The Ghostmaker

This is a simple story revolving around three men, a love interest, and a mystical coffin.

The original title was "Box of Shadows", and if you think of coffins as just boxes, and deep latent desires as shadows, then the title is great. But I like the current title, The Ghostmaker, because it is more direct and relevant when presented with trailers or synopses.

The storyline revolves around a long lost coffin invented by a mad man centuries ago. It is soon uncovered by Kyle, a good looking college junkie who only cares about refurbishing used collectibles for resale to fund his addiction and his lavish lifestyle with girlfriend Julie. Joined by his two buddies -- Sutton, a wheelchair-bound college mate who generously sponsors his board and lodging, and Platt, a steady, down-to-earth intellectual -- Kyle uncovers hidden biomechanical contraptions while cleaning out the casket, and ropes them in to figure out the who's, whats and how-much of the treasure.

As it turns out, the contraption has mysterious powers that give the living "occupant" a taste of the afterlife for a few short minutes. As the story unfolds, we discover how these addictive escapades unleash the deepest, darkest shadows trapped inside the kids. But their wanton abuse of the ghostmaker carries a heavy price, as the trio soon discover and subsequently attempt to outwit.

The story plods along smoothly and at a comfortable pace, drawing the viewers into the scenes and engaging their empathy with the characters. The smooth continuity and flow helped me to enjoy my voyeuristic journey with Kyle, Sutton and Platt, to discover exactly what dark secrets and consequences lie beneath the ghostmaker. The elements of suspense and science fiction help to cast away our sense of logic and doubts, to just enjoy the movie for the simple premise that it offers: a glimpse of what is possible if we can affirm the existence of the afterlife; to experience extra-corporeal abilities; and to explore how such newfound powers can simultaneously inspire and corrupt our mortal consciousness.

Overall, this is not a high-budget flick, but it makes optimal use of limited resources to convey an interesting plot in a simple, engaging way. The possibilities of ghostmaking are broad enough that there is even some potential left for a sequel!

I bought this dvd for the effects. I wasn't disappointed. OK, that's a tick. And the ghosts are creepy, not to mention the Ghostmaker him-creepy-self. This movie needed a few more lessons on tension and building horror. It's on the way there, but not quite nailing it. The actors are good, young. I'd not be surprised if the film makers were young too. I think that's where the downer is coming in. So much is wrapped up in the manic teenage hormones that the movie doesn't have the time to just settle down and make us frightened. It definitely has some very cool ingredients to do that, but seems to lack enough time. Everything is a bit rushed. That's my take. I'm still glad I bought the dvd. The wizard effects will find good company in my sci-fi collection, some of the soundtrack was cool, and I definitely enjoyed the movie, even if I didn't really break a sweat over death come knocking.

This movie had a very original concept that could have taken it way farther. The problem begins with the film's low budget. 1 million (USD)is really not much now days for a movie. Even with it's limited budget production still looked professional. The actors are no names in my book but did fairly well given this. Instead of making a long drawn out review I will say it's worth a look (especially compared to other Horror releases), and I would say that it deserves higher than its current 4.4 score. Special effects were alright but story-line becomes a bit cheesy as it progresses when it starts off with such a COOL concept and history. I would say it's worth a look for sci-fi/horror buffs!

If cool ideas or concepts would be the only indicator or rating barometer, we would talking a whole different ball game right now. But we are not, because the execution of said idea should at least be good too. Talking about good and involving anything that is shown in this movie would be a travesty. I can't judge the actors by one performance (or rather I don't want to), but they're not really helping the case delivered with this movie.

Don't get me wrong, the whole thing is half hearted at best. The script seems to be incomplete, the characters are shallow at best and the twists are funny, if you're good humored. The effects could be called OK I guess, but only by very low budget standards. In other words: You can smell the CG miles before it hits the screen. If you can't watch things like that, don't even bother. A shame, because it did sound interesting ... which brings us back to square one!

I got to watch "The Ghostmaker" for the second time now, and must admit that I could only vaguely remember fragments from the movie from the first time around.

But I have to say that the movie just wasn't much better actually the second time around. Sure, it has some good aspects here and there, I will get to those in a bit, but in overall then this just was a less than mediocre foray into the horror / thriller genre.

"The Ghostmaker" is about a some friends who stumble upon an ancient coffin from the 15th century, which turns out to be an intricate machine that can project a person into a ghost-like incorporeal state. And what seems to be fun and games soon turn out to have deadly consequences.

The concept idea of this machine is actually interesting, and it is apparently based on some real idea, nay fantasy idea of some long dead inventor.

However, the storyline just wasn't impressive enough to make "The Ghostmaker" a particularly enjoyable horror movie. Why? Well, because it was so predictable that it hurt. You knew what would happen long before it did, and you could see what would be the result of things in the movie a mile away.

The acting in the movie was fairly good, and people did perform adequately with their given roles, despite having a fairly generic script and storyline to work with.

The reaper figure was actually interesting, especially since it was tied to the coffin and had machinery parts to it as well. That was actually a great touch of detail and concept idea that worked out quite well. However, it just wasn't much of a menacing presence.

And as for the special effects in the movie, well the special effects team actually managed to pull off the effects quite nicely and also in a believable manner. And that lifted up the movie quite a bit.

"The Ghostmaker" is certainly a watchable movie, you just shouldn't expect to be blown away by it. I am rating it four out of ten stars because it just isn't an outstanding or a particularly memorable movie. And as for it being a horror movie, then it just lacks to muster a punch that makes you take notice.