 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Incident in a Ghostland (aka Ghostland) • Year: 2018 • Country: France, Canada • Director: Pascal Laugier • Main cast: Crystal Reed, Mylène Farmer, Anastasia Phillips • Runtime: 91 minutes • Production company: 5656 Films, Inferno Pictures Inc., Logical Pictures • TRAILER
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I’ve got mixed opinions about Incident in a Ghostland (2018). This movie is coming out 10 years after the director’s most acclaimed and fundamental movie, Martyrs (2008) [Read our review here]. And at some point both movies have some similarities, although they remain in different styles inside the horror subgenre. So let’s get into some detail.
Both Martyrs (2008) and Ghostland (2018), as it’s been called in some territories, are sustained by two young female characters pushed into horrific situations through the will of evil men. Both have to find the path between what’s real and what’s fantasy, and both movies have a surprising twist as the ace up their sleeve. But, so far, the similarities end here.
Written and directed by Pascal Laugier, Incident in a Ghostland (2018) starts as a home invasion film when a single mother with her two daughters who are just moving into a house in the middle of nowhere inherited by some deceased relative. But two fucked ups break into their new place with the vilest of intentions. You know, the typical, murder, torture, rape, weird games…
As Martyrs (2008) was, Incident in a Ghostland (2018) is a very tricky movie. Over the first half of the running time, one could be very feeling that this could be one of the worst horror movies seen in quite a time. Things don’t seem clear, and the story has plenty of implausible spots, many things that are too illogical, unnatural or dumb. It just doesn’t work. Something improper for a filmmaker like Pascal Laugier. But never forget, the filmmaker is a cheater, and it all has a reason to be.
I won’t get deeper into it. In the end, the story of Incident in a Ghostland (2018) is solid, sneaky as the human mind can be, and is full of surprises. It is uncertain how deep into recent social criticism the director has gone because some similarities to some of the nastiest events happened in the entertainment industry in the last years could be spotted if seen with the right eyes. I am convinced that this movie is not a typical horror movie by the book and it has some meditated essence and message beneath. Now it is up to the audience to decide how deep we want to scratch, and what final conclusion we want to get. Incident in a Ghostland (2018) has been conceived as a special feature, but something has been lost on the way. I can’t help to thing the approach should be taken different, the disconnection with the audience along the mediocre moments in the first half of the film pay a high price. Pascal Laugier wanted to do a top movie but reached half the purpose. Incident in a Ghostland (2018) is an ok movie, but can’t be called a masterpiece as Martyrs (2008) was.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6195094
