Haunted House No. 13

No. 13 Baochan Hutong in Beiping was originally the residence of King Zheng of the Qing Dynasty, and became one of the top ten murderous mansions in Beiping due to the unexplained deaths of its occupants from time to time. A couple from Shanghai rented the house, and the old man on watch told them the story of the old house. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded, King Zheng's father was dragged to his death by a foreigner's horse for not letting the foreigner occupy the mansion, and since then there have been strange happenings in the mansion. Zheng Wang's son, Weng, was not doing his job, and Zheng Wang could do nothing about it. On the night of the ancestor's memorial service, King Zheng died of spasms in his arms and legs. After the Republic of China, Weng was forced to sell his house, his mother hanged herself, and his sister fell into a brothel, where a warlord general bought her as a concubine, but abused her all sorts of ways.

Directed by Changlin Xu, Haunted House No. 13 leans on a strong ensemble — Bai Guang, Tian Xie, Wang Yuan-Long — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about horror titles of 1948.