Ghost from the Machine (2010)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

one of my absolute favorites!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I find it frustrating that so often truly great independent genre films are poorly reviewed on IMDb or Amazon because they fail to follow the genre conventions established in Hollywood films.For example, if "horror" to you means violence, blood, and gore--especially torture, rape, and exploding genitalia--then this film is not a horror movie. Similarly, if "sci-fi" to you means aliens, patriotic/ military subtext, and tentacle sex, then this film utterly fails as a science fiction film. Finally, if by character development or depth you mean something like protagonist A starts out as a good guy but eventually eats kittens or love interest B starts out as the girl-next-door but is revealed to be an S&M dominatrix by the third reel, then these characters are neither very well developed or sufficiently deep. However, while there is nothing wrong with people making or enjoying popcorn-munching, lowest-common-denominator genre films, there is another way to make great, entertaining films.Phasma Ex Machina takes that other approach delivering believable responses from believable characters to unbelievable events. Suspend your disbelief and ask yourself if you'd really want the love of your life returned from the dead or your grand-daughter resurrected after twenty years? Ghost from the Machine succeeds in exploring how real people might learn real answers to these and other questions without descending into moralizing or allegory. Similarly, it succeeds in being genuinely creepy--and even frightening--without resorting to fake blood and orchestration-based jump scares. The film succeeds at these goals largely because its actors and locations aren't the usual Hollywood caricatures. The relationships depicted might strike us as underdeveloped or thin specifically in that they resist any attempts to hit us over the head with their supposed "depth." The events seem real even while the premise is spectacularly unlikely precisely because these characters inhabit a believable universe not dissimilar to our own.Yes, the sex scene is awkward to the point of making us look away, but much like The Sessions (2012), it is so because it lacks the normal Hollywood glitter and slickness. Yes, the machine is merely a macguffin that occasions an exploration of real loss and tragedy. Yes, the inclusion of the former-pedophile-who-ran-a-daycare--and just happens to have lived in your house--subplot seems to push the limits of coincidence. However, even this can be overlooked if you are willing to admit that every house has probably had somebody distasteful living in it at some time or another in the past. If you want to be genuinely frightened, abandon your tinsel-town preconceptions and check out this great film.

Shoestring meaning GFTM's budget. Watching this movie reminds us that it is "know how", not money that results in good camera work, dialog, acting, etc. The acting, especially the three main characters, was very earnest; i.e., you can tell these guys have a desire to be professionals. The side roles, i.e., girlfriends, ghosts, etc., are also competent (with the exception of the cop). Contrast GFTN with similarly conceived and budgeted horror flicks with single shot camera work, blunt dialog and monotone delivery of lines. The thrills and suspense were enjoyable enough and not overwrought, the ending better than most. Some nice touches; e.g. meeting a deceased at the graveyard park on a sunny day. Only one small slice of unnecessary filler. When you think of it, GFTM is about as effective as a high budget effort; e.g., INSIDIOUS, MAMA, etc. Give these directors, makers, etc., some money next time!

Given that this film has highly fair ratings on here, I decided to give it a shot. Right from the get-go the bad acting and slow, boring development really had me itching to turn it off - but, I rationalized, "Oh, it's an independent film. And there's a real trifield meter made by Alpha Labs in it. Give it a chance." Now here I am, writing this as the credits roll, and wish that I could take back the past hour or so of my life. The "acting" was non-existent. The plot was lame. The big "climax" was forced. It is also incredibly misleading to label it as "horror" and "sci-fi", seeing as nothing horrific or sci-fi ever happened. Maybe "drab indie drama" would suffice. Hopefully you read this review in time to spare yourself.

For a low budget, independent movie from an inexperienced director/writer, I thought this was actually pretty enjoyable. The plot is a bit of a rehash of the old mad scientist trope, but this time the mad scientist is a young adult who can't let go of his dead parents. Feeling guilty and responsible for their deaths, he embarks on a single-minded quest to contact them, using some pseudo-scientific theory involving electromagnetic fields. I guess they figured that audiences might get confused about EMF, so they dedicated several expository scenes on the science behind the kid's invention. Unfortunately, this does slow down the pacing a bit, but, unlike Primer, from which this movie seems to draw some influence, they managed to keep the technobabble to minimum. Like Primer, the invention is basically a MacGuffin, a black box that serves to advance the plot and draw the focus of obsessive behavior. Unlike Primer, the themes aren't as explicit, nor is it quite as compelling, though I fail to see why the rating is quite so low as it is (hovering around a 4, at the time of my writing). I'd say that it's pretty decent and probably worth a view for fans of supernatural thrillers. There's no gore, profanity, or nudity that I can remember, though there's a little violence and atmospheric tension. That makes me wonder if maybe it was aimed at younger audiences, especially seeing as how the leads are all fairly young. Still, I think it works fine for older audiences, as long as they're not expecting it to be a gory horror movie.