The Pale Man

With a budget so low the "ghost" effects are simply an actor with a lot of makeup to make him "pale", there's not really anywhere to go with a film. Add in some flat performances, some way over the top performances, some dumb as dirt decision making by the protagonist and dialogue that Tommy Wiiseau would find laughable and you have waste of an evening.

That about sums this little film up.

Started really well , nice camera action and a good beginning; the director has created a sinister atmosphere reminiscent of Children Of The Corn and the music was spot on but the film just dragged on as there was very little story and what it was is just a very basic murder mystery that could have been an episode of Murder She Wrote. I was half waiting for Jessica Fletcher to turn up to join all the other old ladies in the film.

The girl who plays the boarding house receptionist was actually the most interesting character in the whole film and yet she was not part of the plot which is a missed opporchancity!

Once again another film that had promise but failed to deliver which seems to be the absolute norm now...sadly...

While most mystery buffs probably figured out what had happened to the missing wife and mother in ten minutes, it was a good story.

It was a bit slow for me but I did enjoy the acting. All of the characters had little quirks, making them so very human.

Yes, it was a low budget film, but it worked anyway. I think the happy ending is important. We all need a little bit of hope, especially now.

The movie is based on a short story and hence all the nonsense in the movie of the girl coughing and splitting blood all the time and other unwanted scenes. It is just a typical murder ghost story concoction executed by an amateur director who is still a work-in-progress. It is kind of funny in parts. Avoid this movie and watch some other movie worth your time and intelligence.

I try to go easy on low budget indie films. Some are really good, better than the usual big Hollywood studio stuff.

Not this one. The protagonist, Taylor Bostwick, is like the worst actor in a high school play. She's incapable of delivering lines with any conviction or nuance. She's cardboard faced and just generally vacuous. This is truly one of the worst lead performances I've ever seen. The supporting actors don't fare much better.

As to the script, she's on the phone to her shrink and tells him that she's stranded in some nowhere town. She asks him to phone in a scrip to the pharmacy and then hangs up. She hasn't told him the name of the town or the number of the pharmacy. But a couple of scenes later, she's taking the pills. Writing this bad is inexcusable.

The time period of the story is not even clearly established. It appears to be early 1960's, but there are all kinds of inconsistencies. Bostwick's car is an early 1960's Ford Falcon, but when she's sitting behind the wheel, the mechanic tells her to "pop the hood." In the early 60's, cars didn't have inside hood releases. A pay phone in a later scene says "50 cents." Phone calls were a dime back then.

As to the story, it involves a missing woman, and the "mystery" is so inane that you'll be rolling your eyes.

I watched this with a kind of horrified fascination. Movies this bad should be taught in film schools as examples of what not to do.