Film Review: Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

(source: tmdb.org)

In 1999 new Hollywood studio Castle Entertainment had decent debut with House on Haunted Hill, critically panned but commercially successful remake of the cult 1959 horror film by William Castle. Two years later another Castle’s cult film served as inspiration for another Castle Entertainment production. This time it was 1960 film 13 Ghosts, remade into Thirteen Ghosts, directed by Steve Beck.

The plot begins when Cyrus Kriticos (played by F. Murray Abracham), expert for the occult and ghost hunter, tries to catch one particularly vicious ectoplasmic entity, which would result in his death. That appears to be something of a good news for his nephew, impoverished mathematics teacher Arthur Kriticos (played by Tony Shalhoub) whose family have been struggling following tragic death of Arthur’s wife. They are visited by Benjamin Moss (played by JR Bourne), who informs them that they inherited luxurious house from Cyrus. Arthur, his son Bobby (played by Alec Roberts), daugther Kathy (played by Shannon Elizabeth) and their nanny Maggie Bess (played by Rah Digga) decide to visit the property, which turns out to be marvel of modern architecture, made almost entirely from steel and glass. On the same night house is visited by Dennis Rafkin (played by Matthew Lillard), psychic medium who explains that the house is actually container for captured ghosts that could be seen only through special glasses. Cyrus has brought ghosts in order to perform some kind of magic ritual, but before they are able to ponder about motives for that, his heirs would have more pressing matters on their minds. When they discover that the exit from house is blocked, they would have to survive night in the house occupied by vicious homicidal ghosts.

1960 version entered cinema history books because of inventive special effects and even more inventive promotion methods by William Castle. New version, on the other hand, only tries to make it more “modern” by intensive use of CGI, plenty of blood and even some nudity. Result is the film that could be hardly described as clever, but producers apparently didn’t have much ambition. Combination of bloodshed, suspense and black humour mostly works, and there is even a surprise twist or two in the plot. The best things about Thirteen Ghosts is the cast that include respected character actors like Shalhoub and Abracham who enjoy chance to play more prominent characters. Shannon Elizabeth, one of early 2000s Hollywood’s sex symbols is, on the other hand, quite unconvincing while hyperactive Matthew Lillard is right in his element. The most pleasant surprise, however, is relatively unknown rap artist Rah Digga who provides effective comic relief. Although far from being classic, Thirteen Ghosts will provide entertainment to less demanding fans of horror genre.

RATING: 5/10 (++)