A Stranger Among the Living

A man is stalked n haunted by the dead after he escapes a shooting. The film moves at a very slow pace, it has some creepy moments, the lack of budget is noticeable, it has jump-scares which gets repetitive, people appearing in front of each other and that too with a loud music. Somewhere somebody comapred it to Invasion of Body Snatchers n praised it tremendously. I got enticed after reading this fake review.

Living with a traumatic past, a man wounded by his inaction during a work massacre at a local school finds himself and a colleague survivor being haunted by what appear to be the ghosts of those who died at the scene who intend to make the two of them ghosts as well, forcing him to find a way to stop them.

There was quite a lot to like with this one. Among the films' better qualities is the wholesale terror that emerges from its uniquely creative and engaging setup. The opening of this one makes it abundantly clear about the situation, as the car-ride through the neighborhood and stopping off at the gas-station makes for a great introduction to everything as the ghosts and visions he sees constantly remind him of the situation without even dropping the full reveal at that point. That the unfurling tragedy which takes place shortly thereafter not only comes off with an appropriately grim level of realism and believability while also serving as a realistic method to undertake the resulting hauntings that plague him gives this a rather enjoyable set up to bring about the eventual creepy actions. That turns into the film's other great aspect in the general attitude and atmosphere of its scares which are generally quite creepy. The generally creepy ghosts following him around help to enhance these scenes quite nicely, as the flash visuals of the murdered individuals following him along his day or the belief that they're stalking him at the multi-tiered garage manage to contain quite an effective chilling atmosphere through their continued presence closing in on him. That the drama aspect here tying in the grief of him not being able to help those that were lost because he failed to report the initial stages of the accident ends up affecting the rest of the film, from the confrontations at his friends' house or back home with his mother that not only inject this with some traumatic moments but creepy action as well. Overall, these here really make for a lot to like here. There are some minor flaws here. The main factor here is the drama-focused storyline that moves along at a far more lethargic pace than most would tolerate here. While weaving through a plotline that understandably needs to breathe and generate its emotional resonance with the tragedy at the school, the idea of undertaking these actions in the tempo and rhythm they are played here focuses more on a dull drama than a riveting, breakneck haunting. Scenes involving him trying to come to terms with the incident while living with his mother's overbearing and protective nature or making friends with the fellow member of the support group serve as fine aspects to incorporate into the story but just add to the film's somewhat dull running time. The other problem here is a decided lack of intensity in the ghost sequences. That the majority of the jump-scares here revolve around a figure suddenly appearing behind or beside the guy as he turns around to face a new direction while a loud, intense musical stinger hits on the soundtrack cause these scenes to appear lazy, formulaic and cheap in the worst way. That comes to pass in the finale more than anything where the admittedly chilling revelation of their reason for haunting him makes the confrontations seem to run together in a blur of ghostly figures popping out of nowhere before more appear to him. The action itself works nicely but the motivations behind it are where it falls flat, which is what holds this down somewhat slightly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

The storyline is somewhat like final destination, only more horro-like. So the storyline isn't unique. The acting isn't that good, but good enough to be believable. It appears that there is absolutely no budget beyond a tank of gas for the main character's car. Somebody called this a slow-moving ghost story and that's a good way of putting it. So when something happens, maybe that's why it's even more intense. This, coupled with all the creepiness, makes the movie kind of scary. I can see that if somebody perused these same techniques, there could be more like it. So if everything is mediocre or less, why a decent rating? Because it's a little creepy at times, and was entertaining enough for me to keep watching until the end. As slow as it was, it never got boring.

And by poor I mean one effect the director can't get enough of. It's as if it's Christmas Day and this is his favorite present which he's gonna play with all day. I'm talking of jump scares. I'm not kidding, there seem to be jump scares every few seconds in this film. Before long you want to scream at the screen enough already, put your bloody toy away. Otherwise it kept my interest until the end, which is more than I can say for most cheap horror movies. I was going to give this 6 but deducted 3 for those stupid jump scares. That's how annoying they are.

A teacher wakes up from a terrifying dream predicting a shooting at the school where he works and, when he fails to prevent it thanks to an incompetent administration, he's haunted by the undead who want to get back at him for not trying harder to prevent it.

A Stranger Among the Living is an above average indie horror film that boasts a few strong performances and memorable scare sequences. There are a few slight lags in the pacing midway through and the ending might be more confounding than satisfying to some, but there's a creepy mood here that's undeniable and I found it really easy to get into the story. It also suffers a bit from being loaded with a few too many jump scares. While most are well timed and effective, a few come across as silly and the story is interesting enough to where it didn't need them and it feels as if the filmmakers might be trying to cater their slow burn, character driven horror film to the more ADD Blumhouse/Conjuring/Insidious generation.