The 13th Floor (1988) User Reviews

There are two movies being reviewed here folks!

[steelerark · 5/10 · 11 February 2006]

"The 13th Floor" was made in 1988 and was directed by Chris Roache, and starred Kylie Clare and other non-stars. From what I gather, it is horror type movie about the ghost of a murdered kid. This is not the movie that some of you are reviewing on this page.

"The Thirteenth Floor" was made in 1999 and directed by Josef Rusnak, starred Craig Bierko and Gretchin Mol. It was about a team of business men who create a living, breathing virtual reality of the 1930's. Its a murder mystery. THIS is the movie that some of you are reviewing on this page. And Roland Emmerich was a producer on this movie.

Hope that clears up some of the trouble.

Beware the unlucky 13th floor!

[lost-in-limbo · 5/10 · 6 November 2006]

On the 13th floor of an office building, a terrible innocent occurred, involving that of child who was murdered. His uneasy soul now inhabits the electricity system of the 13th floor. The abandoned floor is now home for some runaway young adults. One of them just happened to see the murder of the boy when she was a little girl, because she's the daughter of the murderer. She plans to give out the information of her corrupt father, but he plans to get that information back. At any cost.

Gee, there's some malice towards this uneven, but slightly interesting little supernatural thriller from Australia. There's not doubt it can get quite laboured pace wise and a little lost in the story's direction. It seemed to concentrate more on the chase side of the plot with the supernatural element of the cursed floor being pushed aside and feeling quite half-baked to the overall picture. The ill-constructed story might be put together rather weakly, but there were some nice touches by director Chris Roache. He demonstrates moody set pieces in the office building with atmospheric lighting and the suspense is squeezed tight in a few small pockets. A eerily booming electronic score adds another spin to the bleak air and Roache makes efficient use of Sydney's surroundings. The performances are completely sound and Lisa Hensley really impresses as the lead. Miranda Otto is fine in an early performance. Some well-known Australian faces; Michael Caton and Georgie Parker also pop up in guest spots. Just wait around for the glowing dead boy who brings death. The make-up for the death scenes are decently pulled off, although the special effects that was tact on, can look rather pitiful and miss-placed. Now it's all talk, little action. Yeah the script is a muddle and it takes a while to make a real mark, but some fruity (and not-so) characters that you care for and its airy embodiment kept me more than compelled.

An okay little item, that's terribly slow, but manages a couple effective scenes.

Could have been great, ended up so-so

[milamontagne · 4/10 · 5 July 2010]

'The 13th Floor' is one of those movies that a lot more could have been done to improve it. It does drag on in a couple of spots, but there is some development going on. I found the ironic twist that the girl of a mobster, now many years later, finds herself using the very same floor where she witnessed the execution of a young boy a nice touch.

Still, the supernatural elements needed the most attention, and a couple of simple things could have improved it overall.

The acting, with the exception of the girl and her best friend, falls flat. However, the daughter of said mobster finding her friend dead of an overdose was easily the best executed and acted I've seen in a lot of movies. Her grief and sorrow seemed especially realistic.

If your looking for a simple return-from-the-grave revenge story, and find this somewhere for cheap, pick it up. It doesn't have a lot of replay potential, but in spots (like the drug-overdose) will probably stick with you for awhile.

wrong comments

[9acro · 31 August 2004]

not really a comment but there seems to be a lot of comments here that refer to 13th floor from 1999 and not this movie

Piece of garbage.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 1/10 · 27 November 2004]

A dark and terrible secret lurks on the 13th floor of a plush city office block,where a supernatural curse has brought disaster to anyone who rents it.A mysterious 'presence' has driven business to ruin,made office machinery break down and created a deadly lifeforce of its own in the electrical system.The tortured soul of an innocent boy who was cruelly murdered many years before is lying in wait for the moment of revenge."The 13th Floor" is easily one of the worst horror films I have ever seen.The film is extremely boring and there is no gore nor suspense.The special effects are incredibly cheesy and the acting is horrible.Why such piece of crap is widely distributed and some Italian horror movies are completely unavailable is beyond me.1 out of 10.

