Upon its release in 2001, Dark Castle’s remake of 1960’s 13 Ghosts was met with a mixed response, to put it mildly.
Whilst Steve Beck’s Thir13en Ghosts performed moderately well at the box-office, the critical response was poor, deriding the film for its over-reliance on effects. However, in the 22 years since its release, Thir13en Ghosts has become an undeniable cult classic, with fans singling out the various phantoms and their backstories as a highlight. Now those very elements may be seeing the project headed to the small screen.
Sources claim that Patrick Mediate of Primordial Pictures, and a prominent effects worker on AMC’s The Walking Dead, has partnered with Dark Castle to pitch a television adaption to Sony.
The series would focus on the twelve horrifying entities seen in the film, examining each phantom’s backstory. The supplemental material for the home media releases of Thir13en Ghosts went into this in considerable detail, and it would be thrilling to see these unique histories brought to life.
Of the project, Patrick Mediate had this to say:
“Every culture in the world has its ghost stories, and this re-imagining of 13 Ghosts presents an international sampling of these supernatural tales. The ghost stories within each episode will have their own stylistic look and feel that will be explored and influenced by each individual director. This makes our ghost vignettes stand out stylistically as they set the theme for each episode.”
There is also talk of a VR element involved in the plan, the idea being that the ghost starring in each episode can appear in your living room as you watch. This certainly sounds intriguing, and would undoubtedly open the possibility of a cross-over into gaming with Sony’s PlayStation branch.
However, we must stress that this is all still in very early development, and although enticing, nothing is set in stone yet. We will watch this story carefully and report any further developments.
