Home :: DVD :: Horror  

Classic Horror & Monsters
Cult Classics
Frighteningly Funny
General
Series & Sequels
Slasher Flicks
Teen Terror
Television
Things That Go Bump
Thirteen Ghosts

Thirteen Ghosts

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 .. 25 >>

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I didnt like it..much
Review: It starts of with a weird guy using a psychic to capture ghosts. Sadly he dies. his relitives inherit his house, but in it are the 12 ghosts he has already captured. These ghosts are evil, and are roaming the house looking for things to kill. The people are trapped in house with ghosts.
Ok..I didnt like it..the old version of it was better, lamer and funnier.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tony Shalhoub was awsome. . .
Review: In this movie Tony Shalhoub did an awsome job at acting like a scared father for his kids. Shalhoub is mostly known for his roll in Monk, a tv series.
In 13 Ghosts a struggling father is trying to raise his kids right when his uncle dies in a mysterious accident. He inheirits his uncles house and while they are at the house checking it out they find out something else that is hidden behind the glass walls, which can only be seen through special glasses.
Great Flick. See it!!!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How Many Silica Grains Died to Make This Moovy...?
Review: ...only slightly better than the 60s classic "The Mask", (the Wm Castle like one, not the Carrey one) but that moovy had the thrill of 3D scenes which required green and red lensed shades to allow the melting eyeballs and floating skulls to have a truly frightening effect on the audience. This moovy goes for the gross-out. The lawyer 'gets it' the worst...Well, in my opinion, the viewer 'gets it', too. The loss of wallet content from the rental or purchase of this product.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What a House
Review: Arthur Kriticos is left to raise his two kids after his wife is killed in a fire. Being down on his luck he is suddenly visited by a lawyer informing him of a luxury home his has just inhered from an uncle. Arthur and his family move into their new home and discover that it contains an elaborate system of moving glass walls that have spells engraved on them to keep the ghosts trapped inside. The ghost can only be seen through special glasses and are soon loose within the house. The Kriticos family tries to escape but find themselves trapped and soon discover the house's secret.

The movie is a remake of William Castle's 1960 version.

The makeup of the ghost is good and the effects of the house are fantastic.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: One word to describe this movie - Horrible
Review: This movie is not worth watching. It's not scary, it has a dumb story line, and poor characters. The only good part was the look of the ghosts themselves. If someone took the ghosts in this movie and put them to another script, it would be much better. Lastly, the acting [stinks]! Rent, if you really want to see it -- buy, if you or a relative acted in this movie... because it might be the last one you/they are in.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sleek, stylish, neo-horror
Review: If you're a horror fan sick of the rush of "Scream"-style "horror," this should be a good time-killer. While not a great movie by any standard it is a dark, nihilistic, and at times a truly scary update of the late great William Castle's work. The special effects, make-up, and production design are all top-notch as the filmmakers show a real passion for chilling visuals and design, but cannot write a very good story (and certainly not dialogue), and the whole movie really falls apart in the last third. As far as big new horror movies go, you can't hope for a lot more- not bad.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WOW!!
Review: What a fun, scary, intelligent ride Thirteen Ghosts is! Though it starts off a little confusing as to what exactly the premise is, the movie explains it all in time and takes you on a rollercoaster ride of a excellent horror movie. Tony Shalhoub, from USA/ABC's Monk fame, plays the hero of this highly entertaining and sometime graphic film. He stars with Shannon Elizabeth and Matthew Lillard as they try to stop the ghosts and save their lives. Twelve ghosts have been captured by the evil Uncle Sirius, who has since died and left his evil house of horrors to his nephew, Shalhoub, and his family. The family gets to the house and the fun starts almost immediately as one by one the ghosts are let out of their cages and want revenge on anybody in anyway. And these ghosts mean business!! Thirteen Ghosts has the perfect mix of storyline and gore. Amazing that a horror movie could have both, but it works well and keeps you glued to your seat. You may find yourself closing your eyes a few times too, this is scary stuff. For the true horror fan, or those in need of a jolt, this movie is it!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Falls A Bit Short, But the House Is Fun
Review: There's nothing like a good ghost story to get the juices flowing, and not one that merely opens a creaky closet door and says, "Boo!" but one that grabs! you by the nape of the neck and commands your attention with a bona fide scare. Unfortunately, such films are few and far between, and though "Thir13en Ghosts," directed by Steve Beck, is perhaps not the "Grand Guignol" it aspires to be, it is nevertheless a valiant attempt and will do in a pinch. And it does have the added bonus of having something of a unique twist to it: Whereas most stories dealing with supernatural apparitions are the result of chance encounters or happenstance, even those set within the tried and true venue of the "haunted house," the spirits confronted here do not arise from accident, but by design. The burning question becomes, of course, by whose design and for what purpose? Ah, but therein lies our story, eh?

In the film's prologue, we are introduced to one Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham), a man of obvious wealth and means who has apparently made it his life's work to capture the disenfranchised spirits of those who have died a violent death, encasing them in holding cubes made of impenetrable glass. But before the opening credits have ended, Cyrus falls victim to one of his intended trophies, a particularly rambunctious soul who apparently doesn't take kindly to the idea of being kept in a cage.

