Reviews: Thir13en Ghosts (2001) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy
Subgenres: Haunted House, Cursed, Haunted House - Inherited
Thir13en Ghosts (2001) shocked audiences with its ending. Our spoiler-free review explains the scares, themes, and what makes this film unforgettable.
Thir13en Ghosts (2001) is a 1h 31-min rated R Canadian-American horror film that was shot in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada; The Bridge Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Thir13en Ghosts is a remake of 13 Ghosts (1960) by William Castle and follows the remake of House on Haunted Hill. First-time director Steve Beck (Ghost Ship (2002)) did an excellent job executing his first horror movie that contains a few scares, sitting on the edge of your seat moments, frightening scenes, tension, suspense and great sets. The movie did have a few flaws and was not a complete horrifying film as it was silly at times.
Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham - The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Amadeus (1984), Scarface (1983), Last Action Hero (1993)) is a ghost hunter. Cyrus and his assistant Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard - Scooby-Doo (2002), She’s All That (1999), SLC Punk! (1998)) who is a psychic goes on a mission for a few others to find/capture a spirit named Juggernaut. Juggernaut (John DeSantis - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The 13th Warrior (1999), Seventh Son (2014), The New Addams Family (1998-1999)) was caught after several people died including Cyrus.
Cyrus’s nephew Arthur (Tony Shalhoub - Monk (2002-2009), Men in Black (1997), Wings (1991-1997), Cars (2006)) who is a financially insecure widower has inherited his (Cyrus) mansion. Arthur and his children Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth - American Pie (1999), Love Actually (2003)) and Bobby (Alec Roberts - Traffic (2000), ER (2001)) moves to the mansion along with their nanny Maggie. Dennis pretends to be a company power inspector so that he can see the mansion from the inside and was amazed to see the glass sheets inscribed with Latin phrases. Dennis later discovers that Cyrus imprisoned the twelve angry ghosts in his mansion/house, but the ghost cannot escape because of the spell he cast on them.
Benjamin Moss (JR Bourne - Teen Wolf (2011-2017), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Brake (2012)) tries to steal a valise of cash and unknowingly sets off a mechanism that started releasing the ghost one at a time while the house sealed itself. The movie escalates into being something fantastic as the jackal is released leaving everyone fearing for their life. Horror fans who have not seen this movie should do so because it was an incredible movie from a newcomer that did better than most established directors. The makeup could have been better was well as the sets, characters, scares, cinematography and special effects but all in all, it was an enjoyable movie.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Thir13en Ghosts Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 4.38/10
- IMDB: 5.6/10
- MetaCritic: 3.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 1.9/10
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