Director: Justin P. Lange
Year: 2018
Country: Austria
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Becoming lost in the forest, a blind boy believing that his abductor is holding him hostage finds that the one who freed him is the deadly ghost said to haunt the woods they're in and must put their newfound friendship to the test in order to navigate the dangers awaiting them on their journey.
Review:
For the most part, this was a decent if somewhat underwhelming entry. Among the better aspects featured here is the really intriguing and somewhat original storyline at play here. Treating the ghostly being as a vicious murderer with no remorse or empathy isn't really new, but the fact that she shows a kindness to the boy due to his condition offers a really interesting point of view. Able to not only interact with the surroundings by opening doors, manipulating objects as if she were a regular human and even bringing up a quality to their interactions which isn't normally associated with ghostly beings that all combine together towards giving this a decidedly fresh and original spin on the subject matter.
That also translates nicely into the film's other really great aspect here in the high-quality stalking scenes. The opening attack on the criminal is a fantastic set-piece within the house and out into the booby-trapped woods, while the ambush on the friendly officer attempting to help them showcases some rather fine brutality that really doesn't come up in most genre titles. The slaughter of the workers out in the woods attempting to find him offers some fine carnage as the inadvertent nature of him triggering her to action gives this some really fun moments as the stalking through the woods is quite creepy and chilling. Coupled with the fine gore effects as well as the stellar make-up on the ghost version of the girl, there's enough to like here that holds it up over it's few issues.
Among the film's problems is the absolutely dire pacing that transpires throughout here. The fact that it takes us around fifteen minutes before even attempting to move toward it's storyline offers very little of interest just watching the guy go through the woods up to the house, as the lack of energy for the scenes is incredibly dispiriting with no real effort made to generate some excitement in the matter. There's not a whole lot of really explosive energy or such going on through here as even their attempts to get away from the hunters doesn't ratchet up the tension here which it really should've. As well, the other real problem is the lack of explanation for the abduction as the inability to see what's going on with him being out of the way continually puts them in danger and making the final half more frustrating than scary. Otherwise, there isn't much else really wrong here.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
While this one does get a little slow and frustrating at points, there's a lot to like here with a far stronger and more poignant ghost story than expected to go along with some great ghost action when it happens. Give this one a go if you're looking for something different that the usual ghost fare or are willing to go along with these drama-heavy efforts, while those expecting more of a traditional type of stereotypical ghost effort should heed caution.
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