Ghostland - Stell dich deiner angst

Martyrs blew me away. The Tall Man didn't. So what did I think of director Pascal Laugier's latest effort? I loved t! Very impressed. It starts off with a family, an ice cream van and an incredibly creepy house. Looked to me like it could be a Rob Zombie movie, and funnily enough within minutes one of the characters remarks that the house looks like it could belong to Mr Z! Now I am a fan of Rob Z but Incident was more polished than any of his movies. If found Incident to be visually superb, the creepy house in question, crammed with dolls, is amazing. The film is genuinely frightening with some good jump scares. It's brutal, twisted and dark. There are some great twists and the plot never slows down, it held my attention throughout. Camera work, musical score and acting are all excellent. The only two things that I didn't like was the use of some CGI and, without giving away spoilers, I felt that the end was a bit too easy and slightly unsatisfying. After such a thrilling ride I felt that it could have been better. Overall, another class effort from Monsieur Laugier. I shall look forward to watching this again, best film that I have seen so far this year.

It feels. It really does.

The movie is divided into two big sections, pre-twist and post-twist. If you are not new to the horror genre you will catch the "twist" pretty fast, but the movie doesn't emphasize on it a whole lot. Rather works with it and does its job well indeed. At first I felt like, come on, "I've seen this already, you can't surprise me with this". But then...

It is very atmospheric, it's brutal, it's hopeless, but what caught me is one emotional moment with the sisters, you will know it when you see it. It's unforgettable.

It has it's flaws but is well crafted overall. This movie was able to share it's emotion with me and I enjoyed it.

Pascal Laugier is without a doubt a capable writer/director. After all, he is the man behind "Martyrs", a great horrror that leaves no one cold. Ghostland, however, has good direction, photography and fast pace right from the start but the dialogue could have been better and all the jump scares somehow fail to have the desirable effect. If you are used to horror like the aforementioned "Martyrs" or "A l'interieur", "Ils" and "Eden Lake", you will probably feel nothing despite all the violence and terror that the main characters go through. The twist in the story is not bad but could still be more developed in my opinion. The cast deliver nice performances and all the make-up effects are good too. As mentioned in the title, the film feels a bit underdeveloped; it is not terrible but it is not that good either.

I have never heard anyone speak about this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised. Beth and Vera are two sisters live with their mother and at the start of the film are moving into their late aunts home, stereotypically full of horrible dolls and puzzle mirrors. Beth is a young aspiring horror writer and Vera is her typical teenage older sister, who thinks Beth is weird. An incident occurs where 2 people get into the house and attempt to kidnap the two girls and kill their mother, but the story has lots of plot twists surrounding what actually happened. The film is actually impressively made, the jump scares were executed well and I am honestly shocked that I have never heard about this film, as I would recommend it for any horror fans.

From the director who brought Martyrs, this one is kind of different take in mixing horror into pysychological drama. That's why I think movie is interesting. Ghostland had the intense drama and eerie moments. I know that this is not as brutal as Martyrs had before but it is also bring back cringey moments. The plot keeps me guessing because of bringing back the past into present events. That's my main concern but I love the whole acting and cinematography had the creepy feeling into it. 7/10 for making me love psychological horror.