Review by Tim-O
Starring: Sean Faris, Rachael Taylor
Directed by Chris Hartwill
When it comes to supernatural ghost movies, I’m pretty picky. Peter Medak’s “The Changeling” is one that always goes on my top 10 horror films. It’s dark, creepy and has a cool mystery to it. Movies like 1408 make me want to shovel my eyeballs out of my head with a spoon. It’s just a dumb head-trip with lame CGI ghosts in my opinion. While ghost movies have to be really special for me to enjoy them, cyber-thrillers rarely even tickle my curiosity. I even hated “Tron” (gasp) when I saw it in the theater as a kid. So, needless to say, I went into watching “Ghost Machine” with pretty low expectations. However, it ended up being a half decent movie that combined the two genres with a side of military conspiracy thrown in.
The story involves a group of 20 something military techs who steal a top-secret warfare program and smuggle it into an abandoned jail. The program is a virtual reality game where the players search and destroy enemy soldiers and train for real world combat. Apparently, the jail was used after 9/11 to brutally interrogate suspected terrorists and the ghost of a murdered female prisoner infiltrates the software for revenge. As the techs enter the virtual war zone, they become key players in a deadly game and are further used by the ghost to draw in those responsible for her untimely demise.
“Ghost Machine” borrows heavily from many similar-themed films but somehow manages to have an air of freshness to it. The 9/11 angle is interesting without getting political and the ghost is creepy, sexy, violent, and IS NOT CGI!!! (Rejoice and pop the corks!!) The acting is fairly decent and the production values are good for a B-movie. There are some plot holes things that don’t stand to reason (Why does an abandoned jail have a night-watchman?), but hey, it’s a B-movie. It’s those things that help to make them fun, right?
I didn’t love “Ghost Machine” but I didn’t hate it either. It was done fairly well and was entertaining enough. It’s probably worth a rent and, if you’re searching for this type of movie to watch, you could do a lot worse. At least I didn’t maim myself with a kitchen utensil after I watched it. That’s always a plus. 6/10