The Ghostmaker

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.

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!

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!

I've been waiting for years to get my hands on a copy of this movie. And I was pleased to finally see it. I was worried when it spent so many years being delayed which raised some concerns. But it's a decent horror flick. The acting, film and effects are good and are on par with any well made modern flick. On a 1-10, I'd give it a 7 (I think more could have been done with the story or plot) but and 8 for subject matter and originality. The movie reminds me of the Guillermo del Toro movie Cronos. The ancient mechanical horror theme is very similar. The protangonists too are very flawed and the box brings their own demons to the surface. It doesn't scare me or really creep me out but it was entertaining and wasn't predictable.

I've seen tons of bad horror movies. I'll probably watch this movie aqain down the road at some point. I can't say that for many. I even purchased a copy of it.

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.