#238: Thirteen Ghosts

Release Date: October 26th, 2001

Format: Streaming (Tubi)

Written by: Richard D'Ovidio and Neal Marshall Stevens

Directed by: Steve Beck

2 Stars

Thirteen Ghosts has a fun concept (an eccentric ghost-hunting millionnaire creates an elaborate housing facility for the violent spirits he captures), some great production design and practical effects (the house and the ghosts look good), and a production budget you’d never find in a genre flick like this today ($41 million!). 

When you add to this director Steve Beck’s decision (and producer Joel Silver’s, I’m sure) to punch up the energy with strobe lighting and music stings at every twist and turn, it all culminates in Thirteen Ghosts being a very particular, almost charming artifact of early 2000s filmmaking.

I can’t say that I was scared, or even particularly engrossed by the movie, but I do see its appeal, which has gone on to gather a small cult following over the past two decades.