Dennis Rafkin was a powerful-yet-neurotic psychic who helped Cyrus Kriticos capture the first twelve ghosts in The Black Zodiac.
Biography
Dennis was a psychic, and, according to the script for Thirteen Ghosts, was ostracized by everyone for his psychic abilities. At some point, he met Cyrus Kriticos, who accepted him and paid him to use his psychic abilities help Cyrus capture twelve ghosts bound to earth.
Thirteen Ghosts
While capturing The Juggernaut, the twelfth and final ghost, Cyrus and all of his team except Dennis are apparently killed and Dennis demands Ben Moss for the payment Cyrus owed him.
Some time later, when Cyrus's nephew, Arthur Kriticos, and his family move into Cyrus's mansion, Dennis shows up there, posing as a power company employee to get into the house and find his promised payment. Dennis searches the basement, where he has a psychic episode. Realizing that there is a supernatural presence in the basement, Dennis puts on his spectral viewers and sees the captured ghosts trapped in the basement.
Dennis thus freaks out and tries to warn Arthur and Moss, but the two refuse to believe him. Dennis then has another episode, and when Arthur tries to help him, Dennis sees Arthur's memories. From this, Dennis realizes that when the fourth ghost (whom Dennis himself had helped capture) was alive, she was Arthur's wife. However, Dennis keeps quiet about this.
When a reluctant Dennis searches the basement with Maggie, he proves the existence of the ghosts to her and finds that several ghosts have been released. After several close run-ins with the rampant ghosts, Dennis and Maggie meet back up with Arthur and Kalina and escape to the safe library. There, Kalina reveals who the fourth ghost is, and Arthur and Dennis decide to take one last look around the mansion, using a detached pane of ectobar glass as a shield against the attacking ghosts.
When The Hammer attacks the two, Dennis forces Arthur into a corner, protected by the glass, and distracts The Hammer, dodging his attacks. However, at that moment, the newly-released Juggernaut arrives, and the two ghosts overwhelm Dennis. The Hammer beats Dennis to the floor before The Juggernaut finishes him off by breaking his spine on a pole.
Later, when the machine is about to explode, Dennis's ghost visits Arthur, telling him to go to his kids. Dennis watches Arthur jump to his kids, then, after the machine is destroyed, vanishes from the house.
Trivia
- Dennis is actually the 13th ghost to appear in the movie. However, his ghost has nothing to do with the machine or the other 12 ghosts.
- Dennis was one of three characters adapted from Elaine Zacharides from the 1960 film; the other two being Kalina and Maggie. Elaine was a medium, housekeeper and assistant to Plato Zorba. Dennis was adapted as the medium.
- According to Dennis in the film, if he comes within a certain distance of anything dead, he goes into seizures and a life full of memories flash in front of him whenever he touches someone or whenever someone touches him. The latter part of his psychic abilities are referred to as a linking between two people.
- Cyrus owed him money, but never paid up.
- According to Dennis as they were catching the Juggernaut, they never needed bait to catch the previous eleven ghosts.
- According to Kalina, the ghosts don't seem to like Dennis.