movie: Pay the Ghost
starring: Nicolas Cage, Stephen McHattie
genre: Thriller,
year:2015
format: Netflix Canada
plot: When a couple's son disappears on Hallowe'en night, they spend a whole year trying to find him, and uncover a three hundred year old ghost.
Based on the short story
I have to admit, there were a few jumps for me. Which has become a rare thing. You know the jump scares are coming, but they managed to still work. This is a nice throwback to the kind of ghost story you would have seen from Twilight Zone or Ray Bradbury. What I liked most about this is that it brings in some of the actual folklore, with the idea of why you wear costumes on Hallowe'en which is to hide from the spirits so that they don't take you away. I also liked the mixing of the Weeping Woman into the plot.
Cage is believable enough as a man obsessed with the spooky side of the kidnappings, but not so much as the grieving father. You almost would believe him more, if he'd been hired as a ghost hunter instead. There were moments when all I could think was that it reminded a little bit of Crow 2 City of Angels, where they only have 3 nights of Hallowe'en/Day of the Dead to come back for revenge of his son being killed.
The end was however, a little less than expected. It wraps up too quickly and little too easily. I think they could have given an extra ten minutes to the ending, instead of wrapping it up they way they did. You don't feel the time crunch like you should, as he's only got till midnight to go through a portal and back. Which begs to differ, why does the old blind prophet take his watch from him? If you're under a time issue wouldn't your watch be one of the things you would need most? He tells him to hurry he's only got till midnight after that he's stuck there forever, yet he steals his watch.
what did i learn? This type of story is Cage's element.
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