Review - Thir13en Ghosts

Thir13en Ghosts - another movie with a number in the name . . .

Unfortunately for us movie viewers it is nowhere near as good as Se7en. Oh well, they can't all be gems, can they? Having said that Thir13en Ghosts was at least entertaining.

We begin our transparent journey with Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) and his trusty psychic sidekick, Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard) on their quest to trap a series of ghosts that Cyrus is "collecting". On this their last outing, Cyrus is killed and we flash forward to Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub sans the germaphobic tendencies) and his family being offered the keys to Cyrus' kingdom by Benjamin Moss (JR Bourne) - an evil looking lawyer type.

Once inside Cyrus' glass machine they find that although you can see through the walls of this fortress, there are things that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Thank goodness for all of the pairs of "ghostie glasses" that just happen to be left in like every room of the house. They come in very handy when running away from the things that go bump in the night.

And of course, the entire family gets separated, including big sister Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth), little brother Bobby (Alec Roberts) and nanny from the hood Maggie Bess (Rah Digga). As they all narrowly escape the hands of entrapped ghosts (well almost all of them do) they find out that Cyrus had one last trick up his sleeve . . . and it was a nasty one.

With twelve creepy looking ghosts (The First Born Son, The Torso, The Bound Woman, The Withered Lover, The Torn Prince, The Angry Princess, The Pilgrimess, The Great Child, The Dire Mother, The Hammer, The Jackal and The Juggernaut) each representing a member of the Black Zodiac and an almost decent plot line, Thir13en Ghosts just seems to miss its mark. It's too bad too because it had the potential to be really good but instead just ended up mediocre.

Still watchable - just nothing to write home about.

Thir13en Ghosts Movie Cast and Credits

Directed by
Steve Beck

Writing credits (WGA)
Robb White (story)


Neal Marshall Stevens (screenplay) and
Richard D'Ovidio (screenplay)


Cast (in credits order)
Tony Shalhoub .... Arthur Kriticos
Embeth Davidtz .... Kalina Oretzia
Matthew Lillard .... Dennis Rafkin
Shannon Elizabeth .... Kathy Kriticos
Alec Roberts .... Robert 'Bobby' Kriticos
JR Bourne .... Benjamin Moss
Rah Digga .... Maggie Bess
F. Murray Abraham .... Cyrus Kriticos
Matthew Harrison .... Damon
Jacob Rupp .... Cyrus' Assistant
Mike Crestejo .... Team Member
Aubrey Culp .... Team Member (as Aubrey Lee Culp)
Charles Andre .... Team Member
Mikhael Speidel .... Billy Michaels, The First Born Son
Daniel Wesley .... Jimmy 'The Gambler' Gambino, The Torso
Laura Mennell .... Susan LeGrow, The Bound Woman
Kathryn Anderson .... Jean Kriticos, The Withered Lover
Craig Olejnik .... Royce Clayton, The Torn Prince
Shawna Loyer .... Dana Newman, The Angry Princess
Xantha Radley .... Isabella Smith, The Pilgrimess
C. Ernst Harth .... Harold Shelburne, The Great Child
Laurie Soper .... Margaret Shelburne, The Dire Mother
Herbert Duncanson .... George Markley, The Hammer
Shayne Wyler .... Ryan Kuhn, The Jackal
John DeSantis .... Breaker Mahoney, The Juggernaut

More Reviews of Thir13en Ghosts

Thir13en Ghosts Official Site from Warner Brothers
Thir13en Ghosts Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database