A Date with Ghosts

As I have already wasted 70 minutes on this hideously acted, badly spliced together trash, I can just say this:

I hate trashing indie efforts because usually they are a good alternative to formula, mass-produced crap from Hollywood...but in this case, all it leaves me with is that I feel a hell of a lot better about my own short films now.

My hand-held camera work and respect for proper plots and links now look like A-list productions compared to this. I cannot believe I actually found this "movie" on IMDb!

After getting lost in the wilderness, a group of friends get together to investigate the disappearance of another friend at a local abbey rumored to be haunted by undead ghostly monks and must try to stop their deadly plans trying to open a portal to another dimension while being trapped inside.

This was a decent enough if somewhat heavily flawed genre effort. One of the main positives to be had with this one is the inherently creepy atmosphere present throughout, as this manages to effectively create the idea of something supernatural happening. The randomized nature of the storyline, for all of its many faults, effectively brings about the kind of idea that the decayed and ruined remains of the abbey provide an ideal hunting ground for the ghost monks to carry out their plans on the different strangers that come along. With the select setpieces taking place in the creepy location within the darkened and decayed ruins, while also being able to get outside for several decent enough scenes in the surrounding woods, this has enough here to get some positive aspects. There are big issues with this one that bring it down. The main factor here is the absolutely inane and just flat-out confusing storyline that never once makes any kind of sense whatsoever. There are two sections here with different characters, motivations, and plotlines that are featured here, yet neither of them intersect, reference the other, or have anything to do with anything beyond involving the same group of monks at the same location. Whether they are aware of the other since a plotpoint of the second segment involved them arriving at the location to help a friend which could've easily been the couple in the first segment is never broached and the general lack of dialogue means the exploits of the ghost monks and their purpose is only given a select bit of lip service rather than a full-on explanation. That doesn't help matters with the generally paltry production values that make this one look every bit as cheap as expected. With absolutely zero sense for the time or day, with sequences taking place moments later being in broad daylight, the dead of night, or plain overcast skies, even though it was bright and sunny. This makes for a confusing enough time without looking even further, as there's genuine evidence it was shot at different locations while most, if not all, of the few bits of dialogue here are being improvised for its generally cheap look. With a lack of gore and a somewhat sluggish pace that makes a seventy-minute running time feel far longer without much going on to help beef this one up, it does have some pretty major issues holding it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.

Mansfield filmmaker, Jason Brown has always had a fascination with the supernatural and in "A Date with Ghosts", he has put together a 70 minute mini feature shot in Nottingham with great merits. I was lucky enough to see this film as a test screener on the internet in 2013.

A Date with Ghosts is well put together and the title sequence credits really stood out for me in their high looking production values. Jason has reportedly spent over 1K on this very ambitious horror film. The acting is good (i.e. lead actress) and the jump scare techniques were very well done and edited. There seem to be some unedited screen shots, but I assume this was to be fixed as Jason takes the film to festivals.

What impressed me is that things look higher in values in this feature. I hope it does well for him and Jason even has an acting role. The locations all look good in the country side and derelict church buildings added with matte and cgi techniques for shots that are worth seeing alone. Also, the high over-head tree shots are good, too. It also has some creepy looking ritual monk figures that terrorize the cast, mainly female.

Rating: 3.5 out 5 = Turn out the lights and dwell in indie horror from a hard working, Nottingham filmmaker. Horror/Indie fans should love it.

If i could have given this "film" a zero i would have.

The person who wrote the first review along with the people who made this "film" are totally deluded!

at no point anywhere in the 70mins is this a "film" at no point in the 70mins is this "film" scary!

The childish over the top silly special effects, the bad acting and the bad camera work make this film a total train crash!

The reason its so short is because the "makers" probably couldn't think of any more rubbish to squeeze into it!!

Stick it in a box, bury it and never open it again EVER!

Low budget but really enjoyed the film, great CGI, good acting, spooky monks, something different and not just another rehash of a zombie film or something that's been done a 1000 times before. Made me jump too, great opening credits that really impressed me, the sounds pretty good for a low budget film, I would give this a watch. reminded me of Tomb of the blind dead!

In the 13th century there existed a legion of evil knights known as the Templars, who quested for eternal life by drinking human blood and committing sacrifices. Executed for their unholy deeds, the Templars bodies were left out for the crows to peck out their eyes. Now, in modern day Portugal, a group of people stumble on the Templars abandoned monastery, reviving their rotting corpses to terrorise the land.

Locations were awesome, great looking churches, spooky cool evil looking monks and 70mins not to long.