Title cards at the film’s opening tell us about the
deliberate starvation of the Ukrainian people by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. “Thousands
of Ukrainians resorted to cannibalism.” The film crew interviews some of
the survivors from that time, but the main focus of their trip is Boris, who
not only admitted to cannibalism, but who also blamed what happened on
supernatural forces. He agrees to an interview at his house, and gives the crew
the key, telling them he will meet them there. The house, of course, is in the
middle of the woods, and on the way there, there is a nice moment when tree
branches scratch the vehicle. The harsh sound of the branches against the
vehicle’s windows is great, and there is the sense of the surroundings closing
in on these people.
Boris doesn’t show up, so they spend the night there,
entertaining themselves by drinking and playing with a version of a Ouija board
they find carved into the table. In the morning, Valeriy, the local who drove
them there, is gone, as his vehicle. Inna, another local who is helping them
and is psychic, tells them Valeriy is dead. The documentarians believe Valeriy
and Boris have screwed them out of their money, and decide to leave. Not
wanting to pay the crazy amount a taxi driver is demanding to fetch them, they
wait for a friend of their translator to come pick them up. Their main concern
at this point is that they don’t have a story for their documentary. One of
them says, “And if it keeps going this way, it’s going to end up on You
Tube, like all my other crap.” But soon they have more serious concerns.
Inna tells them the spirit they invoked is still there,
and they need to get rid of him or they’ll be trapped there. Being eager
documentarians, and needing some product to sell, they decide to change the
focus of the project and move forward with the story of the ghost. And that’s
when things start to get scary. There’s a frightening moment when the power
goes out, and in the dark we can hear the sound of the glass moving forcefully
across the wooden table. And until they can get the power back up, the light
from their cameras is all they have to guide them.
A lot of these found footage type films aren’t very
scary, but this one definitely gets under your skin, and has a frightening,
suspenseful atmosphere and plenty of scary moments. It becomes a very creepy
ghost story. However, this film eventually runs into the problems that most of
these found footage films do. A shaky camera as someone is running with it is
only scary for a little while; then it becomes boring as we become disoriented.
Because essentially it is just footage of dirt and trees and rocks in the dark,
and we lose sense of where the characters are. When there is no actor in frame,
a film can only maintain the suspense for a certain amount of time.
Another problem with these films is having a believable
reason why the characters are still filming once things get crazy. At one point
in Ghoul, one character asks another if he’s just using the camera for
light or if he’s still filming. He replies that he’s still filming. But after a
while, you have to wonder, Why? The fact that they’re documentary filmmakers
only takes them so far. And, like many of these films, the ending just isn’t
very satisfying.
But as I mentioned, there are plenty of frightening
moments along the way. And the cast is decent, particularly Jennifer Armour as
Jenny.
Special Features
The DVD contains a few special features. There is a brief
interview (approximately two minutes) with executive producer Rob Cohen, which
is really a promotional piece. There is also a photo gallery, which plays
through without the viewer needing to press the arrow key. This is just under
two minutes. The DVD also includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
Ghoul was directed by Petr Jakl, and was released
on DVD on June 23, 2015.
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