scottdou
I like most Castle films but this one left me asking-Is that all there is? The special effects were the opposite of special-you will have to strain your eyes to even see the ghosts and I did not see 13 except in the opening credits. Even the wicked witch of the west actress was wooden in her acting and looked bored. Very disappointing and a waste of time. It made the House on Haunted Hill look like a classic.
Rainey Dawn
How can you go wrong with 13 ghosts in a large haunted house with seances, a ouija board, lots of cobwebs in the basement, creaky doors and Margaret Hamilton?! Yea this film has all that rolled into a fun ghost story.I don't have 3-D glasses but I still could see our ghosts just fine. I'm sure if I had a pair of those groovy glasses to wear the film would be even more fun to watch but it's good enough just to see the film regardless.If you are a parent with younger children, this one would be fun to watch with them, especially for Halloween. It's not overly scary so kids might enjoy this one as well as the adults.8.5/10
mark.waltz
These ghosts don't mess around! And neither did the writers in coming up with some silly names for the characters-Buck and Medea, the children of Hilda and Cyrus Zorba (whether or not they are actually Greek is never determined) with William Castle directing, you know there's intentional camp, and for the most part in this entry, it works, unlike most of his later films.The camp starts the minute paleontologist Donald Woods calls his wife Rosemary De Camp who is sitting in a living room being stripped of its furniture. An Igor like delivery man brings them a package from Woods' late Uncle, an eccentric who worked with paranormal activity with the help of his dour housekeeper Elaine Zacharides (Margaret Hamilton). This house on haunted hill is possessed already by twelve ghosts (including the late uncle). Who will be the 13th?"Emergency" star Martin Milner plays the uncle's lawyer, while Hamilton's housekeeper is a delightfully camp presence. Not as sinister as similarly clad housekeepers played by Gale Sondergaard and Judith Anderson, she's still a mysterious presence, even able to perform a séance. Castle gives this wonderful veteran actress several key scenes she underplays seriously, and presents her with the curtain line as well.As for the gimmicky "Illusion-O", the DVD includes some of the garish color footage previously not included on the VHS. It's funny to see Hamitlon all in blue as opposed to the green of her skin in "The Wizard of Oz", as well as the witch and broom references to her character. Without Hamilton's presence, this film would have suffered greatly.
Martin Teller
Unlike HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, there aren't many genuine scares in this. It revolves around a gimmick (unsurprisingly, being a Castle film) with a pair of glasses: look through the red if you want to see the ghosts, blue if you don't. As one discovers watching at home, you actually don't need the glasses at all if you want to see the ghosts, and besides, who the heck wouldn't want to see them? It's an amusing trick and the film is goofy fun, but if you're looking for chills, you'll be disappointed. No one seems to be taking it too seriously... Margaret Hamilton appearing as the "witch" housekeeper should give you an indication of how tongue-in-cheek it is. The film isn't quite campy enough or original enough or anything enough to leave much of an impression, but it has a few charms.
AD
