Pay the Ghost (2015)

Pay the Ghost (2015)

* (out of 4)

Professor Mike Lawford (Nicholas Cage) is a workaholic who often neglects his wife (Sarah Wayne Callies) and their young son. After missing out on trick or treating, Mike decides to take his son to a Halloween carnival but the kid disappears after asking his father if they can pay the ghost. The following year Mike is still haunting by that day but he begins to feel that his son is trying to contact him and it turns out that his son is part of a cursed woman's revenge.

Whenever any horror film becomes a hit you can usually expect sequels and countless rip-offs. INSIDIOUS was a huge hit and so far it has a sequel and a prequel as well as many rips and that's exactly what PAY THE GHOST is. What separates this film is the fact that it features an Oscar-winning actor who is clearly taking any job that has a paycheck attached to it. I'm not going to say that I feel sorry for Cage but it's becoming clear he's this generations John Carradine. A terrific actor who will take any role that comes his way.

PAY THE GHOST is sadly a very bad horror movie on many different levels but the biggest issue is the screenplay. The entire mystery around "pay the ghost" just isn't thrilling and it doesn't feature anything that really grabs your attention and makes you want to know more. I mean, parents losing a child is something that should grab the viewers attention but that doesn't happen here and the screenplay makes you not really care whether they find their son or not. Even worse is that there are way too make silly CGI jump scares that are so obvious that only the biggest chicken in the world would jump at them.

Then there are the performances, which really aren't so bad as long as you don't expect too much. The big attraction here is obviously going to be Cage and he's just cashing it in but I must admit that I like how he goes all wired and over-the-top. Perhaps comparing him to Bela Lugosi would be better than the Carradine reference. Cage could sleepwalk through films like this but at least he does bring some energy. With that said, PAY THE GHOST is still a very bad movie that hasn't too much in it worth watching.