Ghosthouse
Ghosthouse is Umberto Lenzi's 1988 haunted house effort, and it's honestly pretty terrible. But I kinda dig it. In fact, I really dig it. Even though I know it's a turkey; it's my kind of turkey: bizarre, surreal, and bordering on incomprehensible. Plus it's got an evil clown doll. How could I not love it?
The fact that I watched it back to back with Lucio Fulci's superb The House by the Cemetery did not do Ghosthouse any favors. The two films are set at the same creepy Massachusetts mansion (at least on the outside), so it made for a fitting double bill. However, while House by the Cemetery's plot is possibly even more nonsensical than Ghosthouse's, Fulci's film is in every other way superior. The acting is better; the colors are richer, and the mystery is overall more intriguing. Still they both share a surreal atmosphere and an anything goes attitude that otherwise makes them good companion films.
Ghosthouse concerns a ham radio operator who overhears a cry for help on the airwaves one night, and, along with his girlfriend, goes looking for the source. He discovers it at the aforementioned creepy house, where four teens are currently squatting. The only problem is they didn't send out the message - they haven't even finished setting their radio up yet. (Sidenote: Ghosthouse would apparently have you believe that ham radio operation was the hippest fad amongst young people in the late 80's).
That night one of the teens is murdered by a creepy ghost girl and her even creepier evil clown doll, and all hell proceeds to break loose in the house. Meanwhile, the home's creepy caretaker embarks on his own killing spree. There's a silly mystery involving the cursed doll and a local funeral home, but the main fun is the madness at the house. Creepy children's songs are played; a maggoty grim reaper appears; a girl is cut in half by a random guillotine blade, and a man falls into what appears to be a pit of boiling milk.
Eventually the mystery is solved and the ghost girl laid to rest. Although there's a nonsensical "twist" in the last few minutes, if you've made it this far, you probably won't care. Nothing about the movie makes much sense, but it's a mad funhouse ride of a film all the same. If you're like me and like that kind of thing, you'll love Ghosthouse. However, if you want good acting, believable characters, a solid mystery, and a rational plot, look elsewhere my friend, because in that case, Ghosthouse is definitely not for you.
The fact that I watched it back to back with Lucio Fulci's superb The House by the Cemetery did not do Ghosthouse any favors. The two films are set at the same creepy Massachusetts mansion (at least on the outside), so it made for a fitting double bill. However, while House by the Cemetery's plot is possibly even more nonsensical than Ghosthouse's, Fulci's film is in every other way superior. The acting is better; the colors are richer, and the mystery is overall more intriguing. Still they both share a surreal atmosphere and an anything goes attitude that otherwise makes them good companion films.
Ghosthouse concerns a ham radio operator who overhears a cry for help on the airwaves one night, and, along with his girlfriend, goes looking for the source. He discovers it at the aforementioned creepy house, where four teens are currently squatting. The only problem is they didn't send out the message - they haven't even finished setting their radio up yet. (Sidenote: Ghosthouse would apparently have you believe that ham radio operation was the hippest fad amongst young people in the late 80's).That night one of the teens is murdered by a creepy ghost girl and her even creepier evil clown doll, and all hell proceeds to break loose in the house. Meanwhile, the home's creepy caretaker embarks on his own killing spree. There's a silly mystery involving the cursed doll and a local funeral home, but the main fun is the madness at the house. Creepy children's songs are played; a maggoty grim reaper appears; a girl is cut in half by a random guillotine blade, and a man falls into what appears to be a pit of boiling milk.
Eventually the mystery is solved and the ghost girl laid to rest. Although there's a nonsensical "twist" in the last few minutes, if you've made it this far, you probably won't care. Nothing about the movie makes much sense, but it's a mad funhouse ride of a film all the same. If you're like me and like that kind of thing, you'll love Ghosthouse. However, if you want good acting, believable characters, a solid mystery, and a rational plot, look elsewhere my friend, because in that case, Ghosthouse is definitely not for you.
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