Guilty Pleasure: Thir13en Ghosts

On paper, you might think an early 2000's ghost movie starring Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, and Matthew Lillard would be a stinker.  And you might not be wrong.  

The plot makes sense, as long as you don't think about it too long.  A rich guy collects ghosts because reasons but dies trying to capture one.  He leaves his entire fortune to his financially struggling extended family who has never met him.   That fortune includes an incredible house that since we have to have a movie the family decides to move into rather than just sell it to pay off their debts.  The house is full of the ghosts the rich guy has collected, including the dead wife of our main character because emotional impact.  The house is evil and will let someone see into the future somehow if Shalhoub kills himself but first he gets saved by a mystery woman who turns out is trying to trick him into killing himself.  Then there's other twists and the house explodes.  Oh and did I mention that they can see the ghosts if they wear special glasses?

I love this movie.

Love it.

For all its faults, this is a really fun movie.  The mansion sets are visually interesting with glass walls inscribed with ancient spells, purportedly meant to control the ghosts.  They add depth and texture to the background of the scenes while simultaneously offering no privacy for a family to actually live in.

When the ghost attacks really take off, the house feels claustrophobic in just the right way.  The family is trapped and has to use their wits to survive.  You end up caring about these characters regardless of the thin plot.

This film was made before the total take-over of digital filmmaking so many of the effects are practical effects with some really excellent character designs and make-ups on the ghosts.  There are some unique kills including a character getting cut in half by a glass door such that his front half slides down revealing the innards of his back half.

As cheesy as the ghost glasses are, they allow us to only see the ghosts sometimes, heightening suspense and leading to cool scenes where characters are blandly going about their business unaware that there are gruesome ghosts inches from them.

This is one of my go-to Halloween season films.  It's light, but tonally and visually it really gets me into the Halloween spirit.