Crypt TV, the digital entertainment company founded by CEO Jack Davis and Eli Roth (and backed by Blumhouse), is teaming with Sony's Screen Gems to craft a 10 minute short based on the 1960 William Castle classic 13 GHOSTS. This short is the first time Crypt TV will be working with an established property.
13 GHOSTS, which also received a cult favorite remake in 2001, told the story of
a family who inherited a house harboring 13 diabolical spirits.
The short film revival of the property will begin filming this winter and is expected to be released through the Crypt TV YouTube channel and Facebook page sometime in early 2020. If the short is well received, Crypt TV plans to create "longer-form content" based on 13 GHOSTS. It's not clear whether that would mean a TV series or a feature film.
Davis and Screen Gems' Scott Strauss and Michael Bitar made the 13 GHOSTS announcement together. Davis had this to say about the deal:
Crypt is thrilled to work with Screen Gems to bring a fresh take of 13 Ghosts for our Gen Z audience. 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."
Strauss added:
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."
13 GHOSTS provides a fun concept for Crypt TV to play with, so I look forward to seeing what they'll do with it. We'll keep you updated on this project as more information is made available.