In association with

Thirteen Ghosts [2002]
from Universal Pictures UK
starring Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Alec Roberts
directed by Steve Beck

Features:

• Anamorphic
• Dubbed
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

A by-the-numbers haunted house movie, albeit one with some neat twists, a couple of good performances and impressive design work, Thirteen Ghosts is a remake of the 1960 original by exploitation superstar William Castle. When ghost-hunter Cyrus (F Murray Abraham) dies his quietly decent widower nephew Arthur (Tony Shaloub) inherits his house. With almost infinite predictability, he, his teenage daughter (Shannon Elizabeth) and young son, as well as a rival ghost-hunter and Cyrus' untrustworthy tame psychic (Mathew Lillard), are trapped in the house, which is a glass labyrinth of sliding panels and shifting staircases. As the woman ghost-hunter Kalina helpfully explains, the house is "a machine designed by the devil and powered by the dead"--specifically by 12 ghosts, most of them murderously malevolent.

Shaloub and Lillard manage to make us care about this farrago and Abraham lends his few scenes his usual malignant authority, but the real star is the inventively designed house itself and the outrageous horror-comic makeup of the ghosts. This is a knowingly trashy film enjoyable on its own level.

On the DVD: Thirteen Ghosts comes with a short textual explanation of who Castle was and why he should get this sort of homage, a self-congratulatory making-of documentary and filmographies for cast and crew, as well as odd short featurettes explaining the imagined back-story for each of the ghosts. The disc has Dolby sound and is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen ratio.--Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• Thirteen Ghosts = Thirteen Sleepless Nights
  Thirteen Ghosts is a remake of a 1960's film of the same title created by the brilliant William Castle. The film follows a man and his children who become trapped in a ghost ridden house that they've inherited from Cyrus (the man's eccentric uncle.) Trapped along with them are a psychic, a lawyer, and a ghost hunter.
  Thirteen Ghosts is a bit different from your standard horror, and it goes without saying that I doubt that this it's the kind of film that everyone will find scary. But for me at least it... more info

• Thirteen Ghosts - Unlucky for some.
  I totally agree with all the other negative reviews with regard to the one. Nothing remotely frightening about it - there's more shocks in an episode of Tom and Jerry (and the ghosts are about as scary). The real star of the movie is actually the set. The house is quite cleverly designed and, due to this, I thought this would be an interesting film. Unfortunately, I was wrong. One star (for the set), I'm afraid.

• Thirteen Ghosts
  This film is REALLY good and VERY scary. I mean REALLY scary. If you are a big fan of gory movie, this is it. Definitely got my money worth.

• Sleeping with the lights on
  I remember seeing this in the cinema when it came out first time. I went home, switched on all the lights and cowered for a night.
  The film was really really good. It was actually scary and stayed with me afterwards, playing on my mind in a way that the Japanese "Ring" and "Poltergiest" had done before. The Black Zodiac was a really good touch, but I would have liked more back story to the ghosts actually included in the actual film, although this is apparently included in the dvd.

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