oh boy!) :)
He also used 3D, and he would often appear in introductions like the one here, where he would "warn" susceptible teen audiences of the early 60s about the terror they were about to experience. Such an approach could often be schlocky - once again see Roger Corman, a godawful filmmaker - but in the hands of Castle, who had talent and knew how to put together a solid film, the "warnings" only add to the fun. His horror films were designed to pack theaters with Teenagers ready to scream their heads off on Friday and Saturday nights. In "13 Ghosts" the scares would have been just taut enough to achieve the desired effect, but what would have really impressed the audience at the time was the special effects of the Ghosts, which are revealed in a double exposure, projected in a two-color blue/red effect.
These are some really cool effects for 1960. I only wish I had the glasses to separate the images. But it still looked awesome even without the glasses, and in this movie it was Castle's first horror "gimmick", and not cheesy at all but very effective indeed. The art direction in the old house is spooky and claustrophobic. The daughter finds a Ouija board and of course the family plays with it (something you should never do!).....
Later on in the movie they have a seance, and I was weirded out because just a little while earlier I had been reading my book "Human Devolution" by Michael Cremo, and was in the middle of a long chapter devoted to paranormal research. I was specifically reading pages detailing the accounts of seances conducted by famous mediums in 19th Century England.
Some bizarre stuff in those accounts, yes indeed.
And right after I finished reading I started the movie, which ends up in a seance, with a very special medium (you will see who when you see the movie).
And you have to see it. I won't order you to, but I will recommend it most highly, with Two Huge Thumbs Up.
It's a small horror picture with big ambitions, and it succeeds mightily on those terms because of it's technical and dramatic merits. /////
I am gonna chill out for the next few days, just relax and unwind, go on an easy hike or two, try and take some photos.
Has anybody seen Elizabeth? She was last seen posting from an airplane, in flight. But that was a couple weeks ago. I think she may have flown into The Twilight Zone......(I'll ask Uncle Rod).
Seriously though, for Elizabeth, I hope all is well and that you are hanging in there.
Good things are coming.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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