Thir13en Ghosts
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| Thir13en Ghosts | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Steve Beck |
| Produced by | Dan Cracchiolo, Steve Richards |
| Written by | Robb White, Neal Marshall Stevens |
| Starring | Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, F. Murray Abraham |
| Distributed by | - USA - Warner Bros. - non-USA - Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 23, 2001 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Thir13en Ghosts (also known simply as Thirteen Ghosts or 13 Ghosts) is a 2001 horror film directed by Steve Beck. It is a remake of the 1960 film 13 Ghosts by William Castle. It follows the remake of another one of Castle's films, House on Haunted Hill.
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[edit] Plot
Following a house fire which claimed his wife, School Math teacher, Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub), his two children Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and Bobby (Alec Roberts), and babysitter/nanny Maggie (Rah Digga) are struggling to make ends meet. In a stroke of luck he inherits his uncle Cyrus's (played by F. Murray Abraham) mansion. The interior of the mansion was designed with movable glass walls inscribed in Latin. Despite the strangeness, the family is excited, until Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard), a neurotic psychic, who used to work for Cyrus, reveals that Arthur's uncle was a ghost hunter, and had imprisoned 12 spirits within the house. Arthur doesn't believe him until he witnesses a ghost attack his daughter, after the lawyer Ben Moss (JR Bourne), who accompanied them, triggers the mechanism which seals the house and releases the ghosts one at a time. Arthur and Dennis, armed with special glasses that enable them to see the ghosts, attempt to rescue his two children who have both mysteriously disappeared (both of their disappearances are never explained, but after some thinking, one can assume Cyrus snuck up on them and dragged them away)
Kalina Oretzia (Embeth Davidtz), is a spirit releaser who claims to have entered the house through an opening when it shifted. She saves Arthur and his daughter from the Jackal and informs him, Dennis, and Maggie about the ghosts, the house, and about the thirteenth ghost, who is a "failsafe" meant to stop the others.
Arthur learns that the house is in fact a machine, built for the sole purpose of opening the "Eye of Hell". Cyrus (who is still alive), and Kalina, (who turns out to be his partner [and possible lover]) intend for Arthur to sacrifice himself in order to save his family, which would make Arthur the thirteenth ghost and (instead of stopping the machine) bring his plan to fruition. However, Cyrus kills Kalina, by crushing her between two walls ("greatness requires sacrifices"), and when Arthur is about to sacrifice himself, Maggie (who, up till now, was unconscious because of Kalina) breaks part of the machine's inner workings, and the ghosts (except for The withered lover, Arthur's wife) turn on Cyrus, throwing him into a razor sharp gyro, slicing him apart. Arthur then is able to save his children, and all the ghosts leave, as the house is now open following an explosion (that shattered all the glass in the house), except for Arthur's wife, who stays to say goodbye to her family, looking beautiful again. Then the scene shifts back to Maggie, complaining that she's done with babysitting, in an uplifting and slightly humorous ending.
Tagline: Terror has multiplied/Misery Loves Company
[edit] The ghosts
The twelve ghosts which make up the Black Zodiac all have their own unique back story. Although these stories were not described in the film, on the DVD the production and make-up teams explain their guidelines. All the ghosts were contained in glass prisons, and were caught with the aid of the psychic Rafkin, who could locate them, and on the behalf of Cyrus.
1. The First Born Son (played by Mikhael Speidel)
The First Born Son is the ghost of a little boy called Billy Michaels, who was obsessed with cowboy films. Not heeding his parents' advice, he played Cowboys and Indians with a real bow and arrow. The arrow that killed him pierced through the back of the head, and remains with his ghost.
2. The Torso (played by Daniel Wesley)
The Torso is the ghost of a gambler called Jimmy Gambino. Losing everything in a boxing match, he tried to welch on his bet and escape. The mob, which he owed money to, caught up with Gambino and cut him into several pieces, wrapping them in cellophane and dumping the corpse into the ocean.
3. The Bound Woman (played by Laura Mennel)
The Bound Woman was a cheerleader named Susan LeGrow, who, after cheating on her boyfriend preceding a high school prom, was strangled by him, and was later found buried on the football field on the 50 yard line.
4. The Withered Lover (played by Kathryn Anderson)
The Withered Lover is Jean Kriticos, the wife of Arthur. She tried to save her children in the house fire that changed her family's lives, and though successful, she was burned severely. She was hospitalised, and died in the hospital from her wounds.
5. The Torn Prince (played by Craig Olejnik)
The Torn Prince is the ghost of Royce Clayton, who was a baseball star. He challenged a greaser to a drag race and was killed in the ensuing crash.
