Rating: C+
Dir: Richard Anthony Dunford
Star: Caitlin Cameron, Matthew Devitt, Daisy Boyden, Owen Llewelyn
For some reason, I really keep wanting to call this Ghost Squad. It’s not. What it is, is a mockumentary following the adventures and excursions of a group of paranormal investigators – they politely reject the term “ghost hunters” – as they stumble from one session to the next, with varying degrees of competence. The crew include Norman ‘Jonesey’ Jones (Devitt), affected with an unfortunate case of Tourette’s Syndrome; veteran Alfred Hall; tech guy Toby Thorbert (Llewelyn), with his abrasive mother, who has a crush on Holly (Boyden); and Dave, a former pizza delivery guy with the weakest of bladders. Following them is television host Wynonna Wiggleton (Cameron), who puts the “long” in “long-suffering”.
To be honest, the style of comedy here wasn’t particularly to my taste. While the characters are well-constructed it seems largely underwritten beyond that: hey, these people are quirky, eccentric, and not very skilled. Isn’t that funny? For example, the group encounter a rival team of investigators, who are their opposites in just about every way. But it’s an element which doesn’t go anywhere of significance. It doesn’t build to any confrontation, and there’s no sense of escalation. Even the fact that one of the rival crew cheerfully admits to being a serial killer, is simply used as a throwaway joke because Wynonna doesn’t speak French. It’s an approach which all feels a bit lazy, and didn’t mesh particularly well with my sense of humour.
However, I’ll admit, I did laugh out loud more than once. The spirits sending a message through the radio, that “Toby thinks about Holly naked.” Or Wynonna asking the ultra-shy Toby the names of his previous girlfriends, and he deadpan lists them off: Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina, Sandra, Mary and Jessica. [The film, wisely, doesn’t feel the need to state these are the women name-checked in Mambo No. 5.] In general though, even those in tune with the comedy may well find themselves more inclined to smile, rather than LOL. Personally, I actually thought the dramatic elements worked better. Things took a more serious tone in the final third, with an unexpected death, and while this switch-up was sudden, I found the results more interesting and convincing.
That is perhaps testament to the strength of the characters, who are all likeable, and feel almost as if they personify the Pink Floyd quote, “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.” I found myself still caring about the players here, and when tragedy strikes, I felt for them. I thought the very ending, in particular, was highly effective. It seems to undo, or at least mitigate, the general scepticism of the film towards paranormal phenomena in general. I suspect the more ghost hunting shows you’ve seen, the more you might get out of this. But fans of very dry and understated humour might also want to give it a look.
[The film is out now, on Tubi, Fawesome and other streaming platforms]