Ghost Town

Well, this isn't a movie I would go and choose to rent and take home or purchase .... so kind of glad it was on free to air TV! The acting was ... well, they did the best they could with the script they had I guess! lol... Sorry to the writer - it could have been a lot better than it was - however the basic outline wasn't bad. The special effects (for the most part) and camera work made it watchable - but but is not a movie I would go 'oh yes I want to watch that again).... I am guessing that the cast and crew enjoyed the experience and the editing was well done - everything was pretty smoothly put together. It was what I would have expected of a B grade semi-horror/thriller movie... good effort guys... despite my comments - it was a reasonable way to pass a couple of hours (by the time free to air TV sticks in the adverts!).... :D

Busload of annoyingly stereotypical teens, stranded in a ghost town inhabited by murderous outlaw poltergeists, attempt to survive their stay without "freaking out" while also solving the mystery behind their spooky surroundings. Jittery, witless low-budget thriller, barren of substantial ideas or honest scares. TV-buffs should enjoy seeing Gil Gerard again (playing the preacher), but the movie doesn't have an ounce of originality. The poor bus driver throws up motor oil in the most ludicrously-derived supernatural sequence (actually a quasi-steal from "Poltergeist II"), while the long-in-the-tooth students banter back and forth so vacuously that one is apt to sleep through "Ghost Town" without so much as a shudder. NO STARS from ****

Well there is 85mins of my life that I will never get back. This really is the worst film I have ever seen (and I've seen Dragon Wars). Don't know why films like this get made. One of the "ghosts" from 1866 uses a box of safety matches to do some dirty work - very safety conscious them 1866 cowboys. Billy Drago is lookin sad and old these days and his scary persona has all but vanished in this one with the scary having to come from some (not so) special effects. All the kids are deeply annoying without a touch of acting ability between them and the set seems to be made from old food boxes - Avoid wasting a night of your life on this one NO STARS

The opening set-up isn't bad. An Old West town in 1866 is invaded by some ruthless gunslingers, who just happen to be cultists. An out gunned sheriff, and a minister stand in their way, winding up with bullet holes in their chests along with everybody else in town. The dying Christian minister, who (ready?) practices Wickan beliefs (hey, I didn't write this thing) leaves a message in blood on a window. Finally, the cultists shoot themselves.

Then the film disintegrates. Modern day: noisy teens arguing. On a bus. You'll know exactly the order of deaths from how stupid they each act in this scene. The ghosts make the bus and everybody's cell phones stop working. How come ghosts from the 19th Century always seem to understand modern technology? Soon, the old smooching couple in a hayloft getting attacked routine becomes the first cliché. There's a lot of jabbering about pentagrams, Friday 13th, and other stuff, but not much point to why it's all happening. The only reasons I could see for the ghosts' wanting to blast everybody would be either: 1) the teens were transparent one dimensional characters that were simply annoying, and/or 2) most of the cast sorely needed acting lessons. Whatever their reason was, these ghosts kill creatively; one guy even meets his end spitting up motor oil.

There's enough weirdness in this to make it an OK watch. But don't expect a whole lot from it.

After their bus mysteriously gets lost, a bunch of college kids find themselves trapped in a Wild West Ghost Town inhabited by evil spirits.

Not awful by any means, as these budgeted TV productions go, it has some inventive death scenes (death by gasoline vomit a personal favourite here), Billy Drago as a venomous Cowboy spirit and some canted angles used for good atmospheric impact. Hell! The blending of maths stars and jocks, which while not original, makes for an interesting group dynamic and lets the writer (Andy Briggs) set up a decent finale as the remaining youngsters try to work out a way out of hell by using brain and brawn.

Unfortunately director Todor Chapkanov seems to think that jitterycam is the way to go at every given opportunity, something which really hinders the atmosphere trying to get out. Then there is the MTV "R" US musical score/soundtrack that booms out inappropriately like proof was needed that noise does indeed annoy. While the town itself looks like some left over mock up from an American Adventure Theme Park.

Filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria, it ultimately comes down to a bunch of pretty looking college kids (one of whom looks like Vin Diesel) getting killed amid angst, bullying and sexual yearnings. But like the characters in the story, the film seems stuck in a filmic purgatory, not really sure if it wants to slash, spook or yeehaw its way into our conscious. But as Syfy Channel time wasters go it just about passes muster. 4/10