From the same people who brought you the remake of William Castle's The House on Haunted Hill comes another Castle (via the Dark Castle production company) remake, 13 Ghosts (or Thir13en Ghosts as an alternate spelling). The remake for the year 2001 is directed by Steve Beck and produced a consortium including Joel Silver, Dan Cracchiolo, Gil Adler and Robert Zemeckis (a lot of the same characters from THOHH).
Since, at the time of this writing, the film in still very new, I won't give away any plot details except that the story is significantly different from the 1960 original so as to be it's own film. Even though the remake doesn't have a "gimmick" like Bill Castle was famous for, now the 21st century where (hopefully) we don't have to rely on them.. too much.
I went and saw this on the day after opening, on October 26, knowing full well that it was going to be a sucky, sucky remake. Popcorn buttered and soft-drink slurping, I waited for the film to start without a doubt that it would be an awful pile.
It was not.
Okay, so it's not The Matrix caliber, but it's got Matthew Lillard in it, so that automatically makes it a cut above. The set where most of the story is told (one of the main characters' houses) is just awesome to look at. While the effect themselves aren't too scary along, they are coupled with some really great cinematography and sharp cut scenes that will make you jump, along with some of the ghosts which are just plain disturbing.
*** possible spoilers ahead ***
One of my favorite aspect of this movie wasn't anything to do with the effects though. It was that expored both science and magic in regard to the ghosts unlike so many films which are either one or the other -- 13 Ghosts showed them as two sides of the same coin.
I'm a nitpicker and I couldn't find too much wrong with this film (no wristwatches on cavemen as it were), though I was sort of annoyed at the nanny/housekeeper portrayal in what I felt was a mid-1960's cliche style. I was also annoyed that Matthew Lillards' character was killed off, but I felt better about that when he comes back and helps "save the day".
As for wants, I wanted this film to be longer. I wanted to know more about some of the more eccentric characters and I would have liked the details of "the machine" to be gone into with more depth, along with the ghosts themselves -- e.g. their individual significance and motivations, etc.
All in all I have to give 13 Ghosts 47 out of a possible 65 Buick Hubcaps. I would have given it 48 but my popcorn had too much salt on it.
"Ah! I hate that! They wait till you've got your face right up against the glass and then they give you a big old BOO!" -- Rafkin (Matthew Lillard)