“13 Ghosts” is a cheesy horror film from 1960 that would later be remade as “Thir13en Ghosts” (the filmmakers of that movie most have felt it made it scarier to have a stupid stylised title). The original version is not really a good film but it does have some impressive special effects for its time and is also famous/infamous for its use of ‘Illusion-O’ (do a little research on that if you’re into gimmicks).

A poor family inherit a house but unfortunately for them, this is a haunted house. Despite the fact that the ghosts appear to have the potential to cause some real harm, the family decide to stick around. They discover a pair of goggles that allow them to see the ghosts.

The family are relatively dull but the fact they seem almost oblivious to the dangers they face is rather amusing. One of the family members includes the young Buck (Charles Herbert “The Fly”) and his calm attitude to seeing the ghost of a headless man is priceless. Also, watch out for Margaret Hamilton (“The Wizard of Oz”), who has fitting role. The ghosts in the film look rather remarkable considering the movie came out in 1960. The ghosts include a headless lion tamer, a lion and a weird firework-like thing.

It’s hard to recommend a movie like “13 Ghosts” but at the same time, it’s hard to criticise a film that’s so filled with light-hearted fun. Hardly anybody will find it scary, some may get a few laughs out of it (I’m probably in that camp) but I think most people will see this is as a really dated and fairly mundane horror picture. I hear the remake is not very good; I’ll have to see for myself yet I doubt it’ll be as cheerful as the original.