Ghosting

Ghosting within the first quarter of an hour had my attention, I was fascinated and I thought maybe just maybe this independent little mystery title could be something special.

It tells the story of a young man whose mothers mental health has driven her into an asylum and he fears he might be going the same way. He keeps seeing the same mysterious man in various photos but nobody else can!

The premise is great, the investigation and character development is solid and it all looks great enroute to the highly dissapointing finale. Sadly it just doesn't build to a decent payoff, in fact it barely has any kind of payoff at all.

This is yet another movie where a writer had a good idea but simply couldn't deliver an ending worthy of it.

Despite the finale the movie isn't entirely terrible, it's just like reading a Tolkein book where the final page was written by a 3yr old.

The Good:

Great concept

Very well made

The Bad:

The photo "Revelation" is beyond stupid

Finale kills the whole film

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

When looking for a missing friend the first place you should check is a sealed up cardboard box

Interesting and creative story but not very good acting and production. Some really weird soundtrack choices and unnecessary events.

Movie had much potential but failed on all aspects. Male characher was weak. Female characters were too restrained by the writing. Should have made the female role the hero and killed off the male first. Ending was lame

Ghosting is a delight, simultaneously satisfying horror fans and pleasantly surprising skeptics of the genre. It leavens horror with mystery, romance, and humor, then adds plenty of jump-in-your-seat moments to keep things moving. From the very beginning you'll find yourself trying to see beyond the screen. Who's doing that? Why? What's really going on?

It's only later that you'll think about the fact that all this was embedded in beautiful cinematography, highlighting the various plot points without hammering on them. The light on the stream in the opening scene. The oddly ominous diner. The farmhouse that should be inviting but decidedly isn't. The photography is a perfect fit for the plot and the action, drawing you in and keeping you there.

But my favorite thing about the film is the relationships: Matt's fraught but loving relationship with his mother, the easy familiarity of Lindsay's parents. Most of all I love Matt's friendship with Charlie. True friendship between a man and a woman is not often represented in film, and its presence here is both appreciated and refreshing.

Ghosting strikes the perfect balance between creepy and fun, and is beautiful to look at in the bargain.

Is the pacing off here-and-there? Yup. Do the connections between narrative threads become clear? Not always. Is the acting AAA? With the exception of Paul Fahrenkopf, the answer is no.

However, for a student-style, low-budget film, "Ghosting" is quite good. The basic premise is that a young college student with a troubled home life becomes enmeshed in a mystery when he picks up a part of a bracelet belonging to another classmate. Contact with that bracelet allows him/the other student to see things in photographs that others cannot see.

What follows is a sort of X-Files episode where both natural and supernatural explanations are uncovered over the course of the students' investigation of what they are seeing and why it might matter. While the ending does not quite tie things together, it does just enough to work. And, frankly, given the budget, there were some really good choices for camera/lighting use.

The bottom line is that there is a definite plot here and the film does just enough to keep us guessing until the final act. If you are expecting big budget lighting, writing and actors, then look elsewhere. But for what this is, it is quite good. (I have found that the Baltimore/mid-Atlantic offerings are often both languid and quirky in a way that appeals to me. This definitely was the case here.)