Earlier this month, Dread Central reported that Patrick Mediate (Primordial Pictures), Aaron McLane (SFX Supervisor, Fear the Walking Dead), and Ashley Robinson (co-producer, Fear the Walking Dead) were developing a new take on Thirteen Ghosts, which was first the movie 13 Ghosts in 1960 and earned the Thirteen Ghosts reboot in 2001. Following that initial report from the outlet, Bloody Disgusting has offered new information on the project, which confirms that, while the filmmakers and Dark Castle Entertainment are all interested in developing the story as a 13-episode TV series, it’s ultimately a decision that falls on Sony Pictures Television, who owns a significant portion of the rights to the property.
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“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 creators shared with Dread Central initially. “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.”
In both the 1960 and 2001 versions of the story, a family inherits an impressive home that has the caveat of also being home to ghosts. While the 2001 version leans more into violence and gore, both versions of the movie end with the ghosts being freed from the home, with the creators noting that the plan for the series was to use the ending of the 2001 film as the jumping-off point for the project.
“It had always been clear to us that there was so much to be explored in the backgrounds of the ghosts so it’s only natural that we created each episode to explore and examine their origin stories, personalities, plights, and fates. These stories act as through-lines that intertwine with the mysterious legacy of Cyrus Kriticos and his present extended family, who have just become caretakers of the Kriticos Compound,” Mediate shared with Bloody Disgusting of the project. “One of the incredible things about unconventionally structuring the narrative in this way is that we can cleverly, and oftentimes surprisingly, have the ghosts’ pasts actually influence all of the parallel narratives that unfold throughout each episode which we feel will offer a fresh, extremely unique storytelling experience for the viewer.”
Even though the 2001 film didn’t make much of an impact at the time, it’s one of many fan-favorite movies from the 2000s that aimed to offer big scares with a big budget and using the latest in special effects technology. Dark Castle also delivered audiences 1999’s House on Haunted Hill, 2002’s Ghost Ship, and 2005’s House of Wax.
The filmmakers confirmed that the strikes have put a pause on all development of the series but that once the strikes are resolved, the team hopes to move forward on further development of the project as quickly as possible.
Stay tuned for updates on a Thirteen Ghosts TV series.
Would you like to see the series move forward? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!
