by When I was a bit younger some of the friends I had were absolutely obsessed with ghosts. This was annoying to me because I haven’t believed in such things since I was a child. No matter how much I complained I would be dragged along on drunken ghost hunting adventures around our homes which were obviously not haunted in any way shape or form. Just remembering this causes me to get mildly annoyed. Another one of my pet peeves are ‘films based on true stories’ because in my experiences that’s never the case. The term is used so loosely that I get downright cynical when it comes to this marketing gimmick. Every found footage movie these days claims to be legitimate footage, but what happens when a filmmaker takes things a step further? The Blackwell Ghost happens, that’s what. This is a film you can’t find cast or even directing credits for because it’s supposedly a real life documentary. A quick google search proves that this is indeed a work of fiction, but I must give the people behind it props for trying so hard not to shatter the illusion. Today I’m going to take a look at it and attempt to put my bias aside.
The Blackwell Ghost is done in pure documentary style. We have an aspiring filmmaker who has supposedly directed many low budget zombie flicks. He’s looking for something a little meatier and decides to make a documentary about ghosts. His first idea revolves around footage shot in a hotel by security cameras depicting one of the employees who has a close encounter in one of the rooms when all of the furniture is turned upside down. Unfortunately this person soon backs out of being in the documentary so as not to cause issues with his new employer. Now the documentary has nothing to go on and no one to corroborate any stories. Now fast forward two years later as our documentarian has been sent new footage unrelated to the original. It’s only a light turning on and off but he’s convinced you can see an apparition pass in front of the camera. The owner of the footage agrees to be interviewed so our aspiring filmmaker and his wife fly off to Pennsylvania in hopes of having something concrete for the movie. The person in question details a myriad of different explainable events around his home, and the two leave with a pretty decent interview under their belt.
Things become more interesting when they are contacted by the homeowner who invites them to stay for a few nights while he’s on vacation. He’s convinced the house is haunted, and knows that if they stay just a little while they’ll believe it too. Of course the two can’t pass up an opportunity like this and so they immediately fly back with a bunch of film equipment hell bent on finding a ghost. Upon arriving they set up a myriad of cameras and go to bed. Not much happens in the evening and the two are disheartened when they awaken. The next night their sleep is disturbed by the smoke detector and when he goes downstairs the documentarian discovers that the entire stovetop is on as well as the oven. The basement door is open again, and this time he’s sure that it was closed when they went to sleep. The last day is spent researching the house in an attempt to track down a story told by the homeowner about a female serial killer who murdered children in the house. He learns that it’s all true and becomes chilled to discover it all happened in the house. That night things hit the fan and we’re left with a documentarian who finally believes in ghosts.
At around an hour runtime the film just barely manages to not overstay its welcome. The star of the feature is pretty likeable and the Blackwell Ghost is only viewable because he carries it with his sense of humor. The pacing is sluggish and is mostly the couple’s day to day life unfortunately. It’s all pretty boring with far too much dialogue dedicated to the filmmaker telling himself and the audience that he doesn’t believe in ghosts. The material is retread far too often. When things do finally start happening it’s a major let down because, as is typical fashion, there’s far too little far too late. The big finale involves water faucets being turned on by themselves off-screen. That’s as underwhelming as it sounds, but I think they kept things subtle in order to make it appear more realistic to unsuspecting viewers who aren’t going to research whether or not this is real.
The guy behind it all goes to painstaking lengths to make you think this is a real movie. To his credit he did a pretty good job, but that’s where most of the film’s shortcomings come from. The slow and plodding pace cause some real issues, and the ghostly activity is never anything significant. Most of the film is made with a handheld camera and the home security system in typical fashion, and this means we have shaky footage that doesn’t always focus where you want it to. The entire ending, focused on us ‘seeing’ the ghost, takes advantage of the shaky camera and raises questions about a human shape caught on camera in the basement when it’s clearly just a manipulation of the camera.
The Blackwell Ghost is pretty boring to be honest. Maybe it would be more effective if I was able to suspend disbelief and accept this ‘documentary’ for fact but that’s an impossible feat for me. As a purely fictional piece of horror cinema it’s underwhelming. There just isn’t enough oomph behind it. Water faucets and stoves being turned on by themselves really isn’t that scary, nor is lamps turning on/off and doors opening. By no stretch of the imagination does it feel like the protagonists are in any real danger. The lack of effects and occurrences is surely a means by which to make this seem more realistic in the documentary form, but if you’re not sold on that concept (and you shouldn’t be because this one is confirmed fake) then it’s not going to work for you.
Pros
- Great monologues
- Interesting story
- Beautiful house
Cons
- Obviously faked
- Not particularly scary
