Why So Blu?

Film 

Pay the Ghost is one of Nicolas cage’s newest films to hit video, limited theatrical release, and VOD platforms. There’s an obvious reason as to why and that’s because it’s not a good film at all. The premise starts off strong, though. On one uneventful night, Mike Lawford (Cage), takes his son to a Halloween carnival down the street from the family home. During the festivities Mike and his son become separated and the frantic search begins. Together with his estranged wife, Kristen (Sarah Wayne Callies), they set out to find their son.

Okay, saying that he is estranged from his wife at the beginning of the film is a bit of stretch. There’s a passage of time before she becomes estranged since she technically blames him for the disappearance. As Mike continues on with his life he can’t help but see the writings on the wall. Literally. Weird messages appear on the walls throughout the city that everyone seems to be oblivious to. There’s also a creepy blind dreadlocked guy who stands as a sort of gatekeeper to the “other side.” There’s no back-story to the character – he’s just there, because the material calls for it. You know, in a city of a few million, there’s a tunnel in plain sight that whisks you off to certain doom, but I digress.

There’s a connection to whole mysterious event and Mike takes his findings to the police, who in turn, promise him that they will do the best they can in locating his son. Then that’s that. The problem I had with Pay the Ghost, besides everything, is that it’s a dull and lazy film. It’s surprising due to the talent involved. The film is directed by Uli Edel who also directed the fantastic film: The Baader Meinhof Complex a few years ago. Looking at his latest filmography, however, I can see that something like Pay the Ghost was more than likely a “paycheck” film. I also didn’t care for the fact that some characters are introduced, spout some line, and are never seen again.

In any event, as the film progresses to its silly complex we’re treated to some really awful mumbo jumbo about ghosts and longing and the various dimensions between the living and the dead, etc. It’s not convincing or silly enough to be entertained. Even Nicolas Cage’s “tortured” character comes off rather hokey. Some of the typical jump scares were effective, but like I said, the film reaches a laughable climax and not even Nicolas Cage can save the material from mediocrity.

Gerard Iribe

Gerard Iribe is a writer/reviewer for Why So Blu?. He has also reviewed for other sites like DVD Talk, Project-Blu, and CHUD, but Why So Blu? is where the heart is. You can follow his incoherency on Twitter: @giribe