Ghost Town (2009)

Ghost Town did have a good idea to start with. With the opening sequence, which sets the tone very well, you'd think it would be a decent movie at least. Unfortunately, it very quickly descends into amateurish tedium. I have seen worse-looking movies, but the crude editing, often dull lighting and the rather slapdash(though I have seen far worse) effects does make it a film where the low-budget really does show. Even the make-up has a real lack of originality. The music is too obvious, a large part of why the scares and such weren't done so well, and nothing really stuck out as memorable. The dialogue is terrible, it all feels hackneyed and it gives a very unnatural flow. The story is one that tries to be a slasher movie, a western and a ghost movie. It doesn't do either of those well at all. Much of it is worthless filler. With slasher scenes, you'd expect scares that make you bite your nails and a feeling of dread. With these scenes, it has gore but little else. I like westerns just as much as the next person, but there is nothing exciting or adventurous on display here. Likewise with the ghost aspects. The ghosts had real potential but are not menacing and not used well. It all reads of them giving nothing to do that is worthwhile other than predictable things, and as a result the spooky atmosphere is low on the radar. Even episodes of Scooby Doo was scarier than this entire movie. And when are SyFy ever are going to do their research, the worst was in regard to Wicca, which didn't exist until the 20th century which is the opposite of what Ghost Town implies. I hated the characters just as much. Whether they are stereotypical or not doesn't actually doesn't bother me, a large amount of movies has one stereotype at least. But it is an entirely different matter when the high school kids are so annoying that you'd finish them off given the choice and no thought whatsoever is given to the villains, with only the character Reb Halland given anything that is of note. The acting is atrocious, the kids can't act their way out of a paper bag, most of them are wooden, with one even slipping into what sounds like a New Zealand accent that is somewhat disconcerting, and none of them show any genuine sense of fear or tension giving their predicament. Billy Drago looks intimidating but has little to do other than sneering reasonably effectively. All in all, Ghost Town had an opening sequence that was decent but any potential was wasted to the point that you actually question what was the point? 2/10 Bethany Cox