YMMV / Thir13en Ghosts

• Alternative Character Interpretation: While the most infamous of the ghosts are horrifying and bloodthirsty, like The Jackal and The Hammer, most of the ghosts are more up to interpretation.
• Better on DVD: The featurette explaining the ghosts' backstories is often considered to be better than the movie.
• Complete Monster: Cyrus Kriticos is a multimillionaire occultist and ghost hunter who desires nothing less than omnipotence and is responsible, in one way or another, for all the deaths in the film. He uses his wealth to construct the Ocularis Infernum (The Eye of Hell), a huge mechanical device originally designed in the 15th century that will give its bearer infinite power. He captures 12 tormented spirits, whom he traps in the basement of his mansion to drain their souls and fuel the engine. He then lures the family of his nephew Arthur Kriticos to the house in the hopes that Arthur will die and become the 13th ghost to complete the ritual, arranging this by kidnapping Arthur's two children and putting them in a death trap so Arthur will sacrifice himself in a futile attempt to save them. When Cyrus's lover Kalina, who initially worked as a spy for him and helped him to manipulate Arthur, balks at killing the children too, Cyrus has her crushed between two glass walls, sneering that she lacks the will to achieve greatness.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Dennis is commonly regarded as the best part of the movie, primarily for Matthew Lillard's lively performance and being the Only Sane Man in a house full of idiots. Some fans wish that he had been the film’s protagonist instead of Arthur. Most viewers also wish he was the Sole Survivor of the movie. Or that he at least survived the movie.
• Ethnic Scrappy: Maggie. Primarily on account of being an incredibly unfunny depiction of every Sassy Black Woman stereotype known to man.
• Epileptic Trees: It's often argued in discussions of the movie that the Thirteenth Ghost was actually not Arthur but Dennis, considering his final act in the film was a Heroic Sacrifice to protect Arthur from the Juggernaut so he can save his kids. This could also apply considering when Arthur sees his ghost, he's shown to be at peace and tranquil, arguably now due to his being free from his abilities.
• Heartwarming Moments: Jean, appearing as she did in life to say good-bye to her husband and children before her soul moves on.
  • In an odd way, the rest of the ghosts walking away from the house where they've been imprisoned for so long. Especially since some of them were victims themselves in life, and only became malicious due to being enslaved by Cyrus.
    • The Dire Mother can be seen taking her son's hand and leading him as they walk off together.
    • The Jackal stops in the middle of the lawn and throws back his head in a triumphant yell, finally being free for the first time in many years (and no longer able to hurt others).
• Moral Event Horizon: Cyrus is plain evil and crazy from the start, however he really goes off when he wants Arthur's kids dead.
  • Also the case for some of the ghosts and the people in their backstories.
    • The Jackal was a serial rapist and murderer.
    • The Juggernaut went off the deep end and horrifically murdered hitchhikers after going insane.
    • Nathan, a man who falsely accused George Markley (The Hammer), an honest, hard-working man of theft, then led his gang in murdering George's wife and children.
    • The townsfolk in the story of Isabella Smith (The Pilgrimess) ostracized her, then accused her of witchcraft and sentenced her to die an agonizing death in the stocks. Particularly the town preacher, who was the first to accuse her (and whose illness spurned her persecution).
    • The Bound Woman's boyfriend, Chet, killed her and her new lover after he caught them together at the Senior Prom (and showed no remorse for his actions whatsoever).
    • The freaks in the circus that Margaret and Herald (the Dire Mother and Great Child) worked for. Jimbo the carnival barker takes the cake, however: he not only allowed Margaret and Herald to be abused, but ordered Herald to be torn to shreds after he went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, even though he was mentally handicapped and was defending his mother.
• Retroactive Recognition: Mr. Monk Inherits a Haunted House... and his wife still died tragically!
  • And Shaggy has psychic powers!
    • Which makes things a bit Hilarious in Hindsight when you think about it, considering he went from portraying one character getting mixed up with ghosts to one of the best known fictional characters for doing so (whether they be real or not).
  • There was also a show called The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which also counts as Hilarious in Hindsight.
  • The Listener is the Torn Prince!
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus among the few who actually saw the movie is that there were a lot of good ideas, like the costuming and set design, but it was all bogged down by an awkward script and really bad editing.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The titular ghosts. Despite being the namesake of the movie who are central to the plot and the only draw of the movie, they get little screen time and their intriguing back stories are All in the Manual. Most of the ghosts in fact only get a few minutes of screen time and don't actually do anything during the entire movie, while the more prominent ghosts like The Juggernaut get little more than that. Then in a horror movie where these ghosts are built up as such tremendous threats, after the opening scene with The Juggernaut, the only characters directly killed by the ghosts were Dennis and Cyrus, with Moss killed indirectly after backing away from The Angry Princess into the door, and there's only a few scenes where a ghost actually directly attacked someone. You would figure in a movie like this at least a few Red Shirts would be thrown in to show what the ghosts could do and why the characters should be so wary of them.
  • The Jackal at least was portrayed terrifyingly, and had one of the most screen time out of all the ghosts.
• The Woobie:
  • Arthur and his family, especially his poor wife Jean, stuck for years as the Withered Lover.
  • The Dire Mother. A little person who was tormented and abused her entire life, eventually being raped and getting pregnant from it. Small wonder she doted on her son: he was the only person she had.
  • Also Dennis. His powers make his life a living hell.
  • The First Born Son; poor kid just wanted to play cowboys with a friend and got an arrow through the head for his trouble. Despite being incredibly creepy, he's also one of the non-malicious ghosts.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • The Torn Prince and the Pilgrimess, who became jerks after death (for obvious reasons), and the Angry Princess and the Bound Woman, who were both tragic victims.
    • The Hammer was falsely accused of a crime and his accuser murders his family when he refuses to declare his non-existent guilt. His understandable attempt at retribution for his family's deaths sees him receive a horrible and painful Ironic Death. He helps the Juggernaut kill Dennis.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Even critics who didn't like the film (like Roger Ebert) agreed that the production design for the house and the machinery within it was fantastic.

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