Movie review - The Ghoul

I watched this film straight after A Ghost Story and I think that movie had drained my brain through sheer boredom and that didn't really help me with getting into it.

It started with some detectives investigating a case and talking about a ghoul, some one who was obsessed with hanging around police trying to find out grisly details about police procedures and having an overactive curiosity about gory crimes. So I am thinking they are looking for this individual. The next thing we see a guy who is clinically depressed and seeing psychiatrists to talk about his delusions about being a detective. He seems to mope around a lot, he spends some time trying to connect with an old flame and follows and befriends a fellow patient who he goes to a party with. At the party they talk positing the thought that "imagine instead of being a depressed person who dreams of being a undercover detective he is actually a detective pretending to be a depressed person pretending to be a detective"................ does that sentence even make sense? That was when I twigged that this was the detective from the beginning of the movie actually being undercover. I seem to have totally missed the point somewhere along the line I think, although I feel that the point wasn't really made in any way that was in the slightest bit engaging or able to pique my interest.

It's all a bit psychedelic maybe, it's definitely obscure and I suppose it's supposed to make you think but it just made me think that I'd picked some bloody naff movies this evening. There were hints of magic mentioned and a warning given but I felt no hint of menace or inkling of there being any kind of threat or trepidation and then there was some kind of ouroboros shenanigans and was he investigating crimes he himself committed in some weird cyclical twist? To be honest I didn't care enough about the film to try and fathom it out. Immortality something or other, existential blah blah..... pretty boring stuff.

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Movie review - Freehold

This was not what I was expecting really. The cover made me imagine one of those groups of people locked in the house whilst some unknown force stalks them kind of deals. After watching a couple of movies the same night that really weren't my cup of tea this was a breath of fresh air. (See A Ghost Story & The Ghoul) So rather than a group of party goers trespassing in the wrong creepy mansion, this was the story of Hussein, a bloke living in his slightly pokey but comfortable flat. A cocky estate agent by trade, he seemed like he was working class but had a bit of the gift of the gab and took to the slippery underhanded ways that estate agents are renowned for with aplomb. He was a bit of an Arthur Daley, a little dodgy maybe, but underneath he's alright. Well, of course he's only alright if his underhanded ways haven't affected you somehow. Haven't screwed up your life and left you homeless and vindictive and possibly a bit deranged. Which is what they have done to the man secretly living in various hiding places around his flat and emerging at night to seek his revenge in subtle ways. Ways that escalate as the film progresses, leaving Hussein isolated and paranoid and sick until eventually there is a confrontation.

A couple of interesting points to note. There was an inexplicable rap by one of the actors during the closing credits which I thought was an unusual move. It was in his character and sort of told of his motivation I suppose but it was pretty incongruous if you ask me. At least the other main actor never got into the act and finished off with a rap battle I suppose! Also Javier Botet starred as the home intruder. People may not recognise him out of extensive make-up as he normally plays zombies and demons in films like It, The Mummy and the upcoming Slender Man. Even without make up his gangly frame is almost disturbing!

I quite enjoyed this film, it had some cool acting and believable characters, the premise whilst not 100% original was done well. There was suspense and a bit of sick humour but definitely not for someone who is wanting a horror bloodfest at all.