(2015) ***
Mike Lawford is an over-worked English professor with a 7-year-old son who loves to spend time with his dad. On Halloween night, Mike's son begins seeing random ghost people and vultures. Mike takes his son to a Halloween carnival. the son asks his dad, "Can we Pay the Ghost", at which point he promptly vanishes. Mike spends the next year searching for his son. He spends the first 362 days focused on area sex offenders, but then starts to see/hear visions and think something supernatural may have taken his son.
Pay the Ghost has 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's very obvious why. There is nothing original about this film whatsoever. It's a family-friendly horror film, biddy-safe and such, with nothing novel. You've seen everything in this movie before with bits from The Changeling, Mama, The Others, Poltergeist, etc. All that said, it's still not a bad movie, just nothing new. Nicolas Cage's career is a funny one. He's still good in this movie in his Nicolas Cage way, even though he seems far too old to be the father of the 7-year-old, and he looks to old to be the husband of Walking Dead's Sarah Wayne Callies.
I give this film an extra star for taking place around Halloween, which adds some nice atmospheric touches, and for making Callies far more likeable than her Walking Dead role. Also, some good creepy kids make for some nice moments and genuine jump scares.
5 comments:
Sounds like a safe bet if you can't decide what to watch. How Nicolas Cage has gotten so many different acting roles with that one look he always has on his face is just astounding.
^LOL
My theory is that Nicolas Cage's skull is slowly trying to escape his face. The particulars of his face are such that as he ages he becomes a physical caricature of himself -- but he was great as Ghost Rider!
I can't think of Nicholas Cage without being reminded of Andy Samberg's "get in the cage" bits on SNL.
Ha, Ha - Nicholas Cage. I still love him as the punk in Valley Girl though!
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