
To begin with, Adam Cesare the author is having one of the best years of his life in 2024, and getting the break that he deserves. He has written a film called Last Night at Terrace Lanes which is his debut screenplay and is quite good, and later this year the third installment in his Clown in the Cornfield series comes out. Also, The Stylist’s writer and director Jill Gevargizian is not going anywhere. That is great news for the horror genre. Gevargizian and Cesare combine their unique styles seamlessly and the result is a riveting film.
In the case of Ghost Game, it comes at a rather interesting time, or what I call a very dark irony in the narrative. I only recently went down a rabbit hole of infuriating fascination with an old YouTube channel belonging to Ally Law. He was a young Brit who used to do overnight challenges for the purpose of gaining views. Along with some friends, Ally used to go into various businesses that were closer to closing time and hide inside until the workers locked up. After the gyms and trampoline parks finished their working hours, they would let loose all night long, sneaking out at dawn or fleeing from police if it became necessary. Or, as they are named in Britain, policeman officers.
For quite some time, I have also been outlining a horror script but then I came across Ghost Game! You had a head start on me Adam, and I admit that your writing has been ten times better than what I would have been able to write.
Ghost Game centers on Laura (Kia Dorsey) and Adrian (Sam Lukowski), two content creators who complete long overnight challenges in occupied houses under the instructions of Mr. Wattley (Aidan Hughes). They force ‘feigned’ paranormal experiences on homeowners and pretty much make them believe there is abnormal activity in the house. By a twist of events, Vin (Zaen Haidar), the new boyfriend of Laura, finds out about her rather disturbing job and practically inserts himself into the work dynamic between Laura and Adrian Vin usurps Adrian in the most recent exorcism conducted by Laura. Only, it seems the house which they are entering might have more in store than anyone has hoped for Including the tenants who have only just moved in.
Laura and Adrian seem to owe their inexplicable presence on the internet to Mr. Wattley and vice versa. Calling them influencers would not do justice to their stature but it is obvious that their number of subscribers is sufficient to provide for their needs. Screenlife films have become one of the most abused sub subgenres of films and have become quite boring. Ghost Game gives us the best of both worlds.
It’s obvious from the very beginning that Laura does not fall in the good category. She is not evil certainly, but what she does for a living is downright antagonistic. It should be stated that Ghost Game has its own unique style and perspective of screenlife which eschews the notion of being a found footage film. Rather, it has a series of torture being done to the content creators while the work shows it as a new and normal film. This is advantageous to both the film and its audience. Instead of spending an hour and a half watching Joseph Winters awkwardly clenching his teeth, we have content creators who desperately try to make sense of what they did instead of forcing them to act like content creators.
Everyone’s performances in this film are star quality without a single exception. But the cherry on the cake is quite evidently Kia Dorsey. Each performer had to find some excellent ways to perform against each other in interesting manners, but no one will be as impressive as Kia Dorsey, who is destined to become a goddamn horror icon. There is no one quite like her who can grasp the genre in America as she has, and Laura is simply about her interpretation of the character which is something this genre has not seen for a long time.
We spent a lot of time being overly critical about these screenlife-found footage movies, but if I were to consider this a found footage from Laura’s point of view, I would have been a thousand percent fine with that. She’s that good.
While this motion picture was for the most part good, I do think it had a couple of flaws, even though they did not take anything away from my appreciation of the film. The most glaring weakness that Ghost Game encounters is an extremely haphazard last act. It simply culminates. This could be because of Cesare being a rather inexperienced writer and wants to follow the beaten path, or maybe there was some finance-related problem. Ghost Game runs for a terse one hour and twenty-five minutes which comfortably could have been ten minutes longer without affecting the pace. The second problem I faced with the feature was it was too predictable. Once again, it was not to the extent of making me leave the cinema, but it is pretty much insightful.
Some mediocre director would have brought Ghost Game to the found footage level, but its beauty is in the fact that it does not belong to a found footage genre. If you are in the mood for a frighteningly entertaining ghost-hunting expedition with an innovative spin on the subgenre, then you have to get Ghost Game.
For More Movies like – Ghost Game (2024) – Visit on 123Movies