GhostWatcher
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Movie Reviews of GhostWatcher
Movie Review: Liked it for what it was.
Summary: 3 Stars
I like the movie. Yeah, it was a low budget movie with unseasoned actors but the story and the eerie scares, made it work for me. One could see that with a rewrite and larger budget, it could really be a gem. My grade is a solid B movie.Movie Review: "it's a shame it wasn't better"
Summary: 2 Stars
For anyone considering viewing this movie, buying it, or renting it, just one thing you should know... this is the equivalent of college film making, perhaps it actually is! This is not even B-Budget. However, once you get passed this and get used to the 'quality' of the acting and directing, it does improve. The worst elements are simply wooden 'first-flick-ever' acting, terribly corny and badly placed music, and a script that is not really complimented by the directing. Actually, very little benefits from the directing. In some places I'm not sure what could actually be done considering the plot seems to confuse the director when you listen to the extras.
Seriously, there are parts in the movie plot that just left me and my wife wondering what the heck just happened. Although we think we pieced it together, the explanation for some of the later scenes still seems both out of leftfield and lacking any kind of rationality.
My wife wanted to rent this one because of the word 'ghost' in the title, and I gave in and watched it with her, with low expectations. The only thing that really redeemed this movie for me were some of the outtakes in the extras menu. While there were no real scares in the film for me (mostly due to ineffective directing of the scenes and cheesey awful music) one part did give my wife a quick fright, while I was just rolling my eyes. The acting, especially early on is wooden and the main character, is given nothing to make her likeable to the viewer. The Ghost Hunter chick is the best thing about the movie and she sidelines the haunted chick for most of the film. But still, the acting may only have seemed to have improved because I quickly adjusted to the fact that this was not the hollywood movie I had assumed it was going to be. Not even Hollywood... Looks like it was shot in Maryland, or somewhere on the East Coast by a group of friends.
My wife's comments were simply "it's a shame it wasn't better."
Despite all this, I would actually recommend this film to anyone interested in making films, be they student films, small independent films, film shorts, or anything of that nature. However, there is no way this movie deserves anything higher than 2 stars. The only reason I didn't give it just one star was that I felt kind of sympathetic towards the novice production team. The director talks about hopes for a sequel. Well, I wish this movie the best of luck. It looks like those involved had a lot of fun making it.
Movie Review: Scary on a dark night but lacking in sense
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me say, there are some definately scary moments in this film, especially if you're watching it at night. During the day, though, it might just be funny as you notice all the plot holes.
I think David Cross is a decent director, and this movie definately has potential. However, he needs to find someone else to do the writing and acting. The acting in the movie reminded me of high school drama class. The plot has so many nonsensical parts, as I'll explain here.
Laura thinks her apartment is haunted, so she starts searching on the internet for info about ghosts. She comes upon this "ghost watcher" site, which the premise is supposedly the owner has cameras all over her house so you can report any suspicious activity. She finds this is just a front for a camwhore who is selling men access to the cameras in her house. But for some bizarre reason, Laura decides to contact her anyway for help with her ghost problem, knowing that the site is really just a clever porn site. Then Laura's friend begs the camwhore to help her with her ghost problem, despite the fact that both Laura and her friend know why she has a ghost problem and a internet porn star isn't really going to help with that issue. But it gives Cross the opportunity to put an idiotic and completely out of place scene of the camwhore stripping for the camera.
Anyway, the camwhore comes up with the "brilliant" idea that somehow digging up the corpse of the ghost who's haunting Laura and "making sure he's really dead" will solve her problem. I'm sure you can imagine how well THAT plan goes. And although I don't want to give it away, the ending is lame and doesn't make sense given events that happened earlier in the movie.
One thing you can say for Cross is he knows how to scare an audience, without any fancy special effects or equipment. Now, if only he can find someone to write a horror script that makes sense, that'd be a movie I'd want to see.
Movie Review: A very bad film with one or two redeeming aspects
Summary: 2 Stars
I've said it before about low-budget horror films: they can be great if done correctly, so it was easy for me to look past the sub-par acting, picture quality and sound of Ghost Watcher.
That said, this film was one of the worst low-budget, independent horror movies that I have seen in a long time. While, I credit it with at least having a story that carries it along, the story telling is not executed particularly well, and it winds up feeling like a very basic, boring ghost story. There are no scares in the film, and while the composed music was actually very fitting, the heavy metal songs that plagued the rest of the film were awful and had no place in this film.
What can be said about this film though, was that, while the directing was generally pretty bland, there were some particularly impressive shots, especially during the scene in the barn. I watched that scene with commentary because I was curious as to what the filmmakers had to say about those shots, and found the commentary to be pretty enjoyable, though not enough that I would sit through this movie a second time.
Also, and I feel this needs mentioning: this movie features the most blatant Evil Dead reference ever put to film. It has nothing to do with what is happening on screen, and is an incredibly shameless attempt at an homage. Not to mention, that Evil Dead is one of the best independent horror films of all time, and this one is very weak.
And again, I give the filmmakers huge credit for making such a low-budget film, but I just think it could have been done better.
Also, one more gripe, though not necessarily about the film itself, but about the DVD. For some reason, the scene selection menu is actually within the special features menu, which may not be a big deal, but seems annoying if you plan on watching this movie more than once, since it could have been easily fixed. A separate scene selection menu seems standard on all DVDs these days.
Movie Review: GHOST OF A CHANCE
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm going way out on a limb here and giving the movie two stars because it started out differently and had some eerie moments. However, it isn't long before it descends into movie madness, with so many inconsistencies and plot holes that it could pass as Swiss cheese. Jillian Byrnes who "plays" Laura, our supposed heroine looks like a refugee from a rehab program, who develops agoraphobia after her parents are killed in a car accident and after this mysterious stalker takes her out to a barn and cuts her face up a little bit. She thinks she's "safe" in her apartment, although we later find out a secret she and her friend Nikki share that would negate her safety. Pretty lame writing. Marianne Hayden who plays Nikki has the emotional range of a pomegranate. Then enter Jennifer Servary who plays Elizabeth, the "ghostwatcher" who also does porn stuff on her web site, evidently to supplement her income. She gets involved in trying to piece together the puzzle's complex parts. Servary is the only one who comes close to having any acting chops, and notice I said close. The best thing about the DVD is the gagwatcher goofs. Director/writer David cross obviously had fun making this fluff, and there is one particularly funny segment in which flatulence is integrated in a scene a'la' Mystery 3000 Theatre or whatever. This is a dog, but it's a poodle and not a rottweiler.