I couldn’t wait to see this movie. Dark Castle has impressed me these days. 13 Ghosts is an excellent film. It is more or less dedicated to the simple minded for a few reasons that I disliked but overall, it is a good movie that does a good job combining 3D special effects with the mechanics of real scenes.
The story is pretty simple and not too original, yet interesting. What improves the situation is that the introduction is set in a junk yard, which has only been done in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and 4 if I remember correctly. It is a location that is very rarely used in horror movies but that creates an intense atmosphere. Then, the rest of the movie takes place in the mechanical house that impressed me greatly. This huge metal box is filled with gears, unbreakable glass, traps and many Latin symbols that represent a physical barrier for the ghosts who haut the home. Having read frequently on occult theories, I enjoyed the concept that makes much more sense than silver bullets, crucifix and others.
The twelve ghosts (we can count thirteen but two share the same entity) are each more obscure and menacing than the others. There is the young boy with an arrow through his head, the big man with big muscles, the crazy one with a baseball bat, a tiny mother with a huge son, a muzzled man, an old lady, an old man, a decapitated body, a suicidal woman, a burnt woman, a gagged woman and finally a woman with a broken heart. However, they create a weird noise; a mix of blade and wind that I must have heard thirty times. It quickly becomes annoying.
The ending is dreadful. Once more, love has saved the innocent. It is amazing what love can achieve; it can even ruin a movie.
|