Someone who lives in a glass house should not throw stones. However, in this movie someone who lives in a glass house should not go into the basement…because there are GHOSTS down there!!! In the 2001 remake of the 1960 William Castle classic a house is created to be a containment center for ghosts. A family then inherits this house from their dead uncle, whose life’s work was to build this house. The purpose of the ghosts is to power the ocularis infernum, a machine that can see into the future. The ghosts are not just random; they all have a purpose in a type of zodiac. Each of the ghosts must fit a certain description that relates to the powering of the ocularis infernum. The story of the movie is all right, but the thing that really makes this movie memorable is the makeup and special effects.
The ghosts in the movie are unbelievable. They are very scary. In the movie every ghost has a back-story. On the DVD there are bonus features that give a more in depth description of every ghost and where they came from. An example of one of theses ghosts is the Juggernaut. The Juggernaut is the zodiac name; the actual name of the ghost is different. This ghost that represents the Juggernaut was, in life, a guy that lured people back to a junkyard and killed them. One day when the Juggernaut picked up an undercover cop he met his end. The police emptied dozens of clips into his body before he finally died. The Juggernaut killed many police in the process. This is just one of the great stories that goes along with these ghosts.
The other great aspect of the movie is the way that the sets are created. The entire house is made of think panes of glass. On the glass panes are inscription that can only be seen while wearing special glasses. The inscriptions are containment spells that tell the ghosts what to do. The ghosts must follow these spells. There are rooms in the house that are specific to the ghosts. In one scene there is a gorgeous bathroom. One of the girls from the family that inherited the house sits down in the bathtub. The scene then flashes to a bathroom filled with blood and a girl cutting herself. The scene demonstrates that we are constantly in contact with the dead, even if we do not feel it. These people who are dead do not understand that they are dead. In this movie the line between the two worlds is blurred.
This movie is not the original and it should not be compared to it. This movie is it’s own movie and it should be taken for what it is. That is a great movie with a lot of cool looking ghosts and sets.
11/1/07
The Black Zodiac---THIR13EN GHOSTS
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2 comments:
You know, I remember this movie being terrible, but the points you made really are valid. The makeup makes each ghost really scary looking and it gives them their own personality. You can fear them all of different reasons. I guess I didn't like it the first (and only) time I saw it because the actor that played Stew in Scream was in it and I can't really see him as anything else than that goofy teen serial killer.
I actually really enjoyed this movie, and not just because I kept obsessing over the makeup, set design, etc. The makeup helped give each ghost personality, and the set helped set the mood. I really was impressed with the complexity of the set design and how much of a role it played in the movie- it was a character in its own right.
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