Gory, loud, and epileptic - just what you're looking for on a cold, dark Halloween weekend, but not necessarily the formula for great cinema. Sadly, that sums up 13 Ghosts, Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis' second collaborative remake (after 1999's House on Haunted Hill) of a William Castle film. Despite fierce competition from other releases, the film should find a temporary cushy spot in the box office through sheer popular appeal, but the razzle-dazzle of the set design and special effects will not survive a winter crowd looking for Oscar contenders.
13 Ghosts is the story of a wounded family, shaken by the tragic loss of their mother and wife, that inherits a fortune from an eccentric uncle. Uncle Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham, Finding Forrester) comes to a gruesome death while hunting wraiths - the tormented souls left on earth. Death, it seems, is only the beginning of Cyrus' wicked legacy. Included in his fortune is a splendid mansion made of glass, a haunting monolith of sliding doors, hidden rooms, and 12 very dark secrets trapped in the basement.
The deal reeks of foul play, but Arthur (Tony Shalhoub, Galaxy Quest) is days away from eviction and decides to take the family (and its maid) to visit the new home. Before Arthur can sign the contracts for the house, they get an unexpected visit from one of Cyrus' wraith hunters. Rafkin (Matthew Lillard, Scream), a psychic with a specialty in sensing the dead, warns the family that something evil lurks within the house. Before Arthur can decide whether to believe in the story or not, the building seals itself up, and the struggle to escape beings.
The ghosts who wait anxiously in the basement cannot be seen by the prisoners' naked eyes. To view them, the prisoners must wear special glasses that have been left throughout the house, keeping true to the original 1960 version in which characters also wore special goggles. The transitions from the real world to the ghost world are schizophrenic, a feeling that benefits this type of movie. The camera work in this film is masterfully done. A scene with Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) in the bathroom, surrounded by blood stained walls that she can't see, is just one example.
Yet excessive use of jittery camera motion and changes in viewpoints can, at times, make the movie hard to watch. This fault more likely lies in the hands of itchy-fingered editors than Gale Tattersall, the film's cinematographer. Tattersall is currently working on the TV series C.S.I., and has worked on other fast paced movies such as Virtuosity and Tank Girl.
Just as the goggles become sporty glasses, everything in the remake has been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. The lawyer that presents the contracts to Arthur is more than just a lawyer, he's an evil lawyer. And Cyrus and Rafkin weren't really hunting ghosts, they were hunting PKG remnants of the tragically deceased. The house is fully automated and the ghosts are slowly released into the house one-by-one as the walls begin to shift.
Despite the modernization, the plot relies on some very basic concepts of classic horror film - storytelling. Characters must die in the first five minutes. At some point, the head of the team must tell the group to split up in order to search for someone or something. Spirits and the "dark arts" can be accepted as truths, so long as they come out of a book by some 15th century dead guy. Finally, and this is only for respectable horror films, at least one character must die in a gruesome way never before seen on film. 13 Ghosts abides.
With a house full of soundproof glass walls, invisible villains, and cast members who are either talented or attractive, 13 Ghosts could've been a contender. What knocked it out was it's own inflated need to explain why everything is happening. It's a horror flick. People get killed by ghosts. There's no need to rationalize. The more complex the explanations for why things were happening, the more ludicrous the story becomes. Enduring champions of the genre - like Evil Dead 2 - and the classic Friday the 13th series, know that seriousness is the only true killer of a horror film.
13 Ghosts, Directed by Steve Beck, Starring Matthew Lillard and Tony Shalhoub, 3 stars
