“Thir13en Ghosts” might have made it onto Roger Ebert’s list
of “Most Hated” films but I like it! It’s a fun, stupid ghost story that is
full of cool eye candy and action. It doesn’t have many scares in it and it has
an absurd plot but I like how there is enough quick glimpses at the various
ghosts to give a basic back story to some and leave you curious about the
others. Matthew Lillard is great in it and Tony Shalhoub is too shabby either.
Why and how Shannon Elizabeth was cast is beyond me; this is just another stop
on her horror movie circuit tour that she seemed to have made when she was
still…um…relevant? What a scary place it would be if she ever was! Luckily for
the viewer, she has less screen time than the babysitter who is watching her
little brother. This version is a remake of the 1960 film by William Castle, who also made the original "House on Haunted Hill".
Cyrus Kriticos is on a mission to complete his collection of
various ghosts, employing a crew of ghost hunters and a reluctant psychic named
Dennis. While capturing the extremely dangerous ghost known as the Juggernaut,
Cyrus is killed and his estate is handed over to his nephew Arthur, a
struggling widower trying to raise his two children. Arthur, his children, and
their babysitter accompany Cyrus’s lawyer to his home, a large mansion that is
full of glass walls covered in elegant script and clockwork features. (I feel
that this concept was directly inspired by “Hellraiser” and is a great tribute if
I’m correct). Dennis meets the family at the entrance and talks his way in,
claiming to be an electrician that needs to finish some work. Inside, everyone
finds weird 3-D looking glasses that allow the wearing to see the ghosts. The
lawyer sets off a trap left by Cyrus, the family and Dennis are locked in, and
the ghosts are released one by one. It is a trap that Cyrus made in order to
capture the last ghost needed for his collection, the 13th ghost.
Favorite moment – The opening scene is quite effective as
well as the scene where Dennis faces off against the Juggernaut. For a ghost,
the Juggernaut sure has some sway in the physical realm!
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