Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

“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 13^th 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!

Cursed (2005)

Sadly, not every werewolf movie Grade A material. Some are actually quite horrible and should be avoided and “Cursed” is such an example. Directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, the pair that created the film “Scream” clearly didn’t have the right chemistry this time around. I’ve read that that there were numerous reshoots and script changes demanded by the studio executives, but if the film was worth making in the first place, then I believe that these demands wouldn’t have been given in the first place. Now it I should say that Wes Craven is a director with a long history of creating both hits and utter failures so it shouldn’t be surprising that this was one of them. It doesn’t help that none of the actors seemed to give a damn about their work in this film except for Jesse Eisenberg. The movie was filled with actors that teens at the time loved and that was apparently good enough for Craven.  Another issue with this film is that it was way too predictable so it leaves the viewer with nothing to anticipate. Finally, the werewolves themselves look horrid and the transformation scenes are rendered in outdated CGI.

Ellie and Jimmy are siblings who hit a large creature and another car while driving home one night. They get out their car to see if the other car is alright only to see its driver killed before they are attacked. They manage to survive the attack and go home, where Jimmy starts to research werewolves since that’s what he thinks attacked them. The rest of the movie revolves around the two dealing with their their condition and finding out who to break their curse. It includes high school bullies and a cute girl for Jimmy, and a noncommittal boyfriend and his various ex’s for Ellie.