13 Geister

I watched this movie last night, and I thought it was entertaining. Sure, it's a B-movie and has its flaws - it's a bit silly, it's not particularly horrifying (although I must admit no movie has scared me in 10-15 years, and I've watched quite a lot of horror flicks), it's a tad silly (Ghostbusters meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer?). But as B-horror movies go, this one is entertaining for those who like films with supernatural phenomena and people dying in "imaginative" ways. Actually, Thir13en Ghosts reminded me of one of my favourite films, The Cube. But that's just the reason I can't give a lot of points for this movie - there are better B-movies with which to entertain yourself. Cube-films sum up the better parts of the film and dispense with boring love-issues. But then again, there are heck of a lot more crappier films than this, and it was funny enough for me to even buy it for five or so euros in case I came across this in a store.

"Thir13en Ghosts" does have a certain charm, if only for its silliness. Maybe there's nothing particularly special about a visual effects-laden movie in which a family inherits a haunted house, but the movie definitely has its moments, namely when the lawyer "splits". Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Alec Roberts, Rah Digga and F. Murray Abraham are all able to turn in neat performances, even if the whole movie is pretty outlandish. I would recommend the original version more, but this one isn't bad. Perhaps its little more than a way to pass time, but a cool one at that. Acceptable for what it is.

The movie is fine. It could have been so much more. It's all right there for the taking. They're remaking everything so why not remake something they could truly improve upon? So my review of this is that it's fun, but you'll feel that there is a lot of lost potential with this. I give it a 6, but it could've been a classic! That's the hardest part to take in when you think about the movie.

It doesn't rely on too much splatter and it doesn't try to startle you out of your seat every two minutes so that immediately makes it better than the average horror flick. The ghosts were unusual enough to be memorable and there was not a lot of familiarity to the plot. This was very nearly an excellent film with a solid cast and very good effects. Five or ten more minutes of scary interaction between the ghosts and the children(if you can call Shannon Elizabeth a child) would have made the movie much better. I call it a near miss which is as good as most horror fils can aspire to.

'Thir13en Ghosts' is a movie with lots of flashing images and loud sounds. Most of the time that is a little annoying, although there are moments it adds something to the scary events that happen. I am not a big fan of the horror-genre, although I can appreciate it when it is done good. Here you have no real story, but there are some real scares. Since it is about ghosts those things can turn up anytime and anywhere. One of the characters even explains that "they like to do that".

To explain the story would be quite pointless. What I can say is that a family without a mother but including dad Arthur (Tony Shalhboub), daughter Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth), son Bobby (Alec Roberts) and nanny Maggie (Rah Digga) inherits a strange house, created by their uncle Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham). We learn that Cyrus was a ghost hunter, of course with a purpose and a thirteenth ghost as the answer to a mystery, and that twelve ghosts are locked in the basement of the house. Two other characters are in the house as well. Dennis (Matthew Lillard) who sees future and past when he touches people and who used to work with Cyrus, and an opponent of Cyrus named Kalina (Embeth Davidtz). When the ghosts are unleashed they have to save themselves.

I realize I actually have told you the story, but that is not what this movie is about. What makes it at least interesting is the visual style of the movie. The house looks great, the effects and art direction are very admirable. That there is hardly time to notice that is a shame. The scares might be stupid but they work enough to make this a real horror movie. Yes, there are many flaws and things go terribly wrong near the end, but if you normally like these kind of movies, you must be able to enjoy 'Thir13en Ghosts'.