Thir13en Ghosts
Release Date:
October 26, 2001
13 Ghosts is a Halloween horror film release. It's a remake of the 1960 classic which tells the story of the bankrupt nephew of a recently-deceased doctor who has been left a (haunted) house in the will. Somewhere in this residence is buried a treasure that many parties are attempting to claim for themselves. One lucky individual will become rich beyond his or her wildest dreams, while several of the other questers will be brutally slain by the mystical forces that possess the house. While the film does bear more than a passing surface similarity to House on Haunted Hill, the first Castle film remade by this studio, the storylines play out in markedly different fashions.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the name, legendary director William Castle was one of the greatest showman the movie industry has ever seen. He became famous for enhancing the screenings of his movies with gimmicks. The original version of 13 Ghosts came with one of his most famous devices, special glasses which allowed the viewer to see the ghosts, who were otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Dark Castle, the studio his daughter created in order to remake his films, is planning a similar gimmick with the release of the remake. In a crowded marketplace, where virtually every new horror release looks the same, this sort of enhancement could possibly capture the attention of the unpredictable teen market. There hasn't been a 3D film released in several years, so it will be this generation's first encounter with the device.
As with most horror releases, the stars of the film are not the central selling point, but this cast is comprised of several excellent thespians, such as F. Murray Abraham, Tony Shalhoub and Embeth Davidtz. In addition, there is the standard group of pretty young faces, which is here comprised of Shannon Elizabeth, Matthew Lillard and up-and-coming female rap star Rah Digga. This will be the popular Digga's first major film role, and could be a wild card in the movie's box office success. Her presence adds an otherwise-lacking cool quotient to the product.
Like any film of the genre, the appeal is impossible to gauge until we see the trailer, but below are the box-office performances of some recent horror films. If the trailer turns out to be good when it is released in approximately a month, we should use the upper boundary for listings. Otherwise, House on Haunted Hill numbers might be a best-case scenario. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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