Supernatural thriller verges on dull side

[Tikkin · 4/10 · 3 September 2006]

The 13th Floor is more of a thriller than a horror as it contains virtually no horror elements at all. So all horror fans should avoid it unless you can tolerate a simple thriller.

The plot is very simple indeed, and takes a bit too long to reach the conclusion. I actually quite enjoyed the basic storyline, and thought that the cheesy romance between the rebel girl and the boring older guy was sweet. I even felt a twinge if sadness when he got murdered. When it boils down to it though, The 13th Floor is just far too boring. It had potential but unfortunately played down the supernatural elements that could have made it interesting.

Don't bother seeking this out, but if you find an old VHS really cheap, it will look good in your collection because the artwork on the Medusa label is quite cool.

Avoid this floor at all costs

[PeterMitchell-506-564364 · 2/10 · 17 December 2012]

This is one of the stupidest and pointless horrors, I've ever watched in my life. No, it's not that American film, The 13th Floor that came over a decade later. No, Australia wouldn't be that generous. This one was made in 88, one of a spate of bad Aussie horror movies, courtesy of the CBS fox collection. The story is so ridiculous and pathetic, the writer must had a hell of a hard time finding something interested in it. This stinker has a little girl who watches her crime lord Dad electrocute a boy, cause his father was late on a payment or something. Correct me if I'm wrong, but believe me, I'm right about this. Australia must of really been hard up to make another horror, this one repellent, and desperate. The little girl now an adult (Lisa Hensley) who likes to steal bickies off trays and her best friend, sensitive type (Miranda Otto) hide out in this building on a vacant floor-the thirteenth floor, that once was the scene of that brutal execution. The boys spirit's back, and he wants revenge. Hensley strikes up a relationship with a guy who works in a centrelink office who puts her unassumed name into the system. Hensley's father sends a hit-man on the job (Vic Rooney) fantastic here, not the nice guy you see in E street, if you can remember. Otto becoming ignored from her friend, although she has a male buddy that make up this humble trio, is jealous, as she's now hanging out with this loser type guy. She takes her own life, or was it the boy's spirit. People start dropping off, including a horny overweight security guard (Jeff Truman) who at least, puts some laughs into this, and likes to take night dips. Some nasty bits of gore, and ugly moments. Child murder isn't a nice thing to witness. Hensley's father and his mob are some real nasty guys. Michael Caton gives a surprisingly impressive performance, a supportive player, near the film's final, as a doctor who nurtures Hensley back to health after being found unconscious on this wharf, by two kids. This film is undoubtedly one of the worst and tasteless horrors Australia has ever produced, and that goes double for it's smarts.

The jinxed 13Th floor, not devoid of interest!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 5/10 · 2 December 2023]

Watching this small Aussie horror in 1989 on TV, I had stayed clear that was dealing in a lowest budge with a exiting premise indeed, The 13th Floor set on Sidney didn't gets fire, although is far away to be bad as some reviewers implied, aside the mismatches a fresh concept in some points overcome the weak ones, let the audience stay up during the offer, the main plot in a quick overview is about a young girl witnessed his political power father Robert Thompson (Tony Blackett) electrocute wittingly a young boy in front of his father about to be murder aftermaths over a missing money at 13th floor of a building under construction.

Twelve years later the already grow up girl Heather Thompson (Lisa Hensley) becomes a nightmare for his father, drugs, bad companies and so on, to worsen stolen documents that proves his father carried out many deaths including the little boy electrocuted on the jinxed 13th floor on the building, so Thompson hires an old detective of unorthodox way aiming for recover the documents by all means, meanwhile Heather hole up with a girl in the empty 13th floor where strangely appear an electrified entity coming from electrical cabinet.

