13 Ghosts ★★ 2001 (R) Another attempt to meld humor and horror in a William Castle remake ala "House on Haunted Hill" misfires in this flashy screamfest. Arthur (Shalhoub) inherits a weird glass mansion from his shadowy Uncle Cyrus (Abraham). He moves into the house with his kids Kathy (Elizabeth) and Bobby (Roberts) and their nanny Maggie (Digga). Along for kicks is spastic psychic Rafkin (Lillard), which is good, because the mansion ends up being a gigantic infernal contraption powered by ghosts complete with whirling gears and sliding glass panels that attack the inhabitants. It seems that crazy Uncle Cyrus built the house to open the Eye of Hell and it's up to Arthur to stop it. The special effects are above average, but the plot is clearly not. 91m/C VHS, DVD, Wide. US Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Alec Roberts, Rah Digga, JR Bourne, F. Murray Abraham;
Director:
Steve Beck;
Writer:
Richard D'Ovidio, Neal Marshall Stevens;
Writer:
Gale Tattersall;
Cameo:
John (Gianni) Frizzell.
