Ghost of the Needle

Just saw this the other day after a few recommendations from the net. I'm always looking out for new good horror stuff.

It's a strange film really. The acting is straight from the amateur dramatics society, it really is that bad. The scrip is very ropey with poor dialogue that doesn't really go anywhere. But somehow the film keeps you watching right up until the unfortunately lame ending. The film is genuinely creepy in places.

If you like this sort of thing done properly, check out Brad Anderson's fantastic, "session 9" (2001), the movie Ghost of the needle is desperately trying to be.

The Avenet-Bradleys are two for two as they follow up their excellent first film, Freez'er, with an equally impressive sophomore effort. A photo-artist kills women and photographs their death faces to adorn his private studio, yet when his agent gives him a commissioned job (which he accepts hesitantly), he finds himself mixed up in the scheme of a husband looking to catch his wife cheating on him. Director/star/writer/producer Brian Avenet-Bradley does a bang up job in the lead role and wrings an incredible amount of suspense in this, his and co-producer/wife Laurence Avenet-Bradley's second feature film. For fans of quality independent genre fare, you can't do much better than this taut, well-acted suspense/thriller whose ending will genuinely give you the chills.

"Ghost of the Needle" is the compelling and taunt story of Jacob (Brian Avenet-Bradley), a talented photographer who enjoys injecting young women with drugs and then photographing their dead bodies. His agent, Richard (Greg Thompson), is frustrated that Jacob won't sell any of his work, even after a nice commission to photograph a bridge at a particular time of day.

Jacob manages to find a new girl, Aimee (Cheri Christian), while photographing the bridge. But after this murder, funny things start to occur in Jacob's studio.

I'd say more, but that would just ruin the experience of viewing this incredible piece of cinema.

The film is directed and edited with confidence by Avenet-Bradley, and shot with skill by his wife, Laurence Avenet-Bradley. No shot is superfluous or poorly staged. The script, done by Avenet-Bradley is a refreshing one, choosing to center on the killer as the primary character.

It's interesting that Jacob almost becomes the sympathetic "hero" of the film as Avenet-Bradley surrounds Jacob with unlikable people, including his slimy agent, a nasty detective/bounty hunter (Kevin Bartolomucci), and Steve, the wealthy man (Jack Harkleroad) who is commissioning Jacob to photograph the bridge. The only truly likable person Jacob meets is Laura (Leigh Hill), Steve's wife.

None of these people have done anything wrong or even given you a reason not to like them, and yet I found myself viewing Jacob the most likable fellow, despite the fact that he's serial killer. It's a refreshing shift from having the strong hero battling the interesting psycho to focusing only on how the killer is viewing this world around him.

Avenet-Bradley's Jacob is a sullen and nearly emotionless man. It works. "It's technical," Jacob says early on. And it is. The film makes a point of showing the audience just how methodical Jacob is in his photography, with a wonderfully done sequence of photo development by hand (Reminded me of "One Hour Photo"'s explanation of how of one-hour places do your snapshots). The victims are picked purely by chance. Jacob then goes through the process of propping them up, photographing them, and the developing and framing the pictures. The method has meaning for him, not so much the result.

Thompson's Richard is a very Hollywoodish agent, all smiles with customers, slave driver with Jacob. His line delivery is dead-on and wonderful, injecting deadpan humor into a very serious, unfunny film.

The real gem is Leigh Hill as Laura. I was a bit iffy concerning the performance when Laura first appears, but by the end, I was sold on Hill. She plays Laura with serious inner-strength and a quiet, loving power that nicely balances Jacob's technical methodicalness.

I'm not a person that gets scared at films that have tons of blood, lots of gore, etc. I'm more about atmosphere and creating an air of suspense and danger. "Ghost of the Needle" does a fine job of doing these things. Laurence Avenet-Bradley's camera work goes a long way to achieving this by weaving in and out of the truly spooky warehouse with wonderful dolly shots throughout the film. Additionally, Mark Lee Fletcher's score is eerie and haunting, only increasing the strength of the film's thriller capabilities.

"Ghost of the Needle" is a fine, compelling suspense story with fine acting and technical work. This is a little film that deserves a big theatrical break.

In my living room I don't give independent films any extra love because they are the struggling underdogs who have to work twice as hard for half as much. In short this movie just simply wasn't good. Bad Acting. No special effects to mention. The entire movie was shot in three locations I believe and none of those where very interesting.

I have no idea what others saw to give this movie anything above four stars. I sat down expecting to find a that sleeper gem we all hope to find but instead just got another low budget-put me to sleeper. Where was the scary stuff? A few animated corpses that did? or didn't? exist really don't qualify as scary to me. The story had some potential but was stifled bad acting, boring and limited use of shooting locations, and when it was all done it really was just a "by the book" rubber stamped horror-which I have no problem with what-so-ever if all the other variables are right. In "Ghost of the Needle" those variable weren't right though and it oozed low budget which generally makes for a poor horror.

Unless you're an independent film nut or just have an adventurous taste in films, avoid this one. Even if you feel like gambling some time on it don't waste a weekend night for it. Watch it while folding laundry on Tuesday night or listen to it while doing dishes Thursday night, etc… I watched "Ghost of the Needle" on DVD. The quality was fine and although you can pick one of many reasons not to watch this movie one reason can't be because of how it will look on your screen

For a low-budget Indie movie, Ghost of the Needle was not bad at all, far from perfect but one of the better ones. The dialogue is rather choppy with a few frothy unnecessary parts. The characters could have been developed more, Jacob gets interesting in the latter parts of the movie but the rest came across as stock clichés. There are moments where the movie does get sluggish and like it's not going anywhere. And there is the odd plot-line that disjoints things and bogs the movie down, they also don't add a whole lot. However, it does look quite good, any effects are used minimally while the settings are appropriately grim while not overly so and the camera work is fluid and atmosphere-enhancing. The music is creepy, while the story has a great deal of suspense and quiet menace, not all of it works but most of it does and very well. What happens isn't scary as such but there is almost always something unsettling, the closing scene is tense and the idea of what Jacob does with the bodies is done harrowingly, an equally harrowing idea to start with. Brian Avenent-Bradley directs reasonably stylishly and with a sense that he knows what he's doing. He's also in the lead role, his performance is not a consistent one, he's somewhat too sullen and uncertain to begin with but when Jacob has more to him later on he does make for a subtly menacing serial killer. The acting isn't award-worthy but it's not too bad, Greg Thompson puts a lot into his performance and it shows, he's very enjoyable to watch. All in all, wasn't expecting much but Ghost of the Needle was an enjoyable and reasonably crafted movie but won't be for all tastes. 6/10 Bethany Cox