Among the characters some stand out as the moronic caretaker Bert (Jeff Truman) also the odd John Burke (Tim McKenzie) on romantic interest on Heather, rouse up a jealous of Rebecca (Miranda Otto) hinting a previous les.bian relationship between them, without forget the janitor Nick (Paul Hunt) and the fancy-pants and dainty Alistair (Adam Cook), it can't be overlooked at all.

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 1989 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.5.

Not bad, just a bit lazy

[dmorin · 7/10 · 22 November 1999]

I watched this movie and eXistenZ on the same day, and liked this one far better. The premise (a continuously existing virtual world, complete with virtual conscious entities) is very similar to a book called Realtime Interrupt by James Hogan. Of course we need to have a few murders, and our hero is the prime suspect who has to solve the mystery singlehandedly, and the plot twists are all predictable. I guess it's my experience studying artificial intelligence that made me appreciate the attention paid to the world itself (after you download into a virtual body for a few hours and then leave, the virtual character tries to figure out where he is and where he's been for the last two hours). Not as bad as it could have been.

Pleasantly Surprised

[SrXavian · 8/10 · 13 September 1999]

I watched this movie, having heard that it was a real "stinker" but with an open mind, and I am pleased to say that it was quite enjoyable. My only problem with the cinematography was addressed in later dialog, and aside from being a tad predictable (only because The Matrix beat them to it), it was really good. Special effects were great, costuming was great, acting was .... better than some. See it with an open mind.

More Of A Supernatural Thriller Than A Horror

[ladymidath · 7/10 · 3 May 2024]

While The 13th Floor has its moments, it is more of a thriller than an outright horror movie.

This is considered an Ozploitation movie, but definitely one of the better ones.

This is certainly a product of the 80s with the fashion and hair, it's also a walk down memory lane seeing people lighting cigarettes in office buildings, not to mention the old style computers. Ah, memories.

The acting is okay, although a little uneven at times. The budget was not huge, most Aussie horror and thrillers didn't have huge budgets especially back then. It doesn't hurt the movie though.

The movie centres on a young girl who witnessed her father murder a young boy. Years later, she is squatting with a friend in a building on the 13th floor. There the ghost of the young boy resides in the electrical system.

This is not a movie for everyone. Fans of harder and gorier horror might get impatient with the slow pace and lack of any real blood or scares.

Personally I liked it. It told a pretty interesting story and did have some solid action scenes.

Plus living in the same city it was filmed in, it was fun to see how it looked so many years ago.

A lot of people getting their 13th Floors mixed up!

[s-prime · 23 May 2003]

This one is a modest little horror film made on the smell of oily rag. Just out of film school, writer/director Chris Roache shot this film in 24 days and copped a lot of grief doing it. But that's another story. It was always destined for the the video market at the time and did exceptionally well in the UK rental market chalking up a silver sales award.

A great laugh a bad movie!

[ash-40 · 13 June 1999]

The 13th floor is a movie that will make you feel smart even if youre broccoli, cause even broccoli sees the plot twists up ahead. Don't get me wrong this wasn't a bad movie, it was well beyond that. This movie is supposed to be based on a novel that for some reason got critical acclaim or they wouldn't have made a movie out of it so I'm sure it's much different to the screenplay. In my opinion thats the only way to explain this flat, uninteresting, predictable, unemotional, laughable screenplay. The climax for most viewers will come at the half way mark in a very boring uninspired scene were the plot tries to sneak up on you like a tank rolling down a football field. The rest of the movie is just you laughing at the movie makers for giving you more and more pieces of the "BIG PICTURE" which you already know. By the time the movie is over, if you haven't walk out, you are left thinking how stupid does Roland Emerich think I really am. You know all those ____ for dumbies, well this is a who done it for dumbies only they should call it a he done it.

uhh...

[Dough^^ · 1 June 1999]

Dear God. That is all that can be said. I have seen some shocking movies in my time, but this has to be close to the worst. I wish I could give you a rundown on the plot, but I didn't manage to pick it up. If someone gives you this video for free, take it home and burn it. That's the best advice anyone could give