थर्टीन घोस्टस

"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.

'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'.

This is a chiller remake with grisly horror, genuine chills and shocks . When Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) , a very rich collector of unique things dies, he leaves it all to his nephew and his family. All including his house, his fortune, and his malicious collection of ghosts. As reclusive Dr. Zorba has died and left his eerie mansion to his penniless nephew Cyrus Zorba (Tony Shaloub) and his sons (Shannon Elizabeth , Alec Roberts) . Along with the house, the Zorba family has also inherited the occultist's collection of 12 ghosts (Laura Mennell as The Bound Woman , Kathryn Anderson as The Withered Lover , Craig Olejnik as The Torn Prince , Shawna Loyer as The Angry Princess , Xantha Radley as The Pilgrimess , Ernst Harth as The Great Child , Laurie Soper as The Dire Mother , Herbert Duncanson as The Hammer), who can only be seen through Zorba's special goggles.The house suddenly closes itself and they encounter trapped inside and soon supernatural creepiness begin frightening the hosts . Then they'll spend a ghastly night in the spooky house with killings-laden history . The family members, their lives at risk upon the discovery a strange book that lies hidden somewhere in the house , they receive aid from unexpected woman (Embeth Davidtz) as the threat to their lives is revealed .

This eerie story contains bit good fun with grisly killing , relentless horror and lots of blood and gore. The chiller version packs genuine chills and terrifying deaths such as a horrible quartering . It's silly but amusing fun and with an excessive use of computer generator FX and special make-up in charge of Robert Kurtzman , Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero . The monstrous ghosts are the real stars of this production , being rightly realized by means of an excellent make-up and magnificent special effects . Some scenes are clumsily shot but the movie has some good moments here and there , the illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the creepy ghosts . The film was lavishly produced by Dark Castle , production specialized on terror genre and in charge of Joel Silver , Robert Zemeckis and Gilbert Adler ; both of them have produced successful terror movies dealing with eerie tales about horror , grisly killings and lots of blood and gore such as ¨House of haunted hill¨, ¨Return to house of haunted hill¨ , ¨Gothika¨, ¨Ghost ship¨, ¨House of wax¨ , Whiteout¨ , ¨Splice¨ , ¨The reaping¨ , ¨Orphan¨ , among others . The motion picture was professionally directed though without originality by Steven Beck who subsequently filmed ¨Ghost ship¨.

The film resulted to be an acceptable but inferior remake from superior ¨13 ghosts¨ by William Castle . It was plenty of gimmicks, leaps from the screen and surprises descending on cinema-goers such as hidden wires and others . Of course the biggest film about this astonishing story is this vintage 1960 classic version rendition by William Castle that was starred by Charles Herbert as Buck Zorba , Jo Morrow as Medea Zorba , Martin Milner as Benjamen Rush , Rosemary DeCamp as Hilda Zorba and Donald Woods as Cyrus Zorba .

As I've said so many times before...people, this is just a movie. It is not intended to make deep social comment; it is not 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.

I find this to be a very entertaining movie. 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.

So what IS wrong with this movie? Well, I'm back to my usual gripe about action movies. There's a point in the film where one character says to three other characters, "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. In another film, for example, a family in the Federal witness protection program is told not to contact their old friends. The daughter, however, can't live without calling her boyfriend at least once. The bad guys intercept the phone call, show up at the "safe house," and end up killing several US Marshals. Of course, the daughter is oblivious to the damage she has caused and goes on to live happily ever after. Just once I'd like to see the survivors turn to the person who was reckless and say, "That was all your fault!" and blow the person away in a hail of lead.

Now, back to THIS film. I recommend it if you enjoy over-the-top horror/action films, but not if you are looking for some sort of psychological thriller or a moody mystery. If you liked "Dog Soldiers" and "An American Werewolf in London," then you should like this movie.

*** out of ****

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.