 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
GHOSTWATCHER 2
Produced by Robert Appenzeller
Written and Directed by David Cross
Edited by Robert Harari and David Cross
Director of Photography - Jason ContinoLaura Cove - Jillian Byrnes
Tracy Caine - Julia Pickens
Darius Blake - Vince Eustice
Melanie Caine - Seregon O'Dassey
Joseph McCallister - Marcus Dreeke
In my review for David Cross' GHOSTWATCH, I went on and on about how frightening the movie is. The screening was with an audience when it premiered at the HorrorFind convention a few years ago, and I remember the group of us jumping in unison at all the key moments. The same thing happened at the premier of the sequel, a far more ambitious and satisfying film than the original.
The last time we saw Laura Cove, she was an agoraphobic with a nasty ghost problem. When we pick up with her, Laura's replaced Elizabeth Dean, who died trying to save Laura, as the new Ghostwatcher, a paranormal investigator trying to help the world one spook at a time. The degree to which Laura goes to keep alive Elizabeth's memory is a frightfully disturbing. Laura has grown out and died her hair to a similar style that Dean had in the original. And while I'm not 100% certain that it is the same location, Laura has moved into an old farmhouse that looks eerily like the place where Elizabeth died. While Laura's intentions are good, it's quickly apparent that she's still harboring issues.
The new Ghostwatcher is brought in to help Tracy Caine, a high school gal who's hearing voices in her head after a run in with a dying serial killer. Tracy's family believes that the poor girl has gone mental due to her mother's recent death, but her doctor believes there's something more going on and turns to Laura for help. Angst-ridden and full of guilt, Tracy harbors the belief that she was responsible for her mother's death.
Before I go on, let me say that I've never seen a debut performance from someone so young as Julia Pickens that was so amazing. Her take on Tracy was as calm and natural as can be, and the performance was so good that she makes the actors around her pale in comparison. That doesn't mean anyone in the movie gave a bad performance, but that Tracy was able to bring something different to the table - herself. The role of Tracy calls for a variety of emotions, often many in the same scene, and video can reveal the falseness of an actor's performance, but Julia never once displayed a phoney vibe. The girl's got talent, and if she pursues acting as a career, she'll be a star. I'd bet the farm on that one.
There's a scene near the end that reflects Tracy's arc as a character. After an entire movie where she wants to die, exploring avenues of self-destruction, she's forced to make a choice regarding her own life or death. She can either accept her fate, or fight. Bound and gagged, Pickens is able to convincingly portray Tracy's newfound lease of life. When death is a knifeblade away, it isn't any sort of deus ex machina that saves her, but her own resourcefulness and strength of character. The audience doesn't just know that Tracy wants to live, she allows them to feel it.
By keeping the events of the first movie primarily in a single location, Laura's apartment, Cross was able to spend more time developing his characters, as well as developing a claustrophobic atmosphere that milked tension from audience frustrations. But GHOSTWATCHER 2 is all grown up and moved out of the house. Cross is forced to rely more on story and classic filmmaking scare tactics to create those jumpscares.
The dead serial killer was named Darius Blake, and Laura believes that his spirit is haunting Tracy in hopes of returning from the grave. Cross fills every scene with the eerie feeling that Darius is somehow present and peaking over everyone's shoulders, often providing some of the movie's most effective scares.
The key to solving the puzzle are the deafening voices in Tracy's head, which recite a list of 200 seemingly unconnected names. By figuring out how the names connect together, Laura and Tracy hope to thwart Darius' otherworldly plans.
Some would consider my next few lines as spoilers, but they aren't meant to be. Tracy and Laura don't connect the names, or at least not in time to prevent what Darius has planned. This is where Cross breaks away from convention and stays true to his characters. After all, both this and the original GHOSTWATCHER are character studies.
When Tracy and Laura fail to prevent an event that plays ambitiously on post-9/11 fears, Cross moves his movie away from a sense of dread to a place of hopelessness. Fear is replaced with emptiness. It's at this point that both woman are forced to grow as characters and finally come to terms with death and finality, not just with loved ones, but with periods of their own lives. Darius is determined to kill them both, but through their own personal struggles, the pair have each come to terms with a reason for living.
The movie ends on a note that isn't happily ever after, but it stays true to lives of the women involved. It's an honesty that's refreshingly non-formula, and a total breakaway of the paint-by-numbers horror that's been lining the rental shelves in recent years. As a follow-up to the previous entry, GHOSTWATCHER 2 is a vast improvement in both storytelling and execution. If you enjoyed the original GHOSTWATCHER, you should enjoy the sequel twice-fold.