Most of the other reviewers here on IMDb have The Ghost Dance down as an obscure slasher gem. While I certainly agree that it's obscure, I don't think it's a gem. It's moderately entertaining, I suppose, and better than Fred Olen Ray's similarly themed Scalps (1983)—but then most films are.
Admittedly, for much of the first 15 minutes, I couldn't actually see what was happening thanks to the darkness of the picture, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the basics: it's the hoary old cliché of an Indian burial ground being disturbed by anthropologists, with a vengeful spirit inadvertently freed to go on a killing spree. While scientist Kay (Julie Amato) and partner Tom Eagle (Victor Mohica) try to unravel the mystery of the mummified body discovered at the site, the Indian proceeds to kill off the staff at the museum.
This tired premise leads to lots of stalking by the nasty native American, and a couple of passable kills (best of which sees a woman pushed onto a spear), but also lots of dull chit-chat, while the obligatory shower scene fails to deliver the gratuitous nudity one expects from such nonsense. Performances are adequate for this kind of thing, and director Peter F. Buffa manages the occasional effective moment (the creepiest scene taking place on a lonely highway), but on the whole this is forgettable, formulaic stuff, as evidenced by the predictable 'shock' ending.
4.5/10, which I feel obliged to round up to 5/10 because I rounded Scalps up from 3.5 to 4/10.
