H.P.
Lovecraft was probably the most influential horror writer since Poe, but the
Social Justice Warriors are determined to bully and ban his books out of the
canon. Alas, Lovecraft lived a bitter life, plagued by ill health and poverty,
so he had the chance to assemble a large cast of multi-ethnic friends
reflective of your average Williamsburg coffeehouse. Off to the memory-hole
with him. That is why Lovecraft is such a strange choice to be the literary
hero of young Elizabeth Keller, especially since her movie isn’t very Lovecraftian.
However, there is plenty of other content to distract the professionally offended
throughout Pascal Laugier’s Incident in a
Ghostland (trailer
here),
which releases today on VOD and in limited theatrical release.
Beth
and Vera Keller’s mom Pauline has just inherited a creepy farmhouse out in the
middle of nowhere from their late aunt. Best of all, it is packed to the
rafters with spooky vintage dolls. In addition to the house’s bad vibes, we
know from the newspaper Beth was skimming, a couple of maniacs have been
butchering families in their homes. Vera the drama queen could at least take
the minimal effort to close the front door, but she is too busy being put out
by the move.
Of
course, the “Fat Man” and the “Candy Truck Woman” will take advantage of the
open invitation. They don’t just kill, they torture their victims to death.
However, the three women manage to survive. The adult Keller will become the
celebrated horror novelist she always wanted to be. Unfortunately, Vera never
recovered from the emotional shock. She lives a state of permanent PTSD,
constantly reliving the experience, as if it never stopped. That is why it is
so baffling her mother never moved them out of the house. However, when
Elizabeth is lured into making an emergency visit, we start to suspect there is
something more ominous to Vera’s condition than her sister previously realized.
Ghostland has a twist at the
midway point that is a serious game-changer, but it is also a major downer. The
violence, while not as intense as that seen in Laugier’s notorious Martyrs, will also put off many viewers,
which is fair enough. However, many of our more kneejerk colleagues feel
duty-bound to castigate the film for its alleged “transphobia.” You see, Candy
Truck Woman is actually a dude, but that is hardly intended as any kind of
social commentary. It is just part of the horror movie tradition of taking a
perceived threat and revealing it to be even more dangerous than viewers had
assumed.
Frankly,
the only thing about Ghostland worth
objecting to is its dubious commitment to on-set safety. According to news reports, Taylor Hickson was badly cut up in a scene involving real glass, which
is unforgivable in any post-Midnight
Rider production. It is a shame, because the two sets of actresses playing
teen and adult Beth and Vera—Emilia Jones and Crystal Reed as Beth and Hickson
and Anastasia Phillips as Vera—are remarkably compatible and ferociously
committed.
Regardless,
there is no denying this is one creepy unsafe space. All the sinister dolls and
eerie bric-a-brac represents a triumph of production and set design. In fact,
this film would actually be scarier if Laugier reined in the violence a bit and
cranked up the anticipation instead. There are moments in Ghostland that really get under your skin, but the film’s on-screen
violence and real-life misfortune are real buzz-kills. Only recommended for
aspiring set decorators and prop designers, Incident
in a Ghostland hits VOD platforms and select theaters today (6/22).
