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13 Ghosts, sometimes Thir13n Ghosts, is a 2001 horror film where Cyrus Kriticalos tries to flee the 13 Ghosts kept by ancient glyphs in his glass mansion. Since the Ocularis Infernum would only open if the machine ran on the spirits, Cyrus had gathered all the ghosts to fulfill his aim. Their presence not only runs Cyrus's machine but also supplies electricity for the mansion.
Through their terrible pasts and deaths, all the ghosts are linked in a way that satisfies a particular set of criteria reflected in their names, such The Juggernaut and The Withered Lover. At first, Cyrus intended to drive Arthur to offer himself as the 13th ghost known as The Broken Heart. Only someone sacrificing themselves in a loving act can produce the 13th ghost; Arthur was ready to do for his family. Fortunately, he didn't need to; the whole Black Zodiac is released to wander free once more.
Billy Michaels, sometimes known as The First Born Son, became fixated on pop culture featuring Indigenous Peoples and cowboys. Any attempt to pull Billy away from his fantasy life would set off wrath, but it wouldn't shield him from a real arrow fired into his head by another lad during a poorly thought out duel.
Billy ended up bound to Earth and the youngster who killed him was sent to juvenile hall. Among the 13 Ghosts, Billy is a rather benign child ghost and among least dangerous. He does frighten them into the route of more ferocious demonic-like spirits.
The only person whose name exactly captures what he is: a dissected torso covered in cellophane. The Torso belonged to Jimmy Gambino, a compulsive gambler who was dying. He was also a bookie, but his own gaming kept him from distributing the "made man's" earnings to the mob. Goons dumped Jimmy's dead into the sea.
With a striking and distinctive design that he feels like something straight out of a modern horror film, the Torso is readily one of the most unsettling ghosts in the Black Zodiac. Released as the fourth ghost, The Torso arrived with muffled screaming as his head remained covered in cellophane.
Born Susan LeGrow, The Bound Woman grew up in luxury. Rich and popular cheerleader, she dated the school football team captain. That was until the captain had a terrible reaction after discovering Susan with another lad on prom night. With his own tie, he strangled Susan and bludgeoned his romantic competitor to death.
Susan is maybe the most tragic of all the ghosts; she is more terrifying than a real threat, like The First Born Son and the Torso. She looks terrible; her neck is mangled and scarred, and the tie used to kill her still hangs around her throat. Her hands are useless since they stay knotted behind her back.
Once the Kriticos family becomes imprisoned inside Cyrus's house of horrors, The Withered Lover poses no threat to them. She was Kathy and Bobby's mother, Jean Kriticalos, the wife of protagonist Arthur.
Jean perished in a house fire; the rest of her family escaped. She was never a vengeful spirit, and she was not among the ghosts that pursued Cyrus at last.
Late 1950s high school baseball star The Torn Prince explained the always-present baseball bat weapon he would gladly use to attack any of the living characters. Known as Royce Clayton in life, The Torn Prince lost control of his car in a horrific accident during a drag race.
He shouldn't blame himself though; his opponent had surreptitiously changed his brakes. Though not the most deadly of all the ghosts, his weapon clearly wrecks some damage. In the film, he is among the most aggressive ghosts.
Born Dana Newman, The Angry Princess was a quite beautiful woman but she couldn't be happy with her appearance. She sadly couldn be content with her appearance, see flaws others didn't, and keep trying to make her looks better by surgery.
Dana died by suicide after a self-administered but botched facial surgery left her deformed. In 13 Ghosts, Ben Moss (Jr Bourne) the slimy lawyer character pays for it after making a nasty remark about her naked ghostly appearance. He dies horribly for his uncaring comments, and she targets him first when she is freed because of his mocking of her appearance.
Named Isabella Smith, The Pilgrimess suffered during the late 1600s Salem witch trial frenzy over New England. Isabella was a local outcast accused of witchcraft; her reputation as evil grew even more when an attempted burning failed. The Pilgrimess was ultimately left to gradually starve in the stocks her ghost still locked.
Among the oldest ghosts caught in the mansion is hers. Of the thirteen ghosts, The Pilgrimess is the only one with bound arms. She is threatening; other than looking scary, there isn't really much she can do. She doesn't really interact with the living characters; she spends most of her time hunting them.
Margaret Shelburne was a woman with dwarfism who worked in an American Horror Story: Freak Show style carnival show. The tallest member of the freak troupe sexually assaulted her, producing her massive son Harold. Some of the other freaks later murdered Margaret, leading Harold to go crazy with an ax and kill most of them before he was killed by an angry mob.
These ghosts, especially The Great Child, are striking to behold, and among the most memorable since seeing an undead kid is chilling. While they were strikingly frightening, they were mostly only scary ghosts and did little to hurt anyone until they were finally freed and helped throw Cyrus into the rotating crest of rings, killing him.
The Hammer, born George Markley, wasn't a bad person. He worked as a blacksmith in a small town until he was falsely accused of theft by a white man, and his family was brutally murdered. In a grief-fueled rage, George took his trusty sledgehammer and bludgeoned their killers.
