Day 3 of our Halloween marathon brings another William Castle remake, though one that gets a little more of a mixed opinion. '13 Ghosts' like 'House on Haunted Hill' only uses the very basics of the original's storyline, that of a man who inherits a mysterious house haunted by ghosts, and fills in the blanks with original material. While I don't think it succeeded in crafting something 'good', but I gotta admit that this is quite the guilty pleasure film for me and one that's great to watch on Halloween. Despite the film's modern mechanics and cutting edge (at the time) special effects, '13 Ghosts' does manage to keep that old time, Gothic feeling that horror films of old showcased and unlike 'House on Haunted Hill', this one tries to take a slightly more serious approach (for the most part, but we'll get there in a bit).
The cast is serviceable with Tony Shalhub bringing the best performance he can given the silly material. He's a likeable character thanks to Shalhub and his more serious and grounded personality helps keep the film from completely falling off the rails. The other stand out is Matthew Lillard but for the opposite reasons. He's a little too over the top with his performance, giving the film far too many lame attempts at humor throughout. Also Shannon Elizabeth is in it...yep she's about the same as she always is. The biggest star in the film is F. Murray Abraham but he is really phoning it in and doesn't play a very interesting or memorable villain.
Where the film excels most is in its visual effects and production design and really made it stand out back in 2001. The house is completely ridiculous and doesn't make any sense, but it's a great setting and is used in one of the best death scenes in a horror movie. It's simply a unique setting that I've never seen in a movie since, which is likely considered a good thing to most folks but I like these bat shit insane horror settings. The titular ghosts are also each unique and one is never similar to another. It's some of the best makeup and practical effects of the millennium era of horror and if you take anything away from '13 Ghosts' it's going to be them.
The movie is kind of lacking some real bite however, despite the film obviously going for a harder tone and look. It's pretty lacking in gore for the era as well and the ghosts despite their cool designs and creepy presence don't seem to really get a lot of time to attack and haunt our protagonists. The villain's ultimate goal is really convoluted and paper thin and like our ghosts barely makes an appearance. So sadly we're left with Tony Shalhub trying to do his best while Matthew Lillard hams it up and when you're less subtle than Chris Kattan that's something.
So why am I recommending '13 Ghosts' despite these big issues? Well like I previously mentioned it's got a great atmosphere for Halloween and while not my first choice, it's definitely one I'd put on my marathon list every year. If you go into it with the mindset of just having fun or even just to have something spooky in the background of your Halloween get together I'm sure you'll have some fun with it.
3/5
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