Movies
‘We Have a Ghost’ Review – Gateway Horror Adventure Uses Ghostly Charms to Capture Family Bonds
Writer/Director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) evokes the family-friendly Amblin movies of yesterday for his latest, Netflix’s We Have a Ghost. Wearing its formative gateway horror influences on its sleeves, We Have a Ghost blends nostalgic family adventure-induced charm with Landon’s distinct ability to render authentic characters to an affecting degree. While it threatens to overstay its welcome, the tender adventure delivers ghostly charm, poignant family bonds, and humor that’ll appeal to new generations of budding genre fans.
The Presley family moved into a long-vacant fixer-upper near Chicago, looking for a fresh start. It’s the latest in a string of new beginnings for ambitious, restless dad Frank (Anthony Mackie), much to the chagrin of his youngest son, Kevin (Jahi Winston). Not even older brother Fulton (Niles Fitch) or peacekeeping mom Melanie (Erica Ash) can stave off the mounting tension between them. Kevin’s tired of constantly getting uprooted every time Frank cycles through a different career path, but he mostly wants to find acceptance through his unwavering love of music. Kevin’s the first to encounter Ernest (David Harbour), a ghost with unfinished business. When Frank discovers Ernest, it transforms the entire household into a viral video sensation that puts them all on the radar of scientist Dr. Leslie Monroe (Tig Notaro) and Deputy Director Arnold Schipley of the CIA (Steve Coulter), sparking a wild journey that’ll change everyone involved.
We Have A Ghost. (L to R) Erica Ash as Melanie, David Harbour as Ernest in We Have A Ghost. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022.
Landon, adapting Geoff Manaugh’s short story, puts his characters first. Long before the ghost adventure kicks into high gear, the filmmaker finds succinct, infectious ways to establish these characters as fully realized people. The Presley family is instantly relatable and provides rooting interest, even with their flaws. Mackie brings charisma to Frank that balances his harsher side, while Fitch and Ash imbue their supporting characters with enough distinct personalities to enrich the family dynamics.
The driving force of this story is Kevin, though, and his unique bond with Ernest that catapults them both into a paranormal coming-of-age road trip story. In this world, ghosts can’t speak beyond moans and vocalizations, yet Harbour can tug at the heartstrings so well that you’ll forget he never utters a word. It’s Winston that impresses most, though, as a sweet teen with a solid moral center willing to undergo anything to help his ghost pal. Kevin is the emotional backbone of this “boy and his ghost” tale, and Winston makes it seem effortless.
We Have a Ghost contemporizes its ‘80s influences, evoking everything from E.T. to Beetlejuice, though Landon introduces some original sci-fi fun to the mix. Save for a few gateway scare moments to exhilarate younger viewers, Landon instead uses the genre elements playfully to propel Kevin and Ernest’s journey through memorable set pieces and a heightened sense of reality. A Beetlejuice-esque sequence involving Jennifer Coolidge brings the laughs. But it’s sequences like an intricate car chase involving an incorporeal entity shot with incredible swooping camera work that set this movie apart from the pack.
We Have A Ghost. (L to R) Isabella Russo as Joy, Jahi Winston as Kevin, David Harbour as Ernest in We Have A Ghost. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022.
As densely packed as Kevin’s road trip gets, We Have a Ghost occasionally reminds you of its robust runtime. It makes certain supporting subplots seem swept aside as a result, though it ultimately doesn’t detract from the overarching story or its emotional impact. The poignant beats and character arcs all satisfy by the story’s end.
Landon’s latest continues his streak of using the genre in clever ways to serve its poignant, authentically rendered characters. The commentary on social media and its modern sensibilities, bolstered by a tremendous cast, transforms the familiar into something fresh and new. It’s a breezy, infectious family adventure that’s as entertaining as it is affecting, making it an easy recommendation to introduce younger audiences and families to sci-fi and horror.
Netflix releases We Have a Ghost on February 24, 2023.
This week’s horror releases bring a killer shark onto Netflix and the feature debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan into theaters, and that’s only the beginning of the tidal wave of new horror.
Here’s all the new horror releasing June 3, 2024 – June 9, 2024!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
The breakout Korean blockbuster Exhuma was released in theaters here in the United States back in March, and Well Go USA Entertainment brought it home to VOD this Tuesday.
Exhuma is directed by Jang Jae-Hyun (Svaha: The Sixth Finger) and stars popular Korean actors CHOI Min-Sik (Oldboy, I Saw the Devil), KIM Go-Eun (Hero, Little Women), YOO Hai-Jin (A Taxi Driver), and LEE Do-Hyun (Prison Playbook, Sweet Home).
In the film, “When a renowned shaman (KIM Go-Eun) and her protégé (Lee Do-hyun) are hired by a wealthy, enigmatic family, they begin investigating the cause of a disturbing supernatural illness that affects only the first-born children of each generation. With the help of a knowledgeable mortician (YOO Hai-jin) and the country’s most revered geomancer (CHOI Min-sik), they soon trace the affliction’s origin to a long-hidden family grave located on sacred ground.
