Thirteen Ghosts
Misery loves company.
What a house! It's all steel and glass and elegance - and it all belongs to Arthur Kriticos and his family as an unexpected inheritance. You could say it's their dream home. Especially if the dreams are nightmares.
Awesome ectoplasmic specters populate Thirteen Ghosts, an effects-rampant remake of the 1960 William Castle haunted-house film from producers Gilbert Adler, Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis, who conjured up the equally terrorific House On Haunted Hill (1999). Tony Shalhoub as Arthur leads a cast that includes Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Rah Digga and F. Murray Abraham. The house itself is a design marvel and a mysterious puzzle-cube whose eerie corridors, sliding walls, spinning floors and phantasmic fiends may allow no escape.
Member Reviews
Avoid! - movie_goer
An update of an original classic (From 1960) b-movie which, despite better technology, fails to drum up much in the scare department and is actually irritating to watch.
The acting was horrible even by horror movie standards, and the story was just horrible. This film did have cool effects, which I did enjoy and kept my mind off the terrible story. In the end, not even the special effects saved this.A Mediocre Ghost Story - revsdd
As the movie began, it seemed that we were in for a sort of whimsical, "Ghost Busters" like story of the attempt to capture ghosts. Then, as the movie continues, it turns into more of a horror movie than a typical ghost movie (I don't necessarily consider those to be the same thing.) The problem is that it doesn't really work that well regardless of which genre you try to fit it into.
No doubt it's creative. The story (once you figure it out - and it is a bit confusing) has to do with the so-called "black zodiac" and the attempts of a mysterious figure (played by F. Murray Abraham) to amass great power by capturing the ghosts required to fill out this zodiac. The zodiac requires twelve ghosts, all of whom have to fit a certain "type," and then a 13th ghost is required - the ghost of a person who has to voluntarily give himself out of love. Cyrus (Abraham) chooses his nephew Arthur (Tony Shalhoub) to be the 13th ghost and lures them by faking his death and willing Arthur and his family a strange house, which isn't actually a house but a "machine" of sorts whose purpose is to bring forth the power Cyrus wants.
The "house/machine" was both a strength and a weakness. It was very well designed and very mysterious, and yet it also seemed overdone in some ways. It was too much, and it - rather than the ghosts or the people - tended to become the focus of the movie. There are a handful of scenes of gore (notably the lawyer being sliced in half) and some decent enough frights and chills (confined mostly to the last half hour or so.) The story really isn't very well developed, though. The very last scene of the movie is an unfortunate attempt at humour that added nothing to one's memory or appreciation of the movie. It's a mediocre effort.Entertaining! - MoviesRUS
A very entertaining movie with good special effects, decent acting, lots of action, neat props and mechanicals, and some unique ghosts make this a lot of fun. Was I scared? No. I was startled sometimes, but not scared.
Not intended to make deep social comment...it's just a movie. It isn't meant to reflect reality; the characters are not obligated to exercise good judgment; the fact that this movie is supposed to be "based on" the earlier version is not really relevant; and it ought to be possible to be entertained by a movie without necessarily feeling genuinely scared. Having said this...my gripe is this...why oh why does it always have to be one character saying to three others, "Stay right here until I get back. Don't touch anything." Without going into detail, let me simply state the obvious: the other characters don't obey him and the results are not good. This is always a big turn-off to me, because the people who disobey almost always end up getting out safely, while other people die for their mistakes.
Still worth seeing for it's full entertainment value!
Member Reviews
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Avoid! - movie_goer
An update of an original classic (From 1960) b-movie which, despite better technology, fails to drum up much in the scare department and is actually irritating to watch.
The acting was horrible even by horror movie standards, and the story was just ...A Mediocre Ghost Story - revsdd
As the movie began, it seemed that we were in for a sort of whimsical, "Ghost Busters" like story of the attempt to capture ghosts. Then, as the movie continues, it turns into more of a horror movie than a typical ghost movie (I don't necessarily consider ...Entertaining! - MoviesRUS
A very entertaining movie with good special effects, decent acting, lots of action, neat props and mechanicals, and some unique ghosts make this a lot of fun. Was I scared? No. I was startled sometimes, but not scared.
Not intended to make deep social ...