"GHOST GAME" (2024) Shows The Dangers Of Internet Challenges (REVIEW)
Part of getting older is appreciating that you aren’t going to be as current on new trends, fads, and phrases. While some reject this, others embrace the opportunity to not keep up with fast-paced trends across all aspects of life and take solace in knowing that not all things are going to be for them. The internet age has made trends more viral and easier to participate in, even if they aren’t always safe. The need to be included in the zeitgeist through active participation isn’t new, but it has become far easier for anyone, not just the “youth” to get involved. These internet challenges are somewhat of a new phenomenon birthed directly from the rise in social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and now TikTok where anyone above the age of 13 can see the latest trends, challenges, and dances enough to then contribute their own. “Ghost Game” the latest from DREAD Presents and Epic Pictures Group shows just how far internet challenges will go, and what the potential deadly downsides to seemingly harmless pranks. Is this game worth playing, or should you quit while you’re ahead?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
As part of an internet challenge to live undetected in a stranger’s home, a daring couple targets an infamous haunted house and endure a series of chilling incidents as they witness a family descending into madness.
HOW IS IT?
In the internet age, privacy is scarce. Almost everything we do online can be tracked, and much of that data is often used to sell us products, services, or scams as well as create profiles of demographic groups and behaviors. It seems the only places one can find true privacy is in the wilderness or your own home. This is why home invasion films always strike a nerve with non-horror fans and horror fans alike, they represent a violation of privacy so visceral and real that they stir up our fears and anxieties about something like that happening in our homes. “Ghost Game” takes the fear of home invasion and applies a viral spin with an internet fad focused on people covertly staying in lived-in homes and messing with the inhabitants without them becoming aware. It’s paranormal gaslighting for the internet-challenge age, and while “Ghost Game” does a good job of creating an effective atmosphere with solid performances, it obfuscates a lot of the violence and doesn’t completely stick the landing.
Laura (Kia Dorsey) is a thrill-seeking millennial who is constantly on the outs with her boyfriend, Vin (Zaen Hadir). When Vin discovers that Laura’s favorite hobby involves breaking into people’s homes and messing with them he does what any rational person would and tries to distance himself from Laura. However, Vin doesn’t stick to it and instead joins her on her next outing to play the titular “Ghost Game”. The dynamic between Laura and Vin is believable and relatable to anyone who’s had a partner with wildly different ideas of “having fun”, and the two actors play well off of each other demonstrating that despite good intentions, peer pressure and feelings will always trump rationality and logic. Once at the house, Laura and Vin encounter a peer of Laura’s who may or may not be turning the situation around on them. Adding insult to injury, the new family that has moved into this house brings a slew of issues all their own. Downtrodden writer, Pete (Michael C. Williams) moves his family reluctantly into the very same, supposedly haunted house that Laura and Vin are targeting, but the tricks they play on Pete and his family don’t stay innocent for long. Pete and his family are sympathetic, even though Pete doesn’t make the best decisions for himself and his family, and one of the problems the film never seems to solve is, why do this at all? There are moments when we learn about Laura and her desire for “more” out of life, but the dots never connect between wanting more and jumping right into a felony crime. One could equate it to the phenomenon when bored stay-at-home spouses start to do things like shoplifting to get attention and inject excitement into life, but we aren’t given enough background on the character for all of this to line up.
Much of this has to do with the script, which was penned by horror author Adam Cesare. Knowing he was the person behind the pen does make sense as the story feels like something you’d read in a YA horror novel, but, surprisingly, there is so little character development for a film that spends so much time with two of the characters. This is in contrast to Pete who feels far more fleshed out but has much less time on screen. Jill Gevargizian does great work keeping the pacing tight and the action flowing, which makes the film a breezy 86 minutes, but solid directing can’t save script issues that make the third act feel uneven and rushed. There is a pivotal turn at the start of the third act that transitions to a much bigger reveal in the last 10 minutes. The reveal is so significant, but it comes out of nowhere and distracts almost entirely from the pivot that kicked off the third act. This is in addition to the choice to show most if not all of the violence happening off-screen. While there are not a lot of opportunities to show the harsh outcomes of this experience, it feels like a step backward to not show some of this which would add to the dreadful and dour ending considering how nihilistic the reveal is in the film's final 10 minutes.
LAST RITES
“Ghost Game” is an interesting premise with solid performances across the board that doesn’t fully realize its vision on account of a wobbly script and shallow character development.
THE GORY DETAILS
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Where can you watch it?
Ghost Game will be released in limited theaters on October 18 and on digital on October 22
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