FourStar Bizaro
by Ronny Carlsson
I've been watching several ghost movies lately, gone back to a few old and great ones (such as "The Changeling") and checked out a few I hadn't seen before. Ghost stories have always managed to creep me out the most, outside of things based on reality (since that's more plausible). Growing up I always got the chills imagining stuff like a white shape wandering down the halls. Everyone has probably experienced something strange in their lives. While most will try to find logical reason, I have always been open to it. Or rather, I find things I can't explain to be interesting, albeit a bit scary. But let's face it, the best ghost stories have been told. We've had some alright ones - I'll even admit that "Insidious" had potential, but REALLY went down hill fast. The best one in recent memory is "Lake Mungo" (some people will hate me for bringing it up again, but I don't care). But what do all of these have in common? They are horror stories, focusing on people being scared of ghosts. What I have for review today is the opposite of this, and quite frankly I think it's one of the best ghost stories I have ever seen.
The plot is extremely simple to explain: the title says it all. "I Am a Ghost" is about a ghost, trapped in the house she once lived in. She repeats every day in similar fashion. But there is someone on the other side ("our side") trying to help guide her out of there. This is an easy thing to grasp, and in some ways you might think of "The Others", but they couldn't be more different!
First of all, this is a drama. It's an extremely emotional and invested look into how it could be for a ghost. They might be victims and not out to scare us. Maybe they're as scared as we are! Our lead, Emily, is a very nice young girl. We quickly fall for her because of her innocence, and the longer we follow her the more curious we are about what happened to her when she was alive. And how will she be able to leave the afterlife? I think a movie like this saves itself by working with repetitions. Being a ghost movie, we expect repetitions so it never comes off as annoying. Rather we are trying to puzzle things together for every repeat and see how things slowly change. The most interesting scenes here are actually dialogue-driven, and that speaks highly of how well-written the movie is.
H.P. Mendoza has, overall, managed to craft an experience that I believe in. If there are ghosts, then I think this is how it is. I find it to be nearly spotless in terms of style, writing, directing, acting, the story and how it all unfolds slowly. It helps us identify with a ghost, not only through the character but in every detail. This is one of those cases where you get a sense that everything has been puzzled together perfectly during production. Even the cinematography helps us accept that we're in the afterlife - exactly how it does that I don't know, but it's a very slick movie. At times it's as if the camera was floating. Not to mention the movie is filtered to feel like an old photograph. Anna Ishida is great as Emily, and obviously the movie would've fallen flat if the lead actress couldn't play the part. There is so much about Anna Ishida that makes her perfect for the part, but I think the main reason I could accept her in the part was because of her innocent, confused eyes. The house itself has an old, charming look - and is very much a creepy place for a ghost story (even though it's not specifically creepy).
While I write this, I feel angry because I can't capture how fantastic the movie is in my own writing. "I Am a Ghost" grabbed me from the beginning, and there wasn't a second that I wasn't in awe. This is not a gory, violent, eccentric or even that experimental movie, but a perfectly executed drama about a ghost. It's the perfect ghost story because it takes time to solve the puzzle, and brings up so many points about ghosts that I've always wondered about. Most importantly: if ghosts exist, what is it like to be one? It's not going for chills, scares or even survival (which I suppose is the primal goal for every horror movie). Because it ignores all of that, we get time to invest ourselves to solve the puzzle of how to get Emily out of there, and for once we sit down and THINK. There is only one little thing that I can class as negative, and that was an effect towards the end. By then we're very into it, so at first you'll feel like you've came out of it again. But don't worry, this is where it shows an element of horror and soon you'll be as invested as you were the minute before.
I love "I Am a Ghost", and if there is ONE ghost story to watch this year (in many years, really), then this is it. You can ignore every "Paranormal Activity" movie completely, because this has them beat before the title page appears. Whatever happens in H.P. Mendoza's career from now on, he will always be the man behind "I Am a Ghost" and I hope he takes pride in that fact. "I Am a Ghost" is an incredible experience, a clever twist on ghost stories, and most of all a very sad drama that you will find yourself invested deeply in.
Dread Central
Starring Anna Ishida, Jeannine Barroga, Rick Burkhardt
Directed by H.P. Mendoza
It's hard for filmmakers to legitimately scare people. It's easy to make them laugh or cry, but to scare them, that's an entirely different ball of wax. And I'm not talking about the cheap scare…where someone or something comes launching into the scene accompanied by a huge crash of orchestra music or a booming sound effect. That's not scaring someone; that's giving them a minor coronary. To truly scare the audience, you have to unsettle them, make them uncomfortable, and it's one of the most difficult things to do. With I Am a Ghost, writer/director H.P. Mendoza manages to pull this off.
Mendoza sets a creepy tone as we meet Emily. We discover that she is a ghost, living an existence that constantly repeats itself as she's an unsettled spirit trapped in a loop. Also, she has no idea that she's dead. The film revolves around her frequent communications with Sylvia, a medium from the world of the living who comes to Emily as a voice she hears in her bedroom, trying to guide her out of the house she's living in and help her cross over to the other side. It's very similar to the theory behind Beetlejuice without the comedic element or Winona Ryder performing Jump in the Line.
I Am a Ghost begins as a series of scenes of Emily going about her normal routine, unaware that she's a spirit. It isn't until the voice of the medium initially comes through that we understand exactly what we are dealing with. The film does begin quite slowly, taking a long time with many repetitive scenes to illustrate to the viewer exactly what is happening. This makes the movie drag a bit, but viewers will eventually be rewarded for plowing through the repetitive early scenes as we begin to learn more and more about Emily, who doesn't seem to be remembering the events of her life (and death) quite accurately.
Watching I Am a Ghost is like watching a time-lapse video of a flower opening. The true story behind the film slowly, slowly reveals itself as the movie moves on. The medium helps Emily uncover the truth about herself, which is the only way she'll be able to loosen herself from her ghostly shackles and cross over into the next plane of existence. But it isn't going to be easy because there is something wicked waiting for Emily. It's a perfect example of "this is going to get worse before it gets better."
Aside from the medium, whom we never see, and another character that appears briefly at the end of the film, Anna Ishida as Emily is the only person in the film. She is able to carry the entire picture in much the same way as Ryan Reynolds did in Buried. Certainly no easy task, but the character of Emily is intriguing enough to keep the viewer interested.
Which brings us to the scare. Honestly, the entire film is constructed to launch the huge payoff in the finale, which is well worth the wait. Without revealing the surprise at the end, let me just say the last couple of minutes of this film gave me the same uncomfortable pit in my stomach I had while watching the final scene of [REC] for the first time. That's pretty high praise. There is some incredible sound effects work that really puts the final few minutes of the film over the top and gives it that absolutely unsettling effect. There are some visual effects in the film as well; they are minimal but quite effective when used.
I Am a Ghost deserves a viewing. It's a ghost story in its essence, but there are certainly aspects of a mystery in there and, of course, the true horror of the finale. The choppy, repetitiveness of the beginning of the film, although necessary to tell the story, does drag the viewing experience down, which is unfortunate, because when this movie gets going, it's very intriguing…and it ends with a bang!
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