Arthur and his two children, Kathy and Bobby, inherit his Uncle Cyrus's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to 12 ghosts. When the family, accompanied by Bobby's Nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine "designed by the devil and powered by the dead" to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by Dennis, a ghost hunter, and his rival Kalina, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.
A B-grade horror picture seems to be a B-grade horror picture no matter how many studio bucks and digital effects you throw at it.
– Carla Meyer,
San Francisco Chronicle,
26 Oct 2001
rotten:
Clever one-liners supplant the lack of frights with cackling -- which you might as well do since, by the end of the movie, it's clear that the joke's on you.
– Melanie McFarland,
Seattle Times,
26 Oct 2001
fresh:
A nicely nasty Halloween treat.
– Michael Atkinson,
Mr. Showbiz,
26 Oct 2001
fresh:
Beck maintains a satisfyingly high level of heebie-jeebies throughout.
– Joe Leydon,
Variety,
29 Oct 2001
rotten:
By any objective accounting, Thirteen Ghosts is exactly a baker's dozen too many -- this is a zero of a film.