Ravenswood

Pretty awful all around. Unlikeable characters who use the oldest lines in comedy. The Virgin Hoe is a great touch. Baaaaarf.

Two young couples turn up at a supposedly haunted house for the weekend where they are met by a third. That sentence may contain a paucity of detail but, regardless of how much it is elaborated on, you know what comes next.

The house concerned is actually an abandoned hospital in Australia where a notorious doctor used to practise shock therapy. The third couple are the custodians, and for a fee they will show you around the premises where you can experience the feel like no other haunted house in Australia complete with cold spots nurtured by dry ice.

Yes, to the surprise of the custodians and the disbelief of the paying customers, a real spirit is unleashed, and yes, it does start killing them, and yes, this is not the sort of situation in which any rational person wants to find himself. The ghosts are rational too, one of them, because in the penultimate scene, having possessed the body of one of the people she/it hasn't killed, she explains at length to the other survivor how wrong he is about ghosts. Does this film have any good points? Well, at the moment you can watch it free on YouTube, but you may still want your money back. The reasons "Ravenswood" doesn't score zero points are because one is mandatory and because all concerned are clearly rank amateurs, and should not be judged by the standards of professional actors, scriptwriters or producers. In short, pity.

Plot

When 4 American tourists - Sofia, Carl, Belle and Michael - go on a ghost tour, they get much more than they bargained for, when the ghosts of an evil Doctor and his last patient victim trap them in the old abandoned psychiatric ward.

Cast

Made by Jon Cohen who brought us the even worse 7th Hunt (2009) and starring an unknown cast who range from awful to tolerable. Madeline Marie Dona was the only standout performer here.

Verdict

Now first of all let me say this is not a found footage movie, this surprised me somewhat as they usually are. The plot, you've seen it COUNTLESS times before. A group of 20 somethings go to an asylum and fall foul of the spirits within.

First of all let me be clear that this is on a shoe string budget, if you're expect anything even remotely a "Special" effect or impressive kill you'll be sorely disappointed. Instead it tries to play it in a more subtle fashion however after some very weird hokey montages at the beginning you swiftly realize this film doesn't have much to deliver.

The finale isn't awful however by that point you're bored, burned out and simply do not care in the slightest.

Ravenswood isn't the worst I've seen lately but considering just how much I watch that's not saying much. This Australian film is one exclusively for the indie ghost movie diehards.

Rants

Why do they always make the sceptic an ahole? He was essentially a bad guy here because he attitude was that dire and that always tends to be the case. I'm a sceptic of such things, or as I like to call myself an adult with a fully functioning brain but I wouldn't be rude to the guide of a ghost tour! I simply wouldn't go in the first place on account of having the foresight to know with overwhelming confidence that no supernatural entities would be joining us.

The Good

Madeline Marie Dona Passable finale You can tell what they were trying to do

The Bad

Rather boring Totally recycled Some underwhelming cast/characters Those montage scenes!

The important thing that one must be able to do to actually enjoy movies such as this is suspension of disbelief. Without that, good luck being able to enjoy any movie I can think of. It is a ghost story in an abandoned mental hospital (always creepy) If you can just take that in its behalf and run with it you will enjoy it. If you can't do that.. how do you enjoy anything. Persnickety people suck.

Nothing worse than Aussies pretending to be Americans, the accents drop out and then it takes away the suspension of disbelief. Great looking actress but the standard of acting is very low. Another supernatural genre film made by Aussies and the special effects are also very poor. I would forgive all that if you just gave me compelling characters that are not flat and wooden and were 2 dimensional with layers. Give me heart and emotion. Locations were fantastic but 1 star for effort.