Ghostkeeper

A bickering young couple and their sexy female friend are snowmobiling in the (Canadian?) wilderness when they run across an old hotel where they are forced to seek shelter from a sudden winter storm. At first the hotel seems to deserted, but then they run into a strange old woman who claims to be the caretaker and alludes to a having couple of "kids" "around somewhere". As night falls one of the girls disappears and the remaining pair realizes all is not as it seems in the hotel. This movie can be easily written-off as a cheap, Canadian rip-off of "The Shining", but that's not entirely fair--it also rips-off other movies like "The Sentinel" pretty severely. And it tries, very ham-handedly, to mine the native Canadian legend of the wendigo (spelled "windigo here for some reason).

This movie has very little going for it. The plot is pretty dumb and derivative. The dialogue is generally clunky (except maybe for a funny scene where the sexy blonde friend tells a story about seducing a substitute teacher when she was in high school). The characters range from bland to genuinely dislikeable (especially the guy). The girls both look good in their snowsuits but have no nude scenes, which doesn't have to be a deal-breaker except that the movie has one of those famous non-nude bathtub scenes just to kind of rub in the actual dearth of real skin. The one good thing I can say about this movie is that it does have a pretty effective atmosphere. The gloomy, snowbound hotel is eerie and portentous, even if there is no real payoff to justify all the eerie portentiousness.

This movie was made in the early 80's when the American horror film industry was starting to go south (figuratively), and the Canadian film industry, encourage by friendly tax laws, started to go south (literally). This movie is a little more ambitious than most of the Canadian tax shelter projects in that it wasn't content to be just another "Halloween" slasher movie knock-off. It kind of reminded me of "Death Ship", so if you liked that. . . It's hard to find to find these days though and probably not worth looking too hard for.

Ghostkeeper probably has one of the best horror movie settings ever, in my opinion. It takes place in an isolated old lodge (Deer Lodge, an actual functioning resort)amid the snowy Canadian Rockies, surrounded by huge snow-covered mountains and towering evergreen trees. The outdoor scenes alone make the film worth seeing. Once we get inside the lodge, we start running into some lighting issues. In some cases, the overly dark scenes are effective, especially when all you can really see are the character's piercing eyes. Also effective are the shots of the wendigo's basement enclosure, which is made out of blocks of ice, emitting an eerie blue light. Very cool. I also thought Paul Zaza's score worked well for the film. In particular, there is a strange synthesizer part that sounds like distorted wind or maybe a train...whatever it is, it's spooky as hell. The acting, unfortunately, is mediocre with the notable exception of Georgie Collins, who plays the "ghostkeeper". Her performance, especially in her last scene, is really disturbing and frightening. I recommend Ghostkeeper to any serious horror fan who likes creepy, atmospheric films.

Ghostkeeper (1981)

** (out of 4)

Jenny (Riva Spier), Marty (Murray Ord) and Chrissy (Sheri McFadden) are out snowmobiling when they come across an old lodge. The three end up staying the night there when they encounter a strange old woman but they have no idea of knowing that there's much worse there.

GHOSTKEEPER is a Canadian horror film that I've been wanting to see for many years and especially since there were some really glowing reviews out there. Some people called this one of the creepiest movies ever made but after viewing it I'm going to guess that those who said that probably saw this as a child. With that being said, GHOSTKEEPER turned out to be one of the bigger disappointments out there.

It's really too bad that the film didn't work better because the setting and location were wonderful. I really loved the snowy look to the film and I thought that director Jim Makichuk was able to milk some atmosphere out of the low budget. However, all of that is pretty much wasted because there's really not too much going on here. Apparently the production ran out of money so the script was scrapped and they just went along with whatever felt right.

That explains why there's really not too much of a plot here but what really kills the film is its ultra-slow style that really makes the film drag at times. I did find the three leads to be good enough in their roles and the supporting players were good as well. The film at least had an atmosphere but at the end of the day it's clear that the director was wanting to try and cash-in on THE SHINING but it just didn't work.

Poorly distributed during a period when the horror-film market was predominantly angled toward the slasher element, this low-key B effort is actually not bad at all, and should probably be reevaluated by genre fans.

A trio of young snowmobilers face mechanical problems deep in the forest, and chance upon upon a neglected and very isolated hunting lodge. Initially they believe the place to be abandoned, but latterly find it inhabited by a strange old lady and her son...as well as their "pet" Wendigo(a spirit of Native American lore, ever hungry for human flesh).

While there's not a lot of meat on the bones of this story, the subtle atmosphere of eerie desolation makes up heartily for that fact. And while the production values might be a peck below the par, GHOSTKEEPER maintains the methodical, slow and steady momentum of a dying heartbeat, a quality further punctuated by its lonely and foreboding deep-forest setting, wraithlike in its icy-white veil of winter snow. All in all, a forgivably flawed slow-burner which probably won't appeal to gorehounds or fast-action thrill seekers, but it should satisfy a low-pressure, caffeine-free type of viewership.

5.5/10

On a wintery New Year's Eve two women(Jenny and Chrissy)and one man(Marty)embark on a short snowmobile excursion.When the snowmobile breaks down,they are forced to seek refuge in a deserted hotel.There they confront powerful evil forces."Ghostkeeper" is a pretty creepy and atmospheric horror film which will keep you guessing until the end.The acting is solid and the atmosphere of fear and total isolation is well-captured.The locations sets(snowy mountains and a mansion in the middle of nowhere)provide some chills.Check it out if you are a horror fan.8 out of 10.