Starring Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner, Rosemary DeCamp, Donald Woods
Directed by William Castle
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A struggling museum paleontologist moves his family into a mansion he inherits from his uncle, dismissing the stories it's haunted by ghosts, only to find out they're frighteningly genuine.
A favorite of mine among William Castle's productions, although I think the director would have been better off ditching the "supernatural viewer" gimmick, encouraging audience members to use the viewer's colored lenses to view or block out the rendering of red-colored ghosts against blue-colored film. Although there's a certain fun factor going along with the gimmick, the movie is perfectly enjoyable on its own merits, with an engaging cast including the good-natured and likable Woods, the beautiful and charming Morrow, and Milner in a slimy role 180 degrees from his decent cop on the Adam-12 TV series. It's also great to see Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard Of Oz), adding gravitas to her role as the mysterious housekeeper, and young Charles Herbert in one of his best turns as the youngest of the family. Time and technology have not been kind to the film's special effects, with the wires holding up flying objects more than evident in the DVD I viewed, but there's enough eerie and charming moments to make the film continue to be a fun diversion for years to come.
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