Of course, the townspeople blamed him and killed him by driving railroad spikes into his body. The entire death and return is reminiscent of Candyman, and the story told there. As he died in a terrible and violent manner, he is one of the angriest and most violent ghosts in the house.
The Jackal, born Ryan Kuhn in 1887, grew up to be a sick and twisted man. He is also one of the few of the 13 ghosts who was just as violent and sadistic before they became a spirit. Most of the ghosts' names and stories hint at a tragic past, but this isn't the case with The Jackal.
A vicious and compulsive sexual predator and killer, Ryan did actually seek help for his affliction, checking into an asylum. Before long, he had completely lost what was left of his mind. He eventually died and became one of the 13 Ghosts when the asylum burned down. This makes him a truly evil ghost of the group. He was, therefore, the one that presents the greatest danger to everyone in the mansion.
Horace "Breaker" Mahoney, aka The Juggernaut, is definitely the most dangerous out of all the ghosts. He can be considered almost a "final boss" of the Black Zodiac. A mountain of a man, Horace was a serial killer who would pick up hitchhikers or offer rides to the stranded, only to take them back to his junkyard and tear them apart with his bare hands. He'd then feed their bodies to his dogs.
The Juggernaut is the first ghost that 13 Ghosts introduces thanks to a flashback of Cyrus and Matthew Lillard's Dennis capturing him for the Ocularis Infernum machine. Along with The Hammer, The Juggernaut sadly decimates the friendly psychic character Dennis Rafkin. This action makes him the one ghost who did more damage to the living humans than any other in the horror movie.
The 13th ghost was supposed to be Arthur (Tony Shalhoub), at least according to Cyrus Kriticos' (F. Murray Abraham) master plan. By dying in the house, Arthur would have become The Broken Heart. This would activate Basileus's Machine, a device "designed by the devil and powered by the dead," the purpose of which was to grant Cyrus near-limitless power. However, Arthur survives.
While the 13th ghost in the Black Zodiac, The Broken Heart, never appears, the ghost of Dennis manifests after he's killed. This means that, technically, Matthew Lillard is the 13th ghost in 13 Ghosts. The movie does tease early on that Cyrus himself might be the 13th ghost but then pulls an almost M. Night Shyamalan-level twist. Cyrus fakes his own death and doesn't actually die until the film's climax, after which he doesn't come back as a ghost.
The 2001 13 Ghosts is a remake of a 1960 movie of the same name, but they're totally different, especially when it comes to the ghosts. The 1960 movie doesn't expand much on its titular ghosts and doesn't name the spirits in the house inherited by the Zorba family. They're also considerably less violent, both in terms of their actions and how they died.
There's no Black Zodiac in the original 13 Ghosts, although Cyrus is both present and the protagonist. The 12 ghosts in the remake also need someone to die in the house and create a 13th to free themselves. The inspiration this gave for the 2001 movie is obvious. However, that's effectively where the similarities end.
13 Ghosts is a cult gem of a 2000s horror movie, and its Black Zodiac of 13 ghost characters has gained a lot more attention in the age of streaming. The early 2020s have seen great success with horror reboots. These endeavors have proven successful, seeing great box office returns, and 13 Ghosts could follow suit. Despite being a box office failure, 13 Ghosts has garnered quite a cult following over the years, making it a unique entry into the horror genre at large.
There simply wasn't a market for a movie like 13 Ghosts in the early 00s, but this very much isn't the case in the 2020s when audiences are eager for fresh and interesting concepts in their horror content. The production design in 13 Ghosts was ahead of its time and all 13 ghosts were horrifying to behold. 13 Ghosts deserves its resurgence in popularity, and the flexibility of the age of streaming feels like the perfect time to explore 13 Ghosts in a dedicated project.
Dark Castle Entertainment may be resurrecting 13 Ghosts with the specific intent of exploring the names and stories of the 13 Ghosts. As reported by DreadCentral in August 2023, Dark Castle Entertainment is developing a 13 Ghosts TV series. The show will be written and developed by Patrick Mediate (Primordial Pictures) and Aaron McLane (Fear the Walking Dead).
"It had always been clear to us that there was so much to be explored in the backgrounds of the ghosts so it’s only natural that we created each episode to explore and examine their origin stories, personalities, plights, and fates," Mediate said.
"These stories act as through-lines that intertwine with the mysterious legacy of Cyrus Kriticos and his present extended family, who have just become caretakers of the Kriticos Compound."
It's expected the TV series will take an almost anthology-like approach with each episode dedicated to the story of a different ghost from the 13 Ghosts original film.
When the movie was released, it received mostly negative reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes rating is a very low 19% rotten. The main complaints were the acting, the characters, and the story lacked substance. However, even the bad reviews pointed out the great production values and the incredible design of the ghosts. While the living characters left something to be desired, the ghosts received praise.
The 13 Ghosts backstories aren't what critics praised, but the look and design of the ghosts based on the backstories helped raise the movie above contemporaries at the time. Several similar movies were released in the early 2000s. Films like Ghost Ship and Gothika received poor reviews. Neither have the same cult following as Thirteen Ghosts. That is because, even with a lackluster story and acting, the design work here is enough for the movie to maintain a loyal cult following over 20 years later.