''13th Child'' (or ''The 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey Devil'') is a 2002

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Thomas Ashley and Steven Stockage. It is inspired by the Jersey Devil. The screenplay was written by Michael Maryk and

Cliff Robertson Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film ''PT 109 (film), PT 109'', a ...

, the latter also starring in the film. The story is based on ''The Jersey Devil'' by James F. McCloy and Ray Miller Jr. The film was shot in New Jersey at Wharton State Forest, Batsto Village, and Hammonton in the Pine Barrens of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Cast

as Mr. Shroud *

Lesley-Anne Down Lesley-Anne Down (born 17 March 1954) is a British actress and singer. She made her motion picture debut in the 1969 drama film '' The Smashing Bird I Used to Know'' and later appeared in films ''Assault'' (1971), '' Countess Dracula'' (1971) a ...

as District-Attorney Murphy * Christopher Atkins as Ron *

Robert Guillaume Robert Guillaume (born Robert Peter Williams; November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was an American actor and singer. He played Fishbone on television series " Good Times", Benson DuBois in the ABC television series ''Soap'' and its spin-o ...

as Riley *

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

as Jones *

Peter Jason Peter Edward Ostling (July 22, 1944 – February 20, 2025), better known as Peter Jason, was an American character actor. He often played military personnel, law enforcement agents, and authority figures in both films and television series. Earl ...

as Coroner

Reception

Critical reception for the film has been negative. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has a rating of 40% based on 5 reviews. David N. Butterworth panned the film, as he felt that "Anyone who quickly denounced Madonna's "'' Swept Away''" as being the worst film of 2002 clearly hadn't seen "''13th Child''."" Charles Tatum from eFilmCritic.com panned the film's script, and character development.

References

External links

* *
13th Child
at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

2002 films 2002 direct-to-video films 2002 horror films 2000s monster movies Direct-to-video horror films Jersey Devil in fiction Films shot in New Jersey Films set in New Jersey American monster movies 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language science fiction horror films {{2000s-horror-film-stub