GHOSTS OF DARKNESS (2017)

Studio:       Uncork’d Entertainment
Director:    David Ryan Keith
Writer:       David Ryan Keith, Paul Flannery
Producer:  Lorraine Keith
Stars:     Michael Koltes, Paul Flannery, Steve Weston, Lisa Livingstone, Cameron Mowat, Lisa Cameron, Liam Matheson, Lindsay Cromar, Morgan Keith

Review Score:

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Summary:

A psychic and a paranormal researcher investigate a haunted mansion with a long history of mysteriously murdered occupants.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Shortly after moving into the reportedly haunted Richmond Manor, 13-year-old Sarah Johnston is pulled into her closet by an unseen demon and possessed. The following morning, Sarah murders her parents Mike and Laura before seemingly stabbing herself to death in the back.

Paranormal investigator Jack Donavan and eccentric psychic Jonathan Blazer are separately summoned to the mansion. A mysterious man recounts the house’s history of murdered occupants and explains that his anonymous client has arranged a publicity stunt to reassure prospective buyers. For $50,000 each, Jack and Jonathan are to spend three nights locked inside alone under the presumption that they will conclude there are no supernatural spirits haunting the house.

Instances of paranormal activity plague the duo over the course of their investigation. Jack confronts horrifying flashbacks of his dead wife Rebecca slitting her throat in the bathtub while also encountering a vision of Sarah Johnston. Jack believes someone else is in the house with them while Jonathan tries proving that an actual demon has put them in real danger.

Jack searches the basement and finds a strange symbol and Latin writing with the word ‘Barnum.’ Jonathan confronts a vision of murdered Mike Johnston and has his hand supernaturally slashed.

Jack is tormented by a phone call from his dead wife Rebecca. Jack reveals to Jonathan that his wife was a psychic who claimed she contacted an evil spirit. Jack tried appealing to Rebecca with science and reason, but she was still driven to suicide.

Jonathan’s research discovers that most of the manor’s murder victims were unknowingly related to the Richmond family. An unprovoked massacre of unknown origin on the property in 1801 scattered the family. In the two centuries since, something has drawn descendants back to the land. Jonathan also finds that Jack’s Donavan family is related to the Richmonds.

Jack and Jonathan find an old photograph of the mystery man and discover his name is Barnum. Jack recalls the writing on the basement wall and the two men deduce that Barnum is Richmond’s bastard son. Realizing they are facing a demonic entity, Jack and Jonathan conclude that the symbol seen throughout the house is a conduit that the demon uses to move in physical form and draw power.

Jonathan prepares a ritual to close the portal. Jack becomes distracted and the two men end up fighting ghosts of the Johnston family as well as other previous murder victims.

After Jack has a final faceoff with his dead wife in demon form, he regroups with Jonathan to complete the ritual. A portal opens and a demon prepares to emerge before the opening suddenly closes. However, Jonathan realizes Jack became possessed in the process. Jack attacks and Jonathan is forced to stab him.

Jonathan escapes the house. On the lawn, he hears Barnum’s demonic voice taunting him. Jonathan raises his shotgun and turns, preparing to shoot.

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Review:

Richmond Manor is reportedly cursed.  For two centuries, no occupant has managed to stay in the house longer than three days without committing a murder or being the victim of one.  Following the most recent incident, a double homicide and suicide at the hands of a 13-year-old girl, the unknown owner needs a publicity stunt to assure prospective buyers that everything is all well and good.

Enter skeptical paranormal researcher Jack and eccentric psychic Jonathan.  Both men usually work alone.  Yet a strange man makes them an offer to spend three days locked inside as the only men of the manor, expecting a conclusion that there is in fact no evil entity haunting the estate.

Conflicting personalities as well as positions on paranormal phenomena set the unlikely duo off on the wrong foot.  But when bumps in the night become dangerously real, the two men realize there is something supernatural behind the manor’s mystery, and they must team up to solve it if they expect to survive.

“Ghosts of Darkness” is standard slow-burn spookshow stuff.  This means the whole nine yards of Ouija boards, waking suddenly from a flashback nightmare, doors opening or closing on their own, and the rest of the checklist every clichéd chiller has culled from for decades.

But if I’m going to watch a run-of-the-mill microbudget horror film, I find it easier to swallow one with overseas origins, in this case Scotland.  I imagine a European equivalent of me, someone who has stomached routine VOD thrillers born of Britain and neighboring isles the way I have American-made horror, might give “Ghosts of Darkness” a thumbs down for being generally mundane with too small of a scope to compete against its counterparts.  Yet something about the accents, look, and location lends a fascinating flavor where flaws are easier to forgive because the film doesn’t feel as ordinary as it actually is.

“Ghosts of Darkness” gets by a great deal on the charm of Paul Flannery as Jonathan.  The quickly quipping psychic is the kind of casually comic chap who speaks with perpetually animated fingers accenting every other line.  He is as intellectually insightful as he is amiably amusing, a great combination for a character in a movie anxiously awaiting a spark.

Jonathan’s counterpart Jack, on the other hand, is flat as a board.  Michael Koltes is too soft-spoken to give Jack a much-needed edge, though the script doesn’t write him to be buoyant in the first place.  Jack shows up in a leather jacket like he might be a cool Bruce Campbell ‘Fonzie,’ but becomes mentally mired in a tragic backstory dampening him with dullness.  Put better banter and electrified chemistry between this duo and “Ghosts of Darkness” would have the full personality it needs.

With the vanilla thrills of two men creeping about an old house chasing visions and waiting for something substantial to happen weighing it down, “Ghosts of Darkness” figures out ways to push momentum that the plot doesn’t have.  Niall Mathewson’s score is tireless, though not overpowering, and keeps mood moving through music.  The camera follows suit by cutting regularly, slowly pushing in here and there, or canting its angle for variety.  Basically, execution does all it can to be interesting.  It’s simply the script that only tries half as hard.

That technical effort elevates the film’s review rating.  Scenes are bathed in light like a made-for-TV movie, but at least there is lighting, which often isn’t the case in lazier low-budget flicks.  The camera stays steady too, sometimes mounted for dolly movements or otherwise ensuring it is properly positioned before rolling.  No “get it done and move on” handheld here.

Examine end credits and you’ll find a small crew wearing multiple hats, like the 2nd A.C. and a sound recorder doing double duties as grips.  I wish the movie they made were more original and exciting.  Yet everyone took the time to get the basics right at a minimum, making a micro-movie look like a little bit more, and that certainly counts for something.

Review Score:  55

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