Ghost Light

It's not often that I see a film like this. I love it that the play took on a life of its own, especially with Macbeth and all the associated mythology. This was a lot of fun to watch.

We were grateful to have caught this flick at the Woodstock Film Festival. It was showing at noon in a small town about 45 minutes from us. But the plot sounded intriguing, and the movie did not disappoint. Great ensemble cast (indeed, the movie ended up winning a special award at the festival for ensemble cast) and , just the right use of special effects for a dark comedy that sought to spook you a little bit. This is a gem of a small-budget movie.

This is a neat little comedy with an edge of suspense. The premise is basic: A theatrical troupe gets together on an old estate in New England in order to rehearse and present MacBeth. It being "the Scottish play," things go wrong. If you know a little about theater, you may know that productions of Shakespeare's play about a murderous pair of royals often go awry. Alec Guinness, for example, got the worst reviews of his life for a MacBeth he did in 1963 or so. (I've heard the audio version he did for Caedmon. It sounds like a great performance to me.) Actors, directors and producers have stories about bad productions and disasters surrounding the performance of MacBeth. Ghost Light makes clear from the start the superstitions around the play. You do not have to know much more than that to enjoy what is a nice, light look at people who make theater for the love of it. There is a lot of nuance in this film. The actors are shown in multiple lights. Carol Kane is sympathetic as an overplaying Witch, Cary Elwes, who, at first, seems like a self-centered ham, becomes a serious MacBeth. Roger Bart as the stressed, kindly director, centers the movie. If you know the play fairly well, you'll notice the parallels between the actors' lives and those of the characters they play. The cast in uniformly good. Shannyn Sossamon is very convincing as the lady who wants to play Lady MacBeth. Tom Riley, whose character rehearses Macbeth when the actor whose supposed to play him is momentarily out of commission after a mysterious on-set accident, is really good at playing an actor AND playing MacBeth. Liliane Klein and Zele Avradopoulas as the landladies who lease their space to these over-ambitious but weirdly gentle troupers, highlight the world outside the play, until...well - watch it. The special effects are good, and, indeed, a movie which has, as its goal, the idea of showing how and why this particular play makes actors a little cray-cray, should have good special effects. This is an enjoyable way to spend a little over ninety minutes. if you have affection for theater and enjoy a few riffs on a bardic theme, this is for you.

Ghost Light is a movie about a theater troupe doing a MacBeth play in a small barn/theater in the countryside. Two of the actors end up cursing the play by yelling "MacBeth" outside of the play (something I didn't realize was a thing). Afterwards, spooky things start to happen that then escalates more and more until the actual opening of the play, where things go ape-s*** crazy.

At the time of this review, the movie had a 5.1 rating, which I was surprised to see. I rated it a 6 and figured I'd be on the low end.

The group of characters play well against each other. It kinda reminds me of the characters in Clue. The story is different, but the characters play well off each other and all have their quirks. IMDB has this as a horror/comedy. It's not LOL type comedy. The jokes are cute and get chuckles, which I feel was the intent. The horror isn't SOL (scream out loud), but there are a couple of surprise scenes.

As I said, I rated it a 6, but feel like someone who knows MacBeth better might pick up on things I missed and rate it higher. Parts of the movie did seem to drag, but all in all, I enjoyed.

Movie gets 8 stars for being an original concept alone. But the execution lives up to those 8 stars, as well.

Bare bones outline is in the synop. But they give us some "stock" characters working in summer stock, yet those characters take some very interesting turns.

Great acting by most every one, including the female lead and Cary Elwes, who has to act like a bad actor.

Funny, surprising, and yes, as noted, achieves a very creepy (and strangely satisfying) vibe at the end. Well worth your time.