The Ghost in the Darkness

Short review for people deciding if they want to check this movie out: I'd skip it. The highs don't feel good enough to cover the lows.

I was very tempted to make my review just say "what" and leave it at that, but that wouldn't be fair to the people who put legitimate effort into this. So, I'm going to try and articulate my thoughts.

I actually enjoyed the first half of the movie quite a bit! It's very rough and unfocused, and some of the serious dialogue comes off so awkward that it's pretty funny instead, but there's enjoyment to be found in that too. It reminded me a lot of those Youtube horror webseries that were all the rage back in 2012, especially with the acting. The racism plot comes in very hamfistedly and the video tape in the woods is mostly forgotten about. Like I said, very rough, but it shows potential from the film makers. A movie that might not be great from a critical lens, but it would be fun to watch with friends.

And then halfway through it strangely breaks the found footage format and becomes a more traditional slasher. It goes back to the handheld cameras later, which just makes the break even more confusing. It would have been easy to justify why the cameras were still rolling, and it really took me out of it.

Without giving too much away, the ending seems to come out of nowhere and without explaining anything. Pretty disappointing.

Now, despite saying all this, I still think this shows potential in the writer/director. The worst thing a movie can do is give me nothing to talk about, and I have a lot to say about this! Give it time to refine their craft and I think they could start making some genuinely good films. Hopefully, I can come back in a few years and gush about how much everyone has improved since now.