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I Am A Ghost

Writer's picture: Mr. PatMr. Pat

Notre Dame was off today so I had a relaxing Saturday that started with a very long and very scenic bike ride. When I got home it was time to pick a movie. After going mainstream with my first pick I wanted to go off the beaten path on Shudder. Intrigued by the premise and trailer, I watched...

I am a Ghost (2012)

The 343rd review!

We open the movie with a woman alone in her house. She's making some eggs on the stove then we go to black. We see her doing her housework then we go to black. We keep seeing fragments of what she's doing in different parts of the house before we go to black and come back to her somewhere else. This goes on for about seven minutes before the screen comes back and she's eating eggs at her table. With a knife in her hand she slowly turns it so the blade is pointing down and she raises her arm in the air. We then go to black and come back to her in the bathroom with a bandage on her hand. Her hair is covering her face but we get our first words in the movie when she says, "Oh God." Then we go to black and upon return, the bandage is gone.

This happens a lot, seeing the same memories over and over, until she ends up in her mother's room and hears a voice calling her name. After calming down the voice, Sylvia, explains that she's psychic and the main character, Mary, is dead. Sylvia explains that she's been trying to get Mary to leave for an undetermined amount of time, but each time before Mary can "close off," Mary runs out of the room, breaking the connection and losing her memories of their talks so the process repeats itself. Eventually you learn more about Mary and her past along with how she died and why she's been unable to pass over.

It's funny in Hollywood you hear how movies are being made on a shoestring budget and it ends up being like two-million-money. I am a Ghost was made for 10-thousand-money. With such a small budget, the director was forced to get creative. I never praise a movie's editing because I'm not a film major or pretentious but this movie is edited in really interesting ways. Mary is reliving memories of some time before she died and when she finally has a breakthrough with Sylvia she's no longer caught in a loop and she turns into an observer instead of a participant. Then in the final act you start getting different perspectives of all of them and some clever editing techniques to show you different vantage points of what you've been seeing.

I'm finding it difficult to pin down my thoughts on this movie. It's extremely interesting and the premise is wonderful. I loved the scenes where Mary is talking to Sylvia. The movie gives you a lot to think about the more these "sessions" go on. I enjoyed it but I can see this one being very divisive. It moves along at a snail's pace. The beginning nothing happens, and it just raises question after question. When she finally meets Sylvia the movie gets really interesting, but Mary runs off. It's a really deflating moment because now you have to tread water of Mary living her memories until she can reconnect with Sylvia. Plus, the memories are always the same six or seven things so there's no variety.

Then we get to the final act. We finally learn about Mary's murder and why she can't leave the house and the scares finally happen. It starts off with a really creepy visual and kicks off an effective chase, but then you realize the thing/man chasing her is naked and the movie makes sure you can see his penis. It reminds me of the "South Park" scene where Craig said the whale told him that his dad was going to sneak in his room naked and beat him up. I guess this is how women must feel while watching horror movies except with the roles reversed. I mean, in this case, is a monster scarier if you can see its dick? Ya know what? Let's move on.

Anyways... the final act is a weird one. Everything happens all at once, and at times, literally so it's hard to make out what you're seeing. Then eventually even the naked demon gets scared and I have no idea what's going on. Then, when looking at my usual places; IMDB, Wikipedia and Reddit they don't have answers either. The movie kind of ends without explaining anything despite building up such a major question. I don't know if it's the director's way of wanting you to think about it and come to your own conclusions, or if he really doesn't know himself. I think it's a little from column A but probably more from column B.

It's a solid movie. It's not scary but there are slightly less than a handful of scary moments. What it is, is interesting and goes a way I didn't expect. It's not the greatest but it's only 75 minutes long and does enough cool stuff that makes it worth a watch. You just have to enjoy a slow moving movie is all.



6 Dr. Chainsaws!

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