Ghostwood

The idea of using irish folk lore, or folk tales and weaving them into an horror story could be a good approach, if director/screenwriter knows what they are doing. But unfortunately not so in this case.

Director/screenwriter Justin O'Brien seems to have very little knowledge about the horror genre or how to create suspense on the screen. This is a very flawed, bland and sometimes boring ghost story with few redeeming qualities.

Young man in NYC gets a letter about a father(who recently died) he never knew. He goes to Ireland in search of his heritage and stumbles across a family secret that involves the undead.

What should been a dark, suspenseful, supernatural thriller, becomes in Justin O'Briens hands to boring, flawed, badly written ghost story. O'Brien seems not to know how to create a chilling atmosphere and therefore the film never becomes scary enough.

There are some scenes with right amounts of gore, that delivers and also some scenes featuring the ghosts that will surprise the audience but in the end it all falls flat.

I was also hoping that O'Brien would use more of the irish mythology, folk lore into this film but he never does. It is a bit of shame really, since we don't get to see that many horror stories with connection to Ireland.

Even more flawed productions like Leprechaun (1993),Rawhead Rex (1986) is far more entertaining then this film.

Too bad because I had hoped for a new spin on the evil irish banshees myth. Viewers should rather watch Isolation (2005) a flawed but far more entertaining horror from Ireland.

Or watch old, BBC made for TV, horror like The Stone Tape (1972).

Ghostwood is a good film. A subtle tension is maintained throughout. As the film seemed to be over quite quickly, I felt this was a promising sign.

However, it could be said that the plot was perhaps a bit predictable.

On the other hand the music was excellent and certainly contributed to the underlying threat of evil throughout the film. The acting was also reasonably convincing.

I would not normally watch a horror/thriller so I may not be the best judge but I reckon if you like the type of film that makes you a little jumpy with a bit of a twist you will enjoy this one!