We’ve reached the final days of October and the final days of this year’s Halloween Horrors series. Of course, that doesn’t mean that our love for Halloween diminishes once November comes. If anything, another year’s worth of memories and experiences should only help our appreciation for the holiday grow. As many of the entries in this year’s series (and previous series as well) have shown, what makes Halloween special is the memories that we attach to it.

Today’s contributor is a large part of what makes Halloween so special for me. By now, most of you should know that I’m talking about my wife, Mandi Fallon. Mandi has been a part of every year’s Halloween Horrors series, so it’s really no surprise that she joins us again this year. Then again, I’m pretty damned lucky to have a loving wife who supports this silly hobby of mine enough to want to not only write a piece each year, but also help edit the submissions.

For this year’s series, Mandi will be discussing a film that helps her feel a little closer to Halloween on any day of the year.

 

Halloween Horrors 2023 –13 Ghosts (1960)

I want to start this piece by saying that I am so excited to see this series return for 2023!  Not only do I love the owner of Horror & Sons (and not just because I’m obligated, but because he is my true soulmate), but I also genuinely enjoy reading every contributor’s take on the movies that are chosen.  I have had a love and passion for horror movies and the Halloween season for as long as I can remember.  To have the opportunity to peek into the window of like-minded people and learn a little something about why they love a particular movie is interesting!  Not only that, but it adds an extra layer of excitement during my most favorite month and time of the year – Halloween!

This year, I chose 1960’s 13 Ghosts.  I have written several entries in this series over the years, and I have opined about my most favorite horror or Halloween ‘must watch’ films.  When it came time to choose my subject for 2023, it was a struggle.  Once you get outside the range of those films you covet most, the possibilities are endless, which is never a good thing for someone as indecisive as yours truly.  After weeks of thought, I finally landed on what is one of my most favorite William Castle films.

When I think about why I love and live Halloween every day of the year, it always goes back to movies and experiences in my childhood (also maybe because I was born on a Friday the 13th 😊).  Being able to dress up in my Ben Cooper costume (Strawberry Shortcake and Jem are two that I remember) and participate in the elementary school Halloween parade, decorating our classrooms, making little ghosts out of toilet paper and hanging them in the tree in our front yard, and checking out Nancy Drew books from the library are memories that I treasure.  TV Shows, movies, and even commercials make up a significant part of my nostalgia as well.  Watching ‘Creature Feature’ with Dr. Paul Bearer (a local station horror host) on Saturdays as a kid is a core memory for me.  It is how I was introduced to old and spooky movies in black and white, and it played a significant part in the movies I would seek out in adulthood.  Now, to be honest, I never saw any William Castle movies before 2006, other than Rosemary’s Baby, but I wanted to give that little background on why I chose this movie for this year’s series in relation to the Halloween season. 

Upon my first viewing of 13 Ghosts, I LOVED it.  It had everything I love in a movie – it was black and white, set in a creepy house, had spooky atmospheric scenes, and the aura of a different era.  However, one of the best things about this movie is the ghost viewers!  For those of you who don’t know, William Castle was famously known for using or providing gimmicks to movie-goers to promote his films.  He was a marketing genius, which is why he was so successful at producing and directing B-movies in the earlier part of his career.  For 1958’s Macabre, film patrons were given a ‘$1,000 certificate of life insurance’ in the event they didn’t survive the viewing of the film. 

For 13 Ghosts, theater customers were given a special pair of ‘ghost viewers’.  At the beginning of the film, William Castle performs an introduction.  He explains how to use these ‘ghost viewers’.  One half was red cellophane, and the other half was blue.  During certain scenes in the movie, only those brave enough would look through the red to see the ghosts.  If you weren’t, you would look through the blue to block them.  We were lucky enough to score a pair of these viewers.  Of course, technology of today has spoiled us rotten, but imagining yourself in a movie theater in 1960 and seeing the movie for what it was for the time and using these viewers was a cool experience!  I’m a sucker for a good gimmick, and this is one of my favorites. 

The movie itself is a solid entry in the scary movie genre of its time.  It follows the story of the Zorba family, who are nearly destitute at the beginning of the film due to the patriarch’s forgetfulness when it comes to finances.  Cyrus Zorba (the aforementioned patriarch) inherits a beautiful, but creepy, house from his deceased occultist uncle, Dr. Plato Zorba.  Once moved in, the family begins to experience supernatural occurrences, and of course, they encounter those pesky ghosts as well!  So does the viewer, regardless of using the ghost glasses, although it is so much cooler if you do!

I decided not to delve too deeply into the plot or to “review” the movie at all, really, for this piece.  For me, the point I wanted to make with this year’s entry was why I chose this movie, and how special this time of year is for me.   I have my usual standards in the rotation every September and October, but movies like 13 Ghosts bring me Halloween vibes and joy throughout the year.  This is one that I will watch on repeat.  In fact, there was a time a few years ago where this was the chosen film each night as I drifted off to sleep for almost an entire year.  Halloween and spookiness are my happy places, and this movie fits the bill, no matter the season. 

Happy Halloween!