Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

When Cyrus Kriticos, 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!

Director:

Steve Beck

Writers:

Robb White (story), Neal Marshall Stevens (screenplay)

Stars:

Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, Embeth Davidtz

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Shalhoub	...	Arthur Kriticos
Embeth Davidtz	...	Kalina Oretzia
Matthew Lillard	...	Dennis Rafkin
Shannon Elizabeth	...	Kathy Kriticos
Alec Roberts	...	Robert 'Bobby' Kriticos
JR Bourne	...	Benjamin Moss
Rah Digga	...	Maggie Bess
F. Murray Abraham	...	Cyrus Kriticos
Matthew Harrison	...	Damon
Jacob Rupp	...	Cyrus' Assistant
Mike Crestejo	...	Team Member
Aubrey Lee Culp	...	Team Member
Charles Andre	...	Team Member
Mikhael Speidel	...	Billy Michaels, The First Born Son
Daniel Wesley	...	Jimmy 'The Gambler' Gambino, The Torso

Storyline

Arthur and his two children, Kathy and Bobby, inherit his Uncle Cyrus's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to 12 ghosts. When the family, accompanied by Bobby's Nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine "designed by the devil and powered by the dead" to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by Dennis, a ghost hunter, and his rival Kalina, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost | glass house | slasher flick | slasher | body count | 

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Taglines:

Terror Wants Company!

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence/gore, nudity and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [Germany] Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

13 Ghosts

Filming Locations:

Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$42,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,165,355, 28 October 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$41,867,960, 23 December 2001

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,600,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The budget, opening weekend box office gross, and box office gross overall of this film are all virtually identical (within one million dollars) to that of House on Haunted Hill (1999), which opened almost exactly two years earlier. Both films were adapted from stories written by Robb White and originally directed by William Castle.

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Goofs

After Arthur punches Rafkin and they fall to the floor you can see the reflection of a crew member behind Arthur on the desk.

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Quotes

Rafkin: Oh. Oh, boy.
Maggie: What?
Rafkin: Uh, that's the symbol of the Jackal.
Maggie: What's the Jackal?
Rafkin: The Jackal is the Charlie Manson of ghosts. And if the Jackal's out, screw the kid! We gotta get out of this basement!

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits cast shadows on the scenery behind them.

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Alternate Versions

The Region 1 DVD release includes extensive background information on each of the ghosts as a bonus feature, including footage not used in the final movie, and newly recorded narration by F. Murray Abraham.

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Connections

Referenced in Scream 4 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Excess
Written by Tricky
Performed by Tricky
Backing Vocals by Alanis Morissette (uncredited)
Courtesy of Hollywood Records/Anti Inc. A Division of Epitaph Records

User Reviews

Seriously flawed rollercoaster

Again, like House On Haunted Hill, I came away from 13 Ghosts with a sad feeling of what might have been.

I don't know, maybe I'm old fashioned, but I would have liked this remake to have been made around the time of the original; they made films for adults then, you know. Putting in lots of gore does not an adult film make.

Apart from some shock tactics, and you will jump, the film is devoid of any tension and feeling of being trapped within a machine. I would have liked the emphasis placed more on how the characters get from A to B within the glass machine. For a much superior example of this go and see Cube.

The glass walls were a nice feature, but I get the feeling the design was different for different's sake. There were lots of narrow corridors, however, I missed the big spooky rooms of a more traditional haunted house.

The ghosts were designed for cheap shock value and lacked any genuine creepiness. They looked more like the ghosts of WWF wrestlers!

For me, the film failed to define the characters well at all. This was not neccessarily the fault of the actors. The greiving father character had to communicate the loss of his wife, his home and the protectiveness of his kids in a movie that quickly resorted to the rapid editing of a pop video.

The protective parent under adverse conditions was not covered particularly well here; for a better example one only has to see Ripley and Newt in Aliens.

13 Ghosts is not a terrible movie. Anyone who enjoyed House On Haunted Hill, (and I did), and has the DVD on their shelves, (and I do), will find this an adequate stablemate, (I probably will), but if you're looking for a serious ghost adventure film with fully rounded characters, like Aliens with ghosts, then we still have a bit of a wait until filmakers stop making films for teenagers.