lionhead

4th Mar 2021

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Question: Why did it say "I'm sorry" on the bathroom floor?

Answer: It's the angry princess' suicide note.

lionhead

15th Apr 2019

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Question: Considering how varied their backstories were, it's hard to say how evil some were. Who is the most evil ghost?

Answer: The Jackal is bad, as a sadistic rapist and murderer, but he also recognized this in himself and had himself committed for treatment. When his asylum burned down, he intentionally chose to stay behind. I'd say the worst is the Juggernaut, an unrepentant serial killer.

LorgSkyegon

The Bound Woman wasn't much better. She never killed anyone, but she also was an abusive jerk who got killed by an ex. In the film she lures Bobby down where there is grave danger and she thinks it's funny, much to the chagrin of the wife of the family.

Answer: Well it's mentioned the jackal is the Charles Manson of the ghosts. I'd say that's he most evil one, probably the most angry one.

lionhead

How evil is the Great Child and Dire Mother? The first committed a massacre but was also trying to do the right thing and was severely handicapped; the latter helped raise her son horribly but also suffered from a lot of mental and emotional issues like PTSD it seems.

They aren't half as bad as the jackal. They are both estranged, traumatized, angry ghosts but not necessarily evil. These ghosts are together for the fact they have had bad experiences, either self made or happened to them, not because they are bad themselves. In order to understand it more there should be more information about the book and ritual they are involved in.

lionhead

What about the Juggernaut?

Well that one killed Dennis along with The Hammer. I'd say that one is pretty evil, also considering his history of being a serial killer before his death. Not as maniacal as the Jackal though.

lionhead

Good thing you mention the Hammer. I don't think he's really evil, misguided yea but he seems to be after the ones responsible for the evil plan which involved him being trapped. We see he seems calm towards Maggie. In life he was an honorable person who only killed his families' murderers and the law was corrupted, hence why he was brutally killed but not the higher ups responsible for his families' death.

Basically the Angry Princess was tragic, Great Child excusable because of mental handicaps and good intentions, Hammer is justified, Jackal and Juggernaut are unexcused, though some sympathy for them because they went insane.

I actually think it's the Juggernaut, as even the Jackal showed remorse for his crimes while he was alive. While the Juggernaut was just a murderer who only stopped because he was shot down by police.

14th Apr 2019

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Question: After Cyrus dies, why don't the ghosts turn on the others, such as Arthur who is nearby them? A couple of ghosts such as the Torso and Withered Lover didn't kill Cyrus and are more or less harmless, but some of the bad ones like the Juggernaut, Hammer and Jackal did. Was this a minor overlook?

Answer: The ghosts are not stupid; they were trapped inside that house by Cyrus. They just punished him for that and then they leave. They have no quarrel with Arthur or the others, probably even realizing they were freed by them.

lionhead

I do remember the Angry Princess wanted to stab a couple of the ladies, and the Jackal was pure insanity, but with those two they could simply have been tired of the whole mess. We see just before they cross over that the Jackal was howling with laughter.

They were really pissed off being trapped in that house, and not really rational thinking people, being ghosts and all. Anyone alive would be a potential target as long as they are trapped.

lionhead

25th Apr 2004

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Question: I was just wondering, why isn't Jean violent? The psychic said that all the ghosts are violent because they died a violent death and that's why Cyrus wanted them, so why is she the only one who isn't violent?

Answer: She didn't die a violent death. Jean is the Withered Lover, meaning that she died after a long, wasting illness. This is the only ghost that is not violent, because the pain it causes is emotional, not physical.

Phoenix

Except Jean didn't die from an illness but was instead killed in a fire, hence the burns on her body.

Could be since Jean died as a result of saving her family and was an accident, she isn't that bad. We can tell this makes sense with some other ghosts: the kid with an arrow was an accidental death, the handicapped man was protecting his mom, and that mom was meek and calm in life and was quickly killed anyhow. The two that avert this trend are the torso, who was brutally killed though is more or less harmless, and the bound woman who was a jerk but quickly killed as well, and lifts Cyrus to his death.

Wasn't the Torso a harmless ghost? We never see it attack anyone, and when Bobby runs off scared it is because the torso is moving to the head which happens to be near Bobby. Then we don't see the Torso lift Cyrus and to help matters the Withered Lover is seen standing on the Torso's place at the end.

Answer: For that matter the Dire Mother didn't die a painful death either, she just died of suffocation. Her mentally disabled son did, though.

The dire mother was kidnapped and put in a sack. I'd say that's a violent death.

lionhead

Well, somewhat. But not nearly as bad as most of the other ghosts. Except for the First Born Son who was instantly and quickly killed by accident.

The Juggernaut died quickly too.

lionhead

And the Torn Prince.

lionhead

Yes, but not quickly to the brain - the Juggernaut took dozens of bullets, and the Torn Prince ate pavement.

29th Jun 2018

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Question: Cyrus faked his death to lure his nephew Arthur and his family to his house so Arthur could could sacrifice himself to become the thirteenth ghost. So that means Cyrus must've gone to the extra effort to put prosthetic make-up and fake blood on to make it look like he had his throat cut out. But why? So if Arthur and his family saw him wandering around the house, they'd just think he was another ghost? But by that point they would already be caught in the Rubik's cube of a house, and his plan set in motion, so why would he care if they found he wasn't really dead? Why go to all that extra effort to get made up like a corpse?

Answer: Because the family would have been confused, bewildered, curious and mad as to why did this and would fight or run away. Remember the book said, it needed a willing victim to sacrifice themselves.

Answer: It could simply be that his obsession with ghosts is the reason why he wants to be seen as a ghost by his nephew, as a fetish. Also he wanted to be witness to Arthur's sacrifice and Arthur thinking he was a ghost made it simpler if he was spotted.

lionhead

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