6. The Angry Princess (played by Shawna Loyer)
The Angry Princess is Dana Newman, who constantly tried achieving perfection with her looks, despite being naturally beautiful. She found a job with a cosmetic surgery clinic and accepted numerous cosmetic surgeries as payment. She gave up eventually after trying to perform cosmetic surgery on herself. She accidentally blinded herself in one eye and eventually gave up on her quest for perfection and made cut after cut after cut on her body until she died . When she was found, they said that she was as beautiful in life as she was in death. The movie seems to suggests that she killed herself for another reason (In the scene when she appears in the bathroom, you see the phrase "I'm sorry" on the floor in blood; subtitles also reveal that the blurred, hissing speech that announces her arrival is her whispering "I'm sorry"). "I'm sorry" might also be an expression of regret over having committed suicide in the first place, rather than an apology for something else.
7. The Pilgrimess (played by Xantha Radley)
The Pilgrimess is the ghost of Isabella Smith, an English woman who traveled across the Atlantic and settled in New England. She was a separatist, and this isolated her from the other townsfolk. She was found guilty of witchcraft, and sentenced to the stocks(pillory) with no food or drink till she died.
8. & 9. The Great Child and The Dire Mother (played by C. Ernst Harth and Laurie Soper)
The Dire Mother is the ghost of Margaret Shelburne, who was an attraction in a carnival due to her being only three feet tall. She was raped by the "tall man" and bore a child, Harold who weighed over 300 pounds (136 kg).
Harold was spoiled by his mother, who raised him to be her protector and to exact revenge on the other members of the carnival who kidnapped her as a joke. When he caught up with the culprits he found that his mother had accidentally suffocated to death by the bag that she was kept in. Harold, in rage, took an axe and killed the group of murderers. Later, when the owner of the carnival found out what Harold had done he ordered a mob of people to tear Harold apart.(He is the only ghost to not show the damage to his body in life. The reason for this may be: In the commentary, it was said that his death was caused by him choking on some food. Upon his death he fell on his mother and she couldn't lift him off of her, and that's what caused her suffocation. This would explain why he has food all over the front of him. Perhaps that was the backstory during filming, so that's what they designed his suit around. Then I expect they found his death not up to standards with the rest of the ghosts so they changed it for the dvd.)
10. The Hammer (played by Herbert Duncanson)
The Hammer is the ghost of a blacksmith, George Markley, who lived in a small town in the 1890s. He was threatened to be driven out of town after wrongfully being accused of stealing by a man named Nathan. Knowing he was innocent, he refused to leave and stayed in town. One day, George's wife and kids were on their way home from the market when Nathan and some of his friends attacked and brutally murdered them. Later Enraged, he tracked down the people responsible for killing his wife and kids and hammered them to death. The other townsfolk captured him, and they drove large nails into his body and cut off his hand, replacing it with his hammer.
11. The Jackal (played by Shayne Wyler)
The Jackal is Ryan Kuhn, a self-admitted mental patient during the early 20th century with a penchant for attacking women. The doctors at the hospital he was in weren't particularly good, simply locking him in a padded room. After years of imprisonment, he went completely insane and scratched at the walls so violently his fingernails were ripped completely off. The doctors permanently put him in a straitjacket, and when he chewed the straightjacket until he escaped, the doctors had a metal cage locked around his head. After years of this, he had grown deformed, and reviled human contact. He was the only victim of a fire that broke out in the asylum; he chose to stay behind and meet, what he believed, to be his deserved fate.
12. The Juggernaut (played by John DeSantis)
The Juggernaut was a serial killer named Horace "Breaker" Mahoney. Standing at seven feet tall, he towed broken-down motorists to his junkyard where he murdered them, tearing them apart with his bare hands. Being impossible to take on in close combat, his pursuers opted for the safer method, and brought him down in a hail of bullets.
[edit] Deaths
- Benjamin Moss: Moss is making fun of the Angry Princess when she was in her cell. Once the house started to release ghosts, she was the first to be released and was released right in front of Moss. Clearly ticked off by his taunts earlier, she walks towards him with her knife. He tries to get away from her but a sliding door splits his entire body and kills him.
- Dennis Rafkin: Rafkin is beaten by The Hammer, and repeatedly throw against a wall by The Juggernaut, who eventually kills him by snapping his spine against a girder.
- Kalina Oretzia: Oretzia is killed by Cyrus Kriticos after she gets crushed in between two walls.
- Cyrus Kriticos: Shredded by the Eye of Hell's spinning gyros after being thrown into it by the ghosts
[edit] Cast
For the cast of the individual ghosts, see above
- 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
