Director: Mark Byrne
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After a series of strange encounters, a group of people confronted by the ghosts of former horrific crimes committed in the area against them are forced to turn to a team of professionals to deal with them, but are soon drawn into a deadly battle for their lives during one of their missions.
Review:
Overall, this was a pretty solid indie effort. One of it’s better attributes is the generally simplistic story that packs in some intriguing information about the spirits and what they’re about. The idea of moving beyond the tired trope of ghosts and turning the beings into angry yet understanding spectral phenomena that are interested in trying to get the live people’s attention in order to accomplish an unfulfilled task before they died and are able to move around and interact and converse with select people around them. It’s a rather unique perspective on the traditional ghost formula rather than sticking murderous ghosts on people to deal with.
That’s not to say that there aren’t scenes of something interesting and creepy happening throughout here. The first series of encounters with the remnants in each of their homes come off decently enough, especially a protracted stalking scene throughout the several floors of the house which generates some enjoyable action. The clowns’ rampage throughout the community is the highlight with some silly antics through his absurd killing methods, while the finale with it’s series of confrontations and battles with the remnants in the grungy basement provide a lot to like while fixing the series of storyline issues that were brought up before, making for some enjoyable aspects to this one.
There are a few factors holding this one back. The main problem is the film’s ambitious low-budget tone that shines throughout this one which is merely a product of its creation. From the cheap and fuzzy digital look that completely burs out details in shots, simplistic guerilla-style sequences that look to be shot on the cheap or extra-long sequences involving side-plots that have no business being there other than being something cheap to film. The effects are essentially there in concept but the execution is a bit out of the limitations imposed by the low-budget, creating some laughable moments when there really shouldn’t be. It might take a while to get going, but otherwise, these are the film’s issues.
Overview: **/5
On the surface, there’s plenty of enjoyable aspects here that manage to offset a lot of the issues present from it’s obvious low-budget which does become somewhat limiting at times although not detrimentally so. Give it a look if you’re a real fan of these ambitious indie projects or find yourself drawn to this kind of effort while those that don’t appreciate and enjoy this style should heed caution.
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