Thirteen Ghosts
Year of release : 2001
Run time : 1h31m
Genre : Supernatural Horror
Cast : Shannon Elizabeth, Matthew Lillard, Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Rah Digga
The movie is a remake of the 1960 movie of the same name.
Cyrus Kriticos is a ghost hunter who instead of exorcising places, traps ghosts in boxes with glass walls with incantations. He has a psychic assistant who finds them, as he could always sense ghosts, and not just that, if he touches someone, their whole life flashes before his eyes.
This time they are hunting the Juggernaut , the worst of the worst, in a junkyard. As they trap him, with an incantation, the ghost k1lls most of the crew, and apparently even Cyrus.
Arthur is Cyrus’ nephew who lost his beautiful house and beautiful wife in a fire. He now lives with his 2 kids and their nanny in a small apartment.
Cyrus’ lawyer comes to tell him Cyrus is dead, and he inherited his house. And that they can see it that very day.
When they see the house the family is impressed by it, as it looks so beautiful and futuristic.
Dennis, Cyrus’ assistant , is there, pretending to be from the electricity company, as he’s trying to get into the house, as Cyrus didn’t pay him.
When they use the incredible key (it’s big and beautiful and it’s sucked into the key hole) it takes a while until the door unlocks, as it seems a full system is put into motion.
When they enter the house, while the family is in awe of how beautiful the house is, Dennis sees the incantations on the glass walls and worries Cyrus built a trap.
When they unlocked the house, it put in motion a system which is unlocking the ghost boxes in the basement.
While Arthur worries about how much a place like this would cost in taxes, his family loves it, wandering around the premises, and Dennis finds the boxes in which the ghosts are trapped. Dennis puts on the special glasses they made to see the ghosts with, and he can see them all.
Dennis comes clean to Arthur about who he is, and tells Arthur they need to get out of the house, as angry ghosts are trapped in the house, and if they don’t get out, they’ll all be dead.
Arthur believes him, and decides to get his family out. Dennis feels the ghosts, having a sort of seizure from the strong frequency, and Arthur touches him trying to help him, and his life flashes before his eyes.
The lawyer goes to the basement to get his briefcase of money, and when taking it, it sets in motion the mechanism which locks the house, sealing the glass walls, turning it into a box. Apparently he knew about the ghosts, as he has a pair of glasses, and sees them, berating them. As he takes his money, sealing the house unwillingly, one of the ghosts gets out, and he’s cut in half by a glass door right after he made a joke about splitting.
The ghost, called the Angry Princess, goes to the room designated to her, in which Arthur’s daughter, Kathy, is. The ghost sees the room as painted in her blood, the bath tub being filled with her blood which runs out of the faucet.
Kalina, a spirit liberator, or so she states, is in the house too, and helps Arthur. She also tells him his wife is one of the spirits trapped in the house, as the Withered Lover.
As she tells him these things, after an angry ghost attacked his daughter, Kathy, who was right next to them, disappears. His son is also, nowhere to be found.
It doesn’t take long until the angry ghosts are liberated, and they start attacking them. Most of them have a bone or two to pick with Dennis who helped imprison them. Dennis notices the containment spells to keep the ghosts trapped inside, are also protection spells, and realizes the house is more than a temple trapping ghosts.
Kalina tells Arthur it’s a device powered by the ghosts, designed by the devil, meant to see the past, present and future, and that it can be turned off with a 13th ghost, a sacrifice made of pure love.
But what if it’s not all as it seems, and Kalina has hidden motives, just like Cyrus, who left the house in Arthur’s name.
I personally enjoyed the movie, it was one of my favorites about 20 years ago. I have it on original videotape.
I liked how the movie was directed, the angles, the colors. It looks clean,new and beautiful.
The house which is actually a trap or machine is beautiful.All glass, the walls and floors.
I loved the title sequence with the house changing with the events happening in the family’s life, and their voices in the background, the audience finding out what happened.
I loved Arthur and his family, the love he shared with his wife.
The ghosts are trapped in the mindset they had when they died, and see what they want to see.
The women are beautiful, Kathy, her mother, Jean, Kalina, even the Angry Princess ghost !
I thought the actresses who played Kalina and Jean looked alike, they could have been twins. They even had the same haircut.
The acting was good. Matthew Lillard was the best.
The soundtrack by John Frizzell was good.
The visual effects were amazing.
The movie received negative reviews, and grossed 68.5 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 42 million dollars.
Cinema Score audiences graded the movie a C+.
Viewer discretion is advised, as the movie contains nudity from the Angry Princess ghost, violence and gore.
You can watch the movie for free on the Ok.Ru platform, in English (with Spanish subtitles) or dubbed in Russian or Spanish.
Rating : Worth a watch !