Originally Posted by ArgentoFan1987  Thir13en Ghosts
This is a film I had been wanting to see as a teenager, having been quite fond of the Wiliam Castle film form the 60's.
It starts off with a ghost hunter, Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham) and his reluctant assistant, Dennis, played by Matthew Lillard (who, when touching people, can also view their past, while simultaneously going into seizure mode) who are trying to catch a 12th ghost called Juggernaught at a junk site.
When the ghost hunter dies, he offers his incredible house to his recently widowed, estranged nephew, Arthur (Tony Shalhoub) and his family, in what seems to be a too-good-to-be-true offer.
Once shown the incredible, elaborate house by the uncle's lawyer, they meet the aforementioned crazy, ghost hunting assistant, who is disguised as an electrician. After having a bit of fun exploring the vast, maze-like mansion, Dennis tries to warn Arthur about the hauntings going on in the house, against the lawyer's wishes. Then shit gets real!!!
First: The negatives.
The story of this film is both simple and complicated. It's straightforward, yet leaves giant gaps in the backstories of characters. It builds up a lot of stories, yet becomes really vague.
Now for the film's biggest flaw... The editing. The cutting is done so quickly and with so many strobe lighting effects, I strongly recommend anyone with epilepsy or any condition that is sensitive to frequent flashing, not to view this film. The insane speed of the editing almost made me nauseous.
They also start off by giving some backstory to the 12 ghosts but is left pretty vague.
Now on to the Positives... and it's a big one!
Matthew Lillard! He steals this film. He is so insane and theatrically chews up the scenery in every second of the film he appears. He is by far the best part of this film and the main reason I can see myself watching this film many more times in the future.
The production values are great. Both the look and feel of the house are incredible. The look of the 12 ghosts are also really good, unfortunately, the crappy editing doesn't give us much of a chance to see any of them.
Overall, it's not the best directed film, it's horrifically edited, but Lillard turns a 5/10 film into a 6.5/10. |