Thirteen Ghosts and Horror Fans Love of “Bad” Movies

Just a note I know it’s meant to be Thir13ten Ghosts, but that is terrible and I refuse.

So, if you aren’t a genre fan you may or may not be aware but there is this thing among horror fans in which we sort of love some objectively bad horror movies. We won’t defend their quality per se, but we will defend the movie itself. Often on the merits of “even though it’s bad it’s entertaining.” It’s “so bad it’s good” is a huge thing in the horror community. There are number of these that are broadly accepted by a big chunk of other community members, and then individual picks. At this point it’s turning into a broken record but I will defend Jason X to anybody who will listen, while other genre fans point it out as a particular low, even from the “so bad it’s good” perspective. One that I find more people seem to agree on than disagree is 2001’s Thirteen Ghosts. I feel like it’s a great movie to explain why it is that horror fans can see beyond the bad parts of something and into what is still truly enjoyable about a movie.

So first let’s get into Thirteen Ghosts itself and what makes it a bad movie but also a beloved one. There are a lot of good things actually happening with this movie, it’s just bogged down in… everything else. A brief overview if you don’t know.

Thirteen Ghosts is a remake of a 1960s horror film. In broad strokes, it is a haunted house movie where ghosts are trapped in a house and the living are tricked into going into the house with them. In the case of the 2001 version struggling widower Arthur (Tony Shalhoub) inherits a house from his uncle Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham). The family goes to the house and meet Rafkin (Matthew Lillard) only for one of his children to go missing and them to basically get trapped in the house as the formerly contained ghosts start to release and threaten the family.

The house itself is a machine and the ghosts power it so that it can be used to gain all the knowledge of the world, riches, fame, etc. It’s an okay plot that is bogged down by a lot of iffy details and not the best pacing or story structure. And yet there are still good things happening.

I mentioned three already stellar cast members and frankly this movie has a pretty amazing cast overall, who actually do a good job with their various roles. The problem is the writing and details of those roles. F. Murray Abraham, a truly genius actor, and is not really responsible for the iffy nature of some of Cyrus’ lines and delivers case in point. Matthew Lillard is actually a powerhouse in this movie, he is just surrounded by a script that make it a struggle for some people to truly appreciate it.

The Black Zodiac (the ghosts) are the most compelling part of this movie. They are interesting, scary, and extremely well done with costuming and make up. It is one of those things that is nearly universally accepted by most genre fans that The Black Zodiac deserves more. I am one of many people who have said we need a series with each episode dedicated to each of the ghosts, and I have yet to meet a horror fan that disagrees. I am sure they exist, but they are wrong. (this is a joke).

And despite where the script lacks there is a great deal of humor and some actually really good moments. There is a certain death that is a set up for a pun that happens I believe 10 minuets later. This is something I truly respect. Also Rafkin’s character is amazing. He can see the future and specifically people's deaths by touching them which creates just a heartbreaking character. He doesn’t want to be touched and isolates himself, but is also desperate for human connection. His willingness to give complete loyalty to those that show him even the smallest amount of kindness is heartbreaking. It is some of the best character development, acted so well, just plopped in the middle of an otherwise just okay movie.

And that’s where we get into the bad. The director, over uses flashes and jump cuts to the point that they lose their effectiveness and get pretty stale. Other than the stand out of Rafkin and a bit with Arthur the characters are a bit one dimensional. The actors do a good job, but they are limited by what they are given as I said earlier.

A lot of the important plot points simply don’t land. There are big reveals that feel much flatter than they should because the script doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. It’s like they mapped important and specific plot points then kind of got a bit lazy with the rest of it. It creates an unbalanced script that isn’t truly capable of making those big moments shine.

And for as good as The Black Zodiac is in terms of design, a lot of them aren’t well used. It is a movie and there are a lot of ghosts so you can only do so much, but brief looks at a few of them just isn’t enough.

It can also be overly cheesy. I will never get over just how bad the scenes with Shannon Elizabeth in the bathroom are and the cheese is not isolated to that moment.

So why do so many horror fans love it so much? As I said there are pieces of this movie that are really good. It can not be stressed enough that the ghost designs are amazing. And they are basically the key to really selling the horror so when they are well utilized it works. I could watch the movie just to see them over and over. The Jackal is genuinely scary and if it weren’t for all the jump cuts the attack scene involving her would be rock solid.

And despite the missteps and how flat the script feels there are solidly entertaining moments. Again Rafkin’s character does a lot of work in dragging an only sort of okay script over the finish line and it’s not hard to root for Arthur. Of all the things this movie does wrong and all the reasons to be like “yeah it just doesn’t come together to make a good movie” the pockets are good make a lot of people want to come back.

And it’s also just that type of weird entertaining that horror fans can really get into. I think fans of musical are much the same. There is something compelling about watching something that is bad but in a way that keeps you engaged, whether you truly understand why you are or not.

And Thirteen Ghosts might be one of the best examples of this in the entire genre. You want to watch the ghosts. You want to see more of certain characters. It’s one of those movies that for all it’s flaws you can’t look away and some of it’s flaws even enhance the experience. You are left with something more silly than scary but enjoyable none the less.

And there are so many horror movies like this. Deep Blue Sea can be outright ridiculous at times and it’s a more entertaining movie for it. Slasher franchises are well known for becoming formulaic and boring and the best answer to that seems to be giving you just a bonkers entry that makes you say “what?” (Hellworld, Jason X, and this won’t be a popular take but Halloween Resurrection)

There is something sort of oddly beautiful about horror movies leaning into camp and absurdity and ridiculousness and not creating something good, but creating something that their core audience is like “hell yeah, that was fun.” Even if they are sometimes laughing at it more than with (it’s why I included Halloween Resurrection in my examples).

And I think that’s where horror being a genre of the absurd really allows for this. It allows for straight horror comedies (I wrote about this before (link)). But it also allows for embracing the oddball nature of things and just creating something that looks like a mess overall but truly brings people joy. There is something sort of comforting to taking the bizarre and horrific and sometimes presenting it in just a silly, not great, but fun way.

Thirteen Ghosts is honestly one of my favorite movies. I won’t put it on most, or even possibly any “top” lists. It’s just not a good movie. But I will watch it over and over and enjoy it every time. A comfort movie. And I will be endlessly impressed by the things it does so exceptionally well, even if surrounded by a script that somewhat drags down the best parts of it.

I love “bad” horror movies like that. I’m glad we have them. And if they entertain us and bring us joy, can you even truly call them bad?