Pay the Ghost

Having enjoyed 'vintage Cage' in The Rock, Con Air, Face-Off, Captain Correli etc, frankly, I was hoping for a comeback, but, I didn't find it. Scripting at times is woefully simple, used to stitch the scenes, 'we need to discover xyz', 'how will we do that' and into the next scene! It feels predictable, it doesn't go deep, on the plus side, there were a couple of goose-bump scares, so I was submerged well enough at points and certainly the pace picks up during the final third. If there was a blackout power cut during the film, I wouldn't even consider to go back to finish it, it is not a good film, but, its not a bad one. Sunday evening B grade fodder.

Pay the Ghost is pretty much as mediocre or average as they come. It's not bad, it's not good. It's just there in the middle. Right in the middle.

(In Norway we have a saying that directly translates to "in the middle of the tree", that expression describes this movie perfectly. I don't know what word in English is most suitable though)

Pay the Ghost had one jump scare that definitely did the job for me. I jumped, and got that cold chill inside my chest. But that was also the only time the movie was remotely scary. Not that it is much horror anyway. It's way more thriller/drama than horror, really.

Nick Cage is usually entertaining to watch, and also here. Sara Tancredi (you know, Prison Break) does an alright job, her character is a little annoying, but that's the scripts fault. The kid, well, he's.. OK. he has a couple of lines that sound out of place, but hey.

The effects are mostly good, except a couple of small problems here and there. The story is just interesting enough for me to wanna watch it through. But like I said, the main keyword here is mediocre. Meh. Commonplace. Average. Call it what you will. There are a couple of problems with the script, doesn't seem like a whole lot of thought went into it, at least not into all of it. But that was as I expected, really.

The movie looks pretty good. I don't know the budget, but it doesn't have that low budget-feel to it. I like it when movies look, you know, at least a little expensive.

This is one of those horror movies you can watch in the evening on a Sunday or whatever, not the kind you build a movie night around, see what I mean? It's right there smack-dab in the middle.

"What if all these children, missing on Halloween, in New York City are connected. What if there's something behind it?" What starts off as a fun trip with his kid to a Halloween carnival becomes a nightmare when the child goes missing. Now Mike (Cage) will stop at nothing to find him. When the one year anniversary comes and still no sign of his son he starts to experience strange things. He hopes these clues will help him, but the more he looks the more eerie things become. There seems to be some actors that seem to be in everything you see. Nicolas Cage is one of those actors. There is a new movie with him coming out constantly, and for people like me who don't like him it seems that it happens more than it should. His last movie, The Runner, wasn't bad and I did like it. Much like that movie this is actually a pretty interesting movie that was fun to watch and did have a little Poltergeist feel to it. As far as Cage goes, much like in The Runner he didn't do anything to distract from the movie and it was good in spite of him. Overall, one of the better horror as well as Cage movies in a while. I surprisingly liked this. I give it a B.

I strongly suspect that, around 2009-2010 or so, Nicolas Cage participated in a secret scientific experiment to have himself cloned, and that since then there are at least three of four Nicks walking around in Hollywood! How else would you explain the large number of Nick Cage vehicles that is getting released each year? I seems that, every time I blink my eyes, two or three titles are added to Cage's filmography here on IMDb. I don't mind, though, and it's even quite clever because I (and surely many others with me) will pretty much watch everything that Nicolas Cage stars in, regardless of the quality. And, granted, a lot of the B-type action/horror movies that he starred in lately are bad. Take "Pay the Ghost", for instance. I probably never would have bothered to continue watching if it weren't for Cage's name prominently decorating the opening credits, as it looks like just another derivative and predictable ghost story with a weak plot and an overload of fake scares. Make no mistake, "Pay the Ghost" IS a forgettable and weak supernatural horror entry, but hey, maybe I was in an exceptionally good mood because I nevertheless enjoyed it. The script is obviously trying to cash in on "Insidious", "Sinister" and every other recently released thrillers featuring ghost children, and Cage strictly acts on automatic pilot, but I was still interested in the plot of his missing son. Charlie mysteriously vanished during last year's Halloween parade and, nearly one year later, his father discovers that several children go missing every year on All Hallows Eve without ever getting found. Mike reunites with his estranged wife and together they stumble upon a harrowing tragedy that occurred nearly three centuries ago. Being a sucker for folklore/urban legend stories involving witchery and burning at the stake, I really dug the tale of Annie Sawquin, and director Uli Edel ("Christiane F.") did his best to insert a creepy atmosphere, decent special effects and eerie scenery. Certain scenes are quite brutal, like the fade of the spiritual medium, and the happy ending doesn't feel too forced. But, like I said, I was in a good mood and Cage himself probably already doesn't remember "Pay the Ghost" anymore.

Is Pay The Ghost a Cage classic like 8mm or Face/Off? Nowhere near it. Is it as bad as some people are making it out to be? No, and at least it's better than guff like Gone In 60 Seconds or Bringing Out The Dead. I mean what's better? A film that at least tries to put together some sort of a story (even if it is a bit lacking) or films that have none or are just earlier versions of Fast & The Furious? I know what I'd rather go with.

Pay The Ghost isn't that fantastic, and I'm not suggesting that it is, but for all the complaints it has received, it's altogether not THAT bad. I mean granted the story has been done a thousand times before and it's loaded with clichés (hard to find movies that don't have clichés to be honest), but this film never sets out to be a fantastic Oscar winning epic. It's a middle-of-the-road Horror film, and you get pretty much exactly what you pay for here. Nothing about the story kept me on the edge of my seat, but nothing about it wanted me to slit my wrists for something better to do either. There were a few decent moments scattered throughout, but it wasn't really all that scary.

Some people moan about him but for the most part I enjoy watching Nicolas Cage. Is he over-the-top in some films? Yes, but generally he's a pretty solid actor. You tend to kind of know what you'll get with Cage. His performance in Pay The Ghost isn't anything to write home about but I think with this type of film & story if he put any more into it, then it would have been too much. I don't generally mind Sarah Wayne Callies', but the characters she plays do tend to rub me the wrong way. Her character in The Walking Dead was like that and her character here did the same.

I'd say to give this film a shot if you like Nicolas Cage films or if there's nothing else better for you to watch, but other than that it's a bit of a watch it and forget it type of movie.