Ghosts of Darkness
Written & Directed by David Ryan Keith
Actors: Michael Coates and Paul Flannery
March 7, 2017
Reviewed by A. Renee Hunt
Ghosts of Darkness is a British supernatural movie about an old house with a one-hundred -year-old mystery. Two paranormal investigators are entreated to stay several nights, not to resolve the hauntings, but to prove that someone can beat the life vs. death odds. No one’s ever survived longer than three nights. Also, if they survive, they both receive fifty thousand dollars.
Jack, a skeptic investigator, comes with emotional baggage. Haunted by the suicide of his psychic wife, he is out to prove any claims on the house are disingenuous. With a case full of electronic paraphernalia, he searches the house for intruders, and any other bits of evidence to back his initial assessment.
Jonathan, the eclectic clairvoyant, needs the fifty thousand dollars to pay off his gambling debts, but he’s there to truly find the ghosts of the home. He wants to make contact, but he’s exasperating. Prepared with candles, a book on demonology (that he’s never used), and a blatant ‘Wait and See’ attitude, he’s equipped yet wary of the coming experience.
Together, Jack and Jonathan find themselves trapped in a house filled with trouble. Jack is easily taunted, while Jonathan is viewed as a threat. From a daughter who’s murdered both her parents, to the washer repairman, the investigators found their stay more difficult than they’d bargained for.
Due to the horrific deaths and ghastly appearances, Ghosts of Darkness was categorized as a horror movie, but it felt more like a mild paranormal. The story moved a bit slow, taking more time to show the various annoyances and rancor between the investigators, than actual attempts to raise the ghosts or dispel them. Then when instances took place concerning Jack, he behaved more like a over-active teenager than a professional skeptic, giving indication to his survival. Jonathan was much more likeable and level-headed between the two, so the ending was satisfactory.
Ghosts of Darkness is set to release March of this year.