Upon the passing of Cyrus Kriticos, his entire estate-- which is rather substantial-- is bequeathed to his nephew, Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub), a math teacher currently in the throes of some personal travails, who barely knew his uncle and had, in fact, only met him once or twice in his life. As often happens in life, however, it is from this least expected source that Arthur seemingly finds the solution to his problems, for his inheritance, which includes a rather unique mansion-- albeit in a remote area-- insures his solvency for the rest of his life. But upon entering this singular house left behind by Cyrus, Arthur's life and that of his family is about to change in ways he could never dream of, none of which are not good, and all of which have to do with something Cyrus left in the basement. And just like that, with the flapping of the butterfly's wings in China, a tidal wave is about to hit shore a continent away.

Working from a screenplay by Neal Stevens and Richard D'Ovidio (from a story by Robb White), Beck has crafted and delivered a less than compelling film that has it's moments, but relies primarily on the special F/X for the impact it's attempting to make. The film has it's moments, but to put it into perspective using the one hundred floor "Haunted House Spooky/scary" scale, it checks in on about the fiftieth floor, just a couple below "The House on Haunted Hill" (1999). "The Others" (2001), meanwhile, currently occupies the penthouse, while the dreary "The Haunting" (1999) is, and will forever languish in, the basement.

The ghosts here are disconcertingly gruesome, though some of them tend to be a bit over the top; a few of them appear to be the product of a mad designer who should have had his sketching crayon taken away from him sooner. A few less spikes, bolts, piercings and protrusions would have made them more convincing; as it is, they don't have enough "humanity" left in them to be credible as formerly living beings. It's a good case for the "less is more" theory, in fact. The real interest in this film is the house itself, which is perhaps the most unique design in the annals of the cinematic haunted house. With it's glass walls filled with Latin inscriptions and it's ability to alter itself into a claustrophobic maze at will, it is actually more jarring and shocking than the otherworldly denizens it houses in it's subterranean recesses. Arguably, it can be said that the house is, in point of fact, the star of the movie. And Beck does use it to good effect.

The real star, however, is Tony Shalhoub, as the unwary nephew, Arthur. Shalhoub has emerged as one of the finest character actors in the business, and even if the character he is playing is a rather straight forward, "normal" every day type, which is basically who Arthur is, nobody does it better. What makes him so good is that he has the ability and talent to make whatever character he's portraying believable and convincing, whether it's an alien in "Men In Black," a street prophet in "Life or Something Like it" or your run-of-the-mill generic math teacher. He works from the inside out, which gives his characters depth and nuance; deep down Shalhoub IS that person, before he-- whomever it is-- ever makes a physical appearance. And THAT is good acting.

After Shalhoub, however, there's nothing much of note here, performance wise. Abraham does a good turn as Cyrus, but his role is little more than a glorified cameo with little room for character development, and even though what he does is good, there's no getting around the fact that early on his Cyrus falls into stereotype.

Matthew Lillard does a quirky turn as Dennis, but looking at him for any length of time can be distracting; Shannon Elizabeth, as Arthur's daughter, Kathy, is too pert and perky to be effective, with a perpetual smile that would be more fitting in a toothpaste commercial or "Starship Troopers 2" than here; Embeth Davidtz (Kalina) is simply underused; young Alec Roberts (Bobby) is annoying; and making her acting debut, Rah Digga (better known as the "female" MC and only woman in Busta Rhymes' renowned Flip Mode Squad), as the nanny, Maggie, leaves a lot to be desired, which pretty much sums up "Thir13en Ghosts." This one, as they say, is close-- but no cigar. There's just not enough magic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Matthew Lillard alone is worth seeing this
Review: First of all, I have to say that I am not a fan of horror movies, BUT after I saw "Thir13en Ghosts" that kinda changed.

The cast was very good, especially Lillard, but...I hate that Juggernaut (and Hammer)! (You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.)

Believe me, this movie will freak you out. Don't make the mistake of watching it alone at night like I did. There are alot of frightening parts, so this is just ONE:
Arthur and Kathy are in the hall (Arthur ahead of her). Kathy stops and slowly puts on the glasses. The Jackal is RIGHT in front of her.

The music video by Tricky is extremely catchy. I just kept playing it over and over. At first, I didn't like the song, but I guess it just grew on me. I CAN'T STOP PLAYING IT! If you don't see the movie AT LEAST hear the song.

Overall, "Thir13en Ghosts" is great. Everyone should see it at least ONCE.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not horror, more like action efx comedy.
Review: If I told you the main characters consisted of a low-key father, a sexy young girl, a black woman with attitude and sass, and a bratty little kid with spunk, what do you think I would be describing? A new sitcom on NBC right? (cue the Sanford & Son theme)

Nope, it's actually another [bad] horror film(term used loosely) that stresses humor, mtv-style jittery camera effects, loud noises, and some really annoying characters. Too bad, cause the movie did have some good gory, bloody make-up efx and had a good gimmick with the 13 ghosts themselves. But I felt they were playing up to the teenage/Scream crowd rather than to true horror fans who wanted to be scared and shocked. Hard to be scared "in the moment" when metal or rap music is blaring through certain scenes(that's the director reminding you to "get that soundtrack!"). It ruins any atmosphere of dread completely and just seems condescending or manipulative. If you like the descriptions mentioned, a rental will do you. But people who actually liked to be scared or feel a sense of uneasiness will want to look elsewhere for your thrills. Despite the gore factor, this is as commercially watered-down horror for the masses as it gets cause its purpose is to feed us a sensory overload of music and gory images, not to set-up anything actually scary. And don't forget to pick up the soundtrack, cause the film sure as hell won't let you forget.


<< 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 .. 25 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates