Screen Gems And Crypt TV Partner Up To Produce ’13 Ghosts’ Short Films

After staying dormant for so long after its 2001 remake, William Castle’s 1960 horror film 13 Ghosts is now being brought to life again. Jack Davis and Eli Roth’s horror genre brand Crypt TV has partnered with Sony Pictures genre label Screen Gems to produce 10-minute short films based on the 1960 horror film.

According to Deadline, the 13 Ghosts shorts will be released on Crypt TV’s Facebook and YouTube. This follows the digital network’s most recent deal with Facebook Watch for five exclusive original series that are to be released on the social media platform. Crypt’s deal with Sony is also the network’s first project with a studio on established IP.

Reliving 13 Ghosts for a New Generation

Compared to the 1960 original 13 Ghosts, the 2001 remake was much more terrifying and twisted. Rather than just the usual greedy lawyer killing people and going behind the family’s back for fortune, the remake featured a twisted ghost hunter willing to sacrifice his family for the ability to look into the past, present, and future. Despite both films receiving lukewarm reviews at best, they have developed a cult following. And now, Crypt and Screen Gems are looking into reliving the horror film for a new generation.

In the announcement of the partnership, Davis expressed his excitement to work with Screen Gems to bring 13 Ghosts to a new generation. “Crypt is thrilled to work with Screen Gems to bring a fresh take of 13 Ghosts for our Gen Z audience,” he said. “We’ve spent years perfecting the process of creating emotionally anchored, scary content that connects with a young audience. Screen Gems has been a fantastic partner and believer in how we can apply our secret sauce to titles in their library and create lots of value moving forward. 13 Ghosts is a great IP and we can’t wait to bring our trademark Crypt spin on the property to our audience.”

Screen Gem’s Scoot Strauss also expressed his excitement over the news describing Crypt as ideal partners to bring the new 13 Ghosts to life. As he said, “Jack and the team at Crypt continue to deliver dynamic content to their growing audience. We’re excited to be working with them to revive and freshen 13 Ghosts for a new generation on a storytelling platform young horror fans have clearly embraced. They’re ideal creative partners for this moment and we expect the new 13 Ghosts to be fun, resonant, and above all, really scary.”

The short films are being eyed for an early 2020 release.