“Sensing an ominous aura surrounding the burial site, the team opts to exhume and relocate the ancestral remains immediately. But as something much darker emerges, they soon discover what befalls those who dare to mess with the wrong grave.”
DeskPop Entertainment kicks off their summer slate with the North American VOD release of Insane Like Me?, which is now available on Amazon, Apple TV, and other outlets.
Director Chip Joslin’s Insane Like Me? is a supernatural thriller about a combat veteran who returns home after a tour of duty overseas. He becomes the lead suspect in his girlfriend’s disappearance and is subsequently wrongly convicted and incarcerated. Nine years later he is released from the mental asylum, he returns home to find the truth and settle the score.
The horror film is a Bankhead Productions feature from a script by Britt Bankhead. Bankhead stars and produces alongside Grace Patterson (Slotherhouse) as former lovers whose complicated past is nothing compared to what lies ahead when they reunite.
The supporting cast is rounded out by Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts, Samantha Reddy, Jack Maxwell, Paul Kolker and Meg Hobgood.
Indie director Bruce Wemple (Monstrous, Dawn of the Beast) is back with DREAD’s latest horror movie The Hangman, which was also released onto VOD outlets on Tuesday.
In The Hangman, “During a camping trip from hell, a father battles a murderous cult and a bloodthirsty demon, known as The Hangman, to save his kidnapped son.”
Lindsey Dresbach, Richard Lounello, Jefferson Cox, Daniel Martin Berkey and Mar Cellus star.
Here’s the full synopsis: “To mend their troubled relationship, a middle-aged door-to-door salesman, Leon (LeJon Woods), takes his teenage son on a camping trip into deep rural Appalachia. Little do they know of the mountainous region’s sinister secrets. A local cult has summoned an evil demon born of hate and pain, known to them as The Hangman, and now the bodies have begun to pile up. Leon wakes up in the morning to discover that his son is missing.”
“Leon must face the murderous cult and the bloodthirsty monster that is The Hangman.”
The latest from French filmmaker Xavier Gens (Frontiers, Cold Skin), shark attack horror movie Under Paris has premiered over on the Netflix streaming service today, June 5.
Following in the grand tradition of Jaws, a celebration turns into a PR nightmare when a hungry shark comes to Paris. One shark. A whole lot of tasty humans. That’s how we like it.
“Set in Summer 2024, the film unfolds in Paris which is hosting the World Triathlon Championships on the Seine for the first time. Sophia, a brilliant scientist, learns from Mika, a young environmental activist, that a large shark is swimming deep in the river.
“To avoid a bloodbath at the heart of the city, they have no choice but to join forces with Adil, the Seine river police commander.”
Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) and Nassim Lyes (Overdose) star.
A job at a marijuana farm turns nightmarish in director Ariel Vida’s Trim Season, and Blue Harbor Entertainment is bringing the film to select theaters and VOD Friday, June 7.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker and production designer Ariel Vida, Trim Season stars Bethlehem Million (Sick, “And Just Like That…”) as Emma, an adrift, jobless, 20-something seeking purpose. Along with a group of young people from Los Angeles, she drives up the coast to make quick cash trimming marijuana on a secluded farm in Northern California.
“Cut off from the rest of the world, they soon realize that Mona (Jane Badler) – the seemingly amiable owner of the estate – is harboring secrets darker than any of them could imagine. It becomes a race against time for Emma and her friends to escape the dense woods with their lives.”
The cast also includes “Scream” and Hell Fest‘s Bex Taylor-Klaus, Starry Eyes, “Midnight Mass” and Doctor Sleep‘s Alex Essoe, Ally Ioannides (Synchronic), Cory Hart (“Fear the Walking Dead”), Ryan Donowho, Marc Senter and Juliette Kenn De Balinthazy.
Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In), NEON’s horror drama Handling the Undead is expanding into more theaters in select cities on Friday, June 7.
Handling the Undead is a drama with elements of horror about three families, a story about grief and loss, but also about hope and understanding of what we can’t comprehend or control.
In the film, “On a hot summer day in Oslo, the dead mysteriously awaken, and three families are thrown into chaos when their deceased loved ones come back to them.
“Who are they, and what do they want? A family is faced with the mother’s reawakening before they have even mourned her death after a car accident; an elderly woman gets the love of her life back the same day she has buried her; a grandfather rescues his grandchild from the gravesite in a desperate attempt to get his daughter out of her depression.”
Thea Hvistendahl (Adjø Montebello) directed the film, with script by John Ajvide Lindqvist in collaboration with Thea Hvistendahl. Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bjørn Sundquis, Bente Børsum, Bahar Pars, and Inesa Dauksta star.
From producer M. Night Shyamalan and director Ishana Night Shyamalan comes The Watchers, headed to theaters courtesy of New Line Cinema on Friday, June 7.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Georgina Campbell (Barbarian), Oliver Finnegan (“Creeped Out”) and Olwen Fouere (The Northman).
The Watchers is based on the novel by A.M. Shine.
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