Basically,
it is just another name for “Hide and Seek.” Whoever is “It,” is called the “ghost.”
Sometimes, it really is played in a graveyard, but that sounds like a tremendously
dangerous idea, whether or not you believe in the supernatural. Of course, spirits
are decidedly real and apparently somewhat angry in Charlie Comparetto’s Ghost
in the Graveyard, which screens tonight during the 2019 Festival of Cinema NYC (formerly the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema).
Sally
Sullivan was not away at the loony bin for the last several months, but that does
not stop the mean girls at her high school from circulating ugly rumors. Their
malicious scandal mongering is able to take hold, because everyone knows how
young Sullivan was present when her classmate Martha died accidentally, amid a
game of ghost in the graveyard, in the graveyard. There might even be a kernel of
truth in what they say, considering Sullivan regularly sees Martha’s ghost.
Rather
awkwardly, Sullivan is not so eager to set the record straight, even though she
loves her little girl and her father and big bro are totally supportive. As for
her mom, she vanished years ago, quite mysteriously. The same happened to the
father of her chief maligner, Zoe, who also happens to be her main rival for
the romantic attention of long-haired, stoner-ish Reed. Maybe that will be the
basis of an understanding between them, or maybe not. Regardless, Sullivan will
need allies when she learns the full extent of the forces at darkness at work
in the quaint town of Mt. Moriah (fyi, named after the presumed location of
Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac).
Ghost
starts
out as a micro tale of juvenile haunting, but quickly segues into a full-scale satanic
conspiracy thriller that is surprisingly intriguing. The problem is Comparetto
does not have the Kevin Williamson knack for writing teen characters and
dialogue. As a result, a good deal of the first half sounds flat and phony. Nevertheless,
he deserves credit for going all in when it comes to the archetypal good versus
evil stuff.
Kelli
Berglund gets by okay as Sullivan, but Olivia Larsen is much more fun as the
catty Zoe. The other teens mostly just melt into the background, but the adults
are more colorful. Jake Busey is surprisingly poignant as Sullivan’s father
Charlie, who knows considerably more than he lets on. Maria Olsen bolsters the
film’s genre cred with her creepy appearances as Zoe’s mother. However, it is
Royce Johnson, as the Sheriff, who really puts a stamp on the film when he gets
Medieval on the forces of darkness. Seriously, he is more than enough to compensate
for any of Graveyard’s shortcomings.
Even
William Peter Blatty probably would have approved of the way Comparetto
presents the eternal struggle between goodness, virtue and light against
darkness, fear, and bad vibes. Genre fans need to give it a little time, but its
merits emerge down the stretch. Somewhat recommended for fans of the Omen franchise
and its like, Ghost in the Graveyard screens tonight (8/9), as part of
this year’s Festival of Cinema NYC.