Ghost Crew

From the moment I started watching 'Ghost Crew' I was immediately struck by how cheap it looked. It was half 'found footage' and half 'documentary' and there were no actors or special effects to speak of. It's at this point where you'd probably expect me to say how bad it was and how much I regretted putting it on. However, for some reason I found the low-budget effort quite captivating. And this was largely to do with the locations.

As I say, the film-makers obviously didn't have much of a budget to hire studios and create great epic sets to film on, so instead they seem to have scouted out real life locations and just filmed there. And the locations are indeed pretty chilling (mainly the abandoned building that is a 'hospital' for the purposes of this story).

Although, I still take issue with the title 'Ghost Crew' as it makes me think of something 'ship-related' where in fact it's about a team of documentary film-makers who are investigating a string of historic deaths at an abandoned hospital in Scotland.

Sadly, the acting isn't up to much. Most of the glorified extras who double as interviewees really do chew the scenery, which is a shame. The main protagonist (who looks like a Scottish Dante Hicks from the 'Clerks' trilogy and constantly wears a brown raincoat) also overacts, but, seeing as he's technically presenting the show, his overacting comes across like it's a little more intentional and a trait of the character as he tries to hype his own paranormal show.

Overall, it's nice to see a film where it does its best to provide a more 'realistic' feel, rather than relying on huge CGI set pieces and monsters galore. The only real gripe I had was from a technical standpoint where 90% of the film is shot from the cameraman's perspective, i.e. 'found footage' style, yet suddenly - and without warning - the shot will jump to a more typical Hollywood 'third person' perspective which is a little jarring in terms of narrative structure.

I probably wouldn't pay to watch this in a cinema, but if you can find it on a streaming service and want your chills a little more grounded then you can definitely do worse.

I'm a big supporter of independent film and am in constant admiration of indie filmmakers and their art. This was a fun supernatural whodunit with a bumbling paranormal investigator on the trail of a vengeful spirit. Directo Lawrie Brewster andt the creative team have done an amazing job with the available budget and have come up with a thoroughly entertaining and engaging film.

Tom Staunton as the Ghost Crew TV show presenter and Megan Tremethick as the intern are both great with Megan's calm air of mystery complementing Tom's manic ineptitude.

I look forward to seeing more from Hex studios who made the film..

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Though you can tell it's an indie production, the acting is solid, the visuals work for the setting, the plot (though low on in your face scares) is consistent and enjoyable.

If you want gore or a jumpscare every 7 minutes then Ghost Crew won't be for you but if you're after a film that features a paced build up, that feels like it's making the protagonist a little mad in his pursuit of the supernatural then I would give this a whole hearted recommendation.

But more Ghost Crew shows you don't need a film to be full on horrific imagery every few minutes to be scary.

The cast and crew should be proud of what they've done here.

That's not to say the film is perfect of course, but you don't need to be perfect to be good.

I really enjoyed the story, I thought it was well thought out with some really nice. I did suspect the twist from fairly early on, but I didn't mind because I did enjoy how they did their investigation for the show. Supernatural horror is my favourite actually, and this was really good.

The location was really cool as well.

It was low budget, and "found footage" but, it really works. The acting is pretty good too. It wasn't super scary with tension, but it was certainly intriguing. There wasn't any quality issues going on either, and I think this is a nice indie gem.

I was overall pleasantly surprised.

Knowing full well the limited budget of indie films this little gem absolutely sparkles.

It's indie so you have to expect elements to be exactly that. Where the team behind this film can shine they truly grab the opportunity with both hands.

The lead displays incredibly natural awkwardness which is genuinely funny and the supporting cast do everything you'd expect people in their characters situation to do.

The interactions are everything. The female who turns up is chamringly bewildered but is engaged fully as you'd expect by Tom's enthusiasm.

His camera man almost seeming to work against him. Not just responding to the main character but going about his business like you'd expect from a wilful camera man.

The film does well in story too. Most ghost movies end up with an ending which seems quite flimsy. Here, you get the plausible (for a ghost story) not easy to do at all but in this case most satisfying.