Incident In A Ghostland (2018)
a review by Evan Landon
In most cases, you will see a trailer for a movie, or hear someone speak to it, and you know everything that is going to happen. I know somebody that will look up what happens in a movie whilst they actively watch it, to which case I have absolutely no idea why. Like, what is the point in watching the movie? I don't know. Then, there are movies that you have never heard of that come out of nowhere and smack you up the side of the head as if you were a little doll. If you know, you know.
Now, I have been ambushed and pleasantly surprised before, but never like this for a very long time. Upon viewing, there is a chance that this could be the usual home invasion movie, but it is way different than that. It is that, but it is a lot more. Let me try to explain the plot without giving away too much: a successful horror author must return to the house where her family was assaulted in order to help her sister who has the same nightmares of the event. I can't tell you too much more without spoiling it.
As far as the story goes, this one is fantastically written, which truly is a breath of fresh air for me. It is strange for a French Canadian psychological horror movie to pull that off, considering they do not usually speak very good English. Except for the mom because she had a thick one, but that was nixed out at the beginning allowing the viewer to think it was Canada or something and her kids did not like speaking French. That is a thing, but that little plot hole got filled real quick. I appreciate that.
Right off the bat, there is not really anything to set Ghostland apart from your usual family trip gone bad, but when the twist happens about halfway through, you begin to see what kind of original film this is. That was around the time it reminded of me of Martyrs, which is fair because it is made by the same writer and director, Pascal Laugier. The two films are more different than they are the same, but more alike than the American remake they did of that one, for some ungodly reason. The gore is not nearly as fleshed out as Martyrs, but it does not need to be because this story does not circle around it the same way the other one does. There is enough to be upset about in this one, believe me. There is one scene in particular that had me wincing a bit, so if any of you ever see this, let me know if you had the same reaction.
Something interesting I found out in my research was how the actress who played the younger version of the sister, Taylor Hickson, sued the production company over an incident where she was directed to band on a glass window so hard that it broke and sliced her face so bad that it disfigured her. I am not sure if that has anything to do with the fact that no one involved in that case back in 2018 has done anything noteworthy since then, but I am sure that it did not help.
I really liked this movie and if you do not know anything about it, keep it that way because it was such a pleasant surprise to me. In the end, isn't that more fun?
4 Out Of 5