Ghostumentary

I just watch this flim and I loved it... very well done... Good job making this flim. GREAT editing. Not a scary ghost documentary but very interesting

Full disclosure. I'm a skeptic. But one of my guilty pleasures comes in watching the plethora of patently ridiculous (and obviously faked) night vision "documentaries" of over excited eejits stumbling around in the dark, obsessing about motes of dust as "orbs" and projecting pareidolia onto static-garbling "ghost boxes". It's entertainment, not true paranormal investigation, if such a thing exists. But I get a kick out of snuggling onto the couch and snarfing up popcorn whilst chuckling smugly to myself all the same.

That said, finding compelling viewing of something that isn't just a cookie-cutter version of these programmes is tough nowadays, as there's more than a fair share of utter garbage out there. This, I very nearly skipped over this little gem in the mistaken assumption that it would be just much of the same, or worse, a self-satisfied cursory romp thumbing its nose at the paranormal.

It's not. It's much, much more than that. It's a delightful journey of discovery, in the company of warm, genuine and fun people, whose infectious enthusiasm and refreshing self-deprecation render the viewer charmed and engaged throughout. There're no gratuitous jump-scares. There're no endless rewinds of barely comprehensible nanosecond long "words" from the spirit world

Yes, there's a good degree of tongue-in-cheekery. But what you get to see is how four different people each make a personal journey of discovery, some perhaps more significant than others. And it's all done with honesty. However, quite specifically because it's not sensationalised, the footsteps and whisper sequence in San Leandro station is all the more compelling, because of the genuine nature of the participants reactions. It renders them as very relatable and genuine, and us as viewers with a definite frisson of ghost-hunting delight.

I remain a skeptic. But I heartily recommend this immensely likeable documentary to both believer and skeptic alike. Enjoy!

A fun look at ghost hunting, but 1/3 of the film is inaudible due to bad sound equipment and poorly chosen filming locations. [Hint: protect the mic from the wind]. Would probably have benefited from less pissing about and sarcastic, forced, 'trying to be cool' comments to camera, and more research. I feel like they didn't really have a clear plan of what they wanted this documentary to be from the start. Get rid of the goofy screen wipes, the daft background music and the equipment not suited to what you needed to film and it may have been better. I was left feeling like I was intruding in a group of mates having a laugh, rather than having learnt anything.

Four people who think they're funny and entertaining to watch conclude that so many people have claimed to have experienced something paranormal, but no one has ever captured any visual material that hasn't been debunked.

And that premise is what caught my interest, since I'm always interested in how people take a simple situation and elevate it to something paranormal.

The "documentary" is 1 hour and 40 minutes long. Even though I had a strong dislike for the crew in this and the "experiments" they were doing, I stuck around. But when 1 hour and 20 minutes in they were interviewing an extremely sensitive-to-ghosts person who didn't even register the presence of a ghost when everyone (including the extremely sensitive-to-ghosts person) later claim they all clearly heard footsteps just outside the room, I just skipped to bits at the end for a few short clips to see what the "filmmakers" had concluded.

So there's supposedly a ghost just a few meters away from them, but the extremely sensitive-to-ghosts guy doesn't sense a thing until he's told by others that there was something there.

Even shorter: in a "documentary" that's asking the question if ghosts are real or not, they only interview amateur paranormal investigators and mediums, and a "professional" parapsychologist.

They do not interview any actual scientist who can easily dismiss every evidence so far on the existence of ghosts.

That's like making a documentary about whether the existence of the mythical cake-pooping unicorn is real or not, by interviewing the people who claim to have seen it, and the professor with a degree in the mythical cake-pooping unicorn who will tell you most sightings are lies but the thing really does live somewhere.

Have you maybe seen the definitive filmed proof of ghosts that this documentary provides in the end?

No?

That's because there isn't any.

Is that the conclusion these "filmmakers" draw?

No. There were 3 that were believers to begin with, and they still believe. And there's that 1 guy who was a non-believer. But now, thanks to his own documentary that did not document any ghost, he too has become a tiny bit of a believer in ghosts.

And all four of them are, now more than ever, definitely convinced that they are super quirky.

Do not see this film.

It does not confirm the existence of ghosts.

It does not professionally deal with debunking.

It only does what every other crappy "reality" TV show on ghosts does.

This was a cute little documentary. However, I'm not sure why they thought they had to eat so much candy during the documentary; I ended up fast forwarding through much of the movie.