Matthew Lillard’s Cult Classic Remake Of 66-Year-Old Horror Movie Finds Worldwide Streaming Success At The Perfect Time
Thir13en Ghosts has re-emerged as a global streaming hit after two and a half decades. The 2001 movie, which is a remake of the 1960 William Castle classic Thirteen Ghosts, follows a family inheriting a mansion that is haunted by a baker’s dozen of homicidal spirits. The star-studded Thir13en Ghosts cast includes Tony Shalhoub, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, F. Murray Abraham, and Embeth Davidtz.
Per FlixPatrol, which uses proprietary data to measure streaming success, Thir13en Ghosts has found a new audience on HBO Max. The movie is currently No. 7 on their chart of the platform’s best-performing movies worldwide for the day.
The only titles that it has fallen behind are the 2026 Oscar nominees One Battle After Another (No. 1) and Sinners (No. 2), the contemporary titles How to Train Your Dragon (No. 3), Alien: Romulus (No. 4), and Immaculate (No. 6), and the 2010 Johnny Depp thriller The Tourist (No. 5).
Although 2001’s Thir13en Ghosts averages out at No. 7, it ranks between No. 6 and No. 4 in the individual regions in which it is streaming. While it peaked at No. 4, it hit that position in 14 regions, including Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Peru.
Thir13en Ghosts has achieved this success even though it is not available on HBO Max in the United States (where it is streaming on Tubi and is available to rent for $3.99 on a variety of VOD platforms). The movie being available in its home territory could have helped boost it even higher up the chart, but its global success is undeniable, and it has arrived at the perfect time.
Matthew Lillard horror movies are currently in the middle of a major resurgence. The Scream, Scooby-Doo, and Ghoulies III star was known for his work in the horror in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but it wasn’t until the 2020s that he returned to the genre in full force.
In addition to starring in the 2023 hit Five Nights at Freddy’s and its 2025 sequel (which also featured his Scream co-star Skeet Ulrich), Lillard is set to appear in the upcoming sequel Scream 7, which hits theaters on February 27. This remarkable streaming surge for Thir13en Ghosts could be a reflection of the goodwill that he has built up with genre fans over the past few years.
Release Date
October 26, 2001
Runtime
91 minutes
Director
Steve Beck
