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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not frightening, but very entertaining, October 20, 2003
William Castle was one of the true geniuses of horror, and Thirteen Ghosts represents a modernized, special effects-heavy remake of his 1960 film of the same name. I would file this effort under C for cool rather than F for frightening, although I suppose many less inured to the tricks of the horror trade might find this film a frightening detour into madness. Thirteen Ghosts offers an exciting, gory, romping good time, and I think the real key to its success is not its plot, acting, or CGI effects; rather, it is the movie's establishment of something different from your standard horror fare. For the most part, all of the action takes place in a single setting, a technological marvel of a house built entirely of glass walls. While the process of shooting scenes in such a highly reflective setting must have been quite a challenge to the crew, the shooting style allows for a more open-ended atmosphere of fear, where things that go bump in the night can appear where you least expect them. Of course, the characters cannot see any ghosts on their own; no, you can apparently only see ghosts by donning a pair of safety glasses. The whole glasses thing is a little shaky, but it stands as a more practical substitute for the 3-D glasses the viewers of Castle's original film were required to wear. The ghosts, for their part, are very well done, especially the "angry princess" who, I have to say, is quite hot (in a bloody, fiendish sort of way). All the madness traces itself to one Cyrus Kriticos (played in an effectively subtle way by F. Murray Abraham). He is a collector of many things, especially ghosts, aided immeasurably by psychic and borderline nut Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard). Rafkin does not discover the real agenda behind Kriticos' capturing of specific, tormented souls until it is almost too late, at which point he finds himself trying to undo the wrong he has done by helping the family of Arthur Kriticos survive Cyrus' designs for them. The always-oddly effective Tony Shalhoub plays Arthur, a man who lost his wife and everything else he has apart from his kids in a terrible fire. The gorgeous Shannon Elizabeth plays his daughter Kathy, but Elizabeth's talents are rather wasted in this role (and there are far too few scenes graced with her presence). The struggling family is overjoyed to learn that weird Uncle Cyrus has left Arthur his estate, and they are as excited as they are intrigued by the new home they come to explore. With glass walls covered with Latin writing everywhere, extremely modern furnishings, and a sense of grade-A rich, eccentric oddness from top to bottom, the family members see the house as a dream come true. Of course, the dream soon becomes a nightmare. There are twelve really, really unpleasant ghosts contained in the basement, and the house turns out to be a machine whose ancient yet modern design serves one specific purpose: to open the gates of hell and grant great power to the man who has wrought this abominable mechanism. Our heroes soon find themselves trapped in the house, accompanied by Rafkin, a mysterious stranger, and the family's stereotypical black, ghost-fearing nanny. They must fight for both their lives and their sanity as each of the twelve ghosts is released and set to the most fiendish of purposes. The ending is a little hokey, I have to admit, but it cannot undo all the fun to be had along the way. The special features are also noteworthy. Along with a look at the making of the film, you get a look at the history of each of the ghosts in the film; frankly, this background material should have been better interwoven into the plot than it was. The special effects are, by and large, quite good. A lot of CGI animation went into the making of this film, and it works amazingly well. The ghosts themselves are substantial creatures, each with a history of its own, capable and more than willing to unleash their own eternal horrors on the desperate human beings walking the halls of the glass prison. The ghosts are also remarkably diverse in nature, each bringing his/her own very special bottle of terror to the party. There are a surprisingly small number of actual deaths to be enjoyed here, but one is rather memorable indeed. While Thirteen Ghosts doesn't really bring a lot of originality to the table, the elaborate place settings its puts in place for its delightfully tainted meal of gore and fright make the experience one that this horror lover quite enjoyed.
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