A Ghost Waits

"A Ghost Waits" has a great promise, where a lonely man meets a lonely ghost and they start to like each other very much. While there are some negatives, they don't really stop the film from being an enjoyable viewing once.

The story does start off a bit slow and dull, and frankly the "romance" between the handyman (paid to fix up an unoccupied home so others can move in) and the centuries-old pretty ghost happens way too fast and seems too contrived. A better ides would have had the man move in the home as the owner, so the relationship can grow over time. Here's it's just way too rushed.

The movie is also partially described as a "comedy," but I'm guessing that wasn't the initial case. There seems to be some instances that were intended to be serious, but they came off an unintentionally funny, so to play it safe, "comedy" was added to the film's basic description.

"A Ghost Awaits" is shot well given the budget, and the actors try their best and do a decent job, no worse than anyone in a major production really.

The ending is done well, but we're not really convinced as to why that had to be done, at least not yet. Again, way too much too soon in the relationship.

If this idea was done on a higher level, the film could have been much better. But for what it is, "A Ghost Awaits" is good, just more likely than not, something you won't view a second time.

Artily shot in black & white this could be lazily described as a cross between Beetlejuice and Ghost. It is so much more than that, a real grower, it is essentially a tale of two very lonely people - one a 30 something house cleaner and the other a singer who happens to have died 200+ years ago. If the ending doesn't get you then you have no feelings. The excellent soundtrack fits just perfectly.

I don't know what it is about this film but I found it so wonderful.

I wouldn't call it a horror, more of a love story.

Emotional and funny.

This 'movie is a interesting spin on boy meets girl story... The ending is adorable and romantic but overall movie is great well paced no long moments or useless time filler scenes. It is a low budget but was well presented and overall very satisfying.

An ultra low budget romance/horror that actually has some really great and emotional moments, unfortunately brought down by a lot of pretty obvious flaws.

First let's get the low budget stuff out of the way. It was clearly made on the cheap. One of the first panning shots we get looks like they didn't properly loosen the tripod so it just jitters along. Some shots seem pretty flat in terms of framing and lighting. But occasionally, maybe by luck or maybe but skill, the film does look good. Certain moments look great with the black and white emphasizing some purposeful lighting choices. While it never quite shakes it's general cheapness, it's not student film bad. More like a student filmmaker who actually has some talent doing something a little more interesting.

But then there's the story. It's an extremely interesting concept, but something about the execution doesn't quite work. Maybe it was the restraints of a low budget, but it just sort of jumps into things in an awkward way. It also takes quite a long time to get into the meat of things, lingering on the "haunted house" aspect that I found to be weaker and more clichéd (although some of that is purposeful and contains nods to many different horror films.) Considering it's a short film, the extended first act causes the development of the main characters to feel way too fast to be fully believable, which is a shame because I found the ending to be extremely emotionally powerful.

Then there's the two leads. They both have a slightly amateurish quality to them, but they also have their moments. I found Natalie Walker to be the stronger of the two. There's something about her performance that made the romance believable. You feel for her and her situation, even though it's something otherwordly. MacLeod Andrews who plays our lead also has some really good comedic moments, but he sort of felt like he was always aware of the camera being there. Not that he gives an awful performance, but it always felt like he was saying "I'm acting!" as opposed to being fully relaxed and immersed in his character.

I had a lot to say about this because there's something there that I really liked, but it's kind of poorly executed in a few too many ways for me to fully invest myself in. But considering some of the really high praise other people have given it, I see it becoming a bit of a cult classic in the future.