The Ghoul

I 'get' what this film tries to do, I just don't like it. Someone was quoted as saying it could stand alongside David Lynch's 'Lost Highway', but I disagree. The term 'Lovecraftian' has been used many times in recent years to describe many films, but few truly are. 'The Ghoul' is most definitely Lovecraftian, and it has some excellent aspects; the acting is solid, as is the cinematography. The story leaves a lot to be desired however, and as I mentioned, I 'get' it, but I don't like it.

This film is disjointed and awkward in its flow, which was likely intentional, however it doesn't serve the film. In the end it left much to be desired. In the beginning you're loving it, in the middle you're excited to see where it's going, but by the last bit you're saying, "This can't really be it, can it?!" All in all, this film absolutely has the feel and look of a Lynch-made masterpiece, but almost none of the substance and (dare I say) the dazzle of one such as 'Lost Highway' - to which it's been compared.

On the one hand, I loved (really loved) how it portrays a depressed man in such a gritty and realistic way. But on the other hand, it felt lacking and failed to climax into anything that's anywhere near greatness. Not a complete waste of time, and it may very well be enjoyed by some, but for me this fell far short of my initial expectations which the opening scenes gave rise to - 6 out of 10.

Dark and confusing story dives into the multidimensional territory of time loops; peppered with a bit of Fight Club & a dash of Taxi Driver. Don't let the title fool you, certainly not horror.

I had never heard of this film before and it was rated average-like so I watched it at home & I can't say it was time wasted (I like movies) but I can't sing its praises either. At one point midway through I was so bored that I did consider turning it off but I knew the ending had something in store that, even if not amazing, I felt I should stay on for.

The ending will disorient viewers, including myself, and it's quite good. Unfortunately for the ending, the bulk of the rest of the story leading up to it borders on slow torture. A lot of films are great until the final act ruins them; this one is the opposite, with a climax that would have done better attached to a different project.

A for effort. 4/10 for my tastes.

Seems to me the most frequent complaint about this film is that it is 'slow and boring' and the most positive that it is like Mulholland Drive. The latter comparison, is falsely made, I guess, because the film is complicated and the former remark simply because this tends to be the fallback option if there are not enough explosions. If anything the film moves too fast for its own good. The dialogue is excellent, full of provocative thoughts and human insights but a lot is expected of the viewer and it is easy to get left behind. The therapy sessions should be an opportunity for things to slow down and for us to get our bearings and sort out what is real or not to us and perhaps more pertinently what is real or not to the characters. But nothing is as simple as it appears here and even the sessions seem to take us into even darker areas. Excellent, but not the easiest film to follow because it does not set out a simple path. For those for whom that sounds 'boring', I guess will find it boring. Not sure what that proves though.

A soaring triumph of the cinematic imagination, conspicuously gifted first time feature director, Gareth Tunley's audaciously inventive, compellingly strange, reality-warping psychodrama,'The Ghoul' is a divinely disturbing, almost wholly interior Detective story that teasingly opens up a perception tweaking wormhole of cans, and, perhaps, if fellow agitators, Ken Russell or Donald Cammell had turned their mischievous Mise-en-scène to creating a more psychotronically-inclined Scandi-Noir it just might resemble something like 'The Ghoul'.

Both text, earnest performances, and filmmaking are all of an exemplary standard, and the dizzyingly off-kilter journey into Chris's (Tom Meeten) increasingly metaphysical madness happily proves to be a rewardingly convoluted one! Tunley's theologically trippy, deliriously circuitous, starkly intimate nightmare is moodily set to a spare, yet immersive score by composer, Waen Shepherd. Fans of 'Enemy' (2013), 'Predestination' (2014), and the similarly tweaked, 'The Rambler' (2013) are sure to find The Ghoul's assured transport into a palpably tormented mind scape not only intriguing, but one that provided a rewardingly oblique conclusion. I went into 'The Ghoul' not knowing quite what to expect from it, which ultimately made this uniquely inward experience that much more thrilling.

This is a total mind f__k. Well written, well acted, and keeps you guessing until the end and beyond if you have imagination. Definitely not your run of the mill horror flick. Intensely riveting with it's twists and turns until your mind is following a mobius loop and trying to catch up with the writer.