13 Ghosts Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

13 Ghosts Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 23, 2016

Note: This release of '13 Ghosts' is currently only available as part of a double feature with '13 Frightened Girls!.'

The Zorba family is in dire financial straits. Their furniture is being repossessed, and there's nothing they can do about it -- they just don't have the money to make ends meet. They do, however, scrape together enough dimes to buy son Buck (Charles Herbert) a spooky book and a chocolate cake for his birthday. His birthday wish: a house with furniture. No sooner does he speak those words does a gusty wind blow through the house. Followed by a knock at the door. Father Cyrus (Donald Woods) answers the door and receives a telegram which, he soon learns, seems to be the answer to the family's prayers. The family has been bequeathed Cyrus' uncle's old mansion, a house that's said to be haunted. A Ouija board they discover there confirms: 13 ghosts haunt its walls. Can the family survive the terror that lingers and threatens to tear apart all they hold dear?

There be ghosts here!

13 Ghosts is silly, innocent fun, a classic Haunted House tale, except it's doesn't take place in the traditional spooky, run down, dilapidated mansion which is otherwise, seemingly, a prerequisite for this type of movie. Special effects are fair, if not simple. Characterization is crude, but effective. Classic overacting runs rampant, but it accentuates the mix of playful fun with simple scares. The movie is probably best known for another of William Castle's gimmicks whereby theatergoers could choose whether to see the ghosts or not via red and blue filtering. Unfortunately, Mill Creek has not included a replica eyepiece that moviegoers were given back in the day; today's audiences will have to settle for seeing both the red ghosts and the blue background at once.

13 Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

13 Ghosts is a predominantly black-and-white affair, with only the blue- and red-tinted scenes appearing anytime ghosts are on the screen. The blue and red imagery is rather crude, heavily saturated and affecting detail, too, rendering even basics as a bit more globular than sharp. Fortunately, the B&W imagery is rather good. A moderate grain structure hovers for the duration, yielding a positive film-like texturing. Various spots and speckles and scratches interfere, but never really get in the way. Details are quite sharp. Clothing, ornate backgrounds, and nicknacks all present with tangible, agreeable sharpness. All things considered, this is a very nice image from Mill Creek.

13 Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

13 Ghosts' Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is rather crude, but that crudeness, at least at times, actually seems to heighten the (sense of) fear, particularly over the opening titles where moans, shrieks, and screams pierce, rather sharply and messily, the front-center portion of the stage. The track does well enough to push sound to the center. Dialogue is surprisingly clear and articulate, while various supporting music and effects are, like those sounds of terror from the beginning, lacking more than the most simple of clarity and definition.

13 Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of 13 Ghosts contains no supplemental content.

13 Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

13 Ghosts may not be a "classic" haunted house movie, but it's a decent enough ride into vintage Horror territory where the scares are tame and the performances campy. The movie's gimmick falls flat without the appropriate filter, but as-is it makes for an interesting novelty nonetheless. Mill Creek's Blu-ray is unsurprisingly featureless. Video is solid and audio is passable. Recommended.