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Released by: Breaking Glass Pictures
Released on: August 20, 2013.
Director: Derek Cole
Cast: Stephen Twardokus, Liesel Kopp, Jon Gale, Cain Clifton, Maureen McElroy
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
In a day and age when movies like the Paranormal Activity series and The Conjuring have proven that ghost stories can be turned into box office success, it makes perfect sense that you're going to wind up with low budget knock offs. Such is the nature of the beast. The Asylum's Paranormal Entity is the most obvious cash in, and at first glance, it looks like Derek Cole's 2012 movie An American Ghost Story is going to follow suit. Hell, the two characters we meet first, Paul Anderson (Stephen Twardokus) and his girlfriend Stella (Liesel Kopp), even talk about how everything relating to paranormal activity (the phenomena not the movie series) is 'hot right now' - and there's their justification for renting a suburban home that is reportedly haunted.
See, Paul's intent on writing a successful novel, he's tried of writing ad copy and obituaries for the local newspaper and wants to make something of himself. He figures this is a great way to experience things first hand, and he knows he can rework that experience into a best seller. Once they settle in, things seem mellow enough but then one night Stella sees the door open on its own. When she's in the kitchen the next day and every drawer and cupboard flies open on its own, she's out of there. She leaves Paul and moves in with her mom and we never hear from her again. This leaves Paul in the house alone, where he too starts to experience strange things. The landlord (Jon Gale) comes by for the rent but isn't interested in talking about it. His best friend, Sam (Cain Clifton), can't take any of what he's doing seriously. Eventually Paul tracks down a former tenant, Anna (Maureen McElroy), who begrudgingly agrees to an interview. It's here he learns that she previously experienced the same phenomena he's not seeing first hand: bodies taking shape under sheets, toys moving around, and things generally going bump in the night. She tells him it ruined her life and warns him to get out before it does the same to him. But this wouldn't be much of a movie if he listened to her…
Does this one share some similarities with the blockbuster hits that have spooked audiences around the world? Yes it does. Is it a particularly original film? Nope, not really. Is it worth seeing? Yeah, if you're into ghost movies, this one is well done. It's one of those low budget movies that uses craft and creativity to overcome a need for effects. Supposedly shot for about ten grand and using the director's own house as the movie's primary location, instead of CGI created ghoulies we instead get 'something' under a sheet. It's simple, but it's effective. Clever camera work helps to make something as common place looking under a bed a ridiculously tense experience while the score ramps up the atmosphere. Yes, the film does sometimes go for the obvious jump scare and while that doesn't provide much in the way of lasting horror, the kind that you take with you into your nightmares, these well timed scenes will give you a jolt.
The performances are strong here as well. Twardokus is a likeable enough lead, he does well in the role and we can buy his concern for his girlfriend, well played by Kopp. The issue of her exit from the movie is an interesting one: on one hand it seems odd that we don't see them communicate after their last phone call, you'd think he'd call her up to tell her of his findings or just check in on her, but at the same time, you can't blame her for just wanting to get the Hell away from all of this. Supporting efforts from Clifton, Elroy and Gale are fine as well, but it's Twardokus who does most of the heavy lifting here.
The movie loses a bit towards the end, where the low budget comes into play and our suspension of disbelief gets a little rocked by some stunts that don't completely convince and a score that feels a little off, so the movie isn't perfect. There's no gore, no exploitative elements at all, really, just atmosphere. The buildup, however, is done very well and all in all this was a nice little surprise, a modestly budgeted horror movie that mines familiar territory while still managing to show some inspired creativity to conjure up a few solid scares.
Video/Audio/Extras:
An American Ghost Story arrives on DVD in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen. For the most part, this transfer is quite good. The movie was shot on digital video so there's no print damage, dirt or debris. Clarity is fine, detail is solid and color reproduction looks good. There are some minor compression artifacts here and there in the darker scenes but outside of that, things look very good here.
Audio chores are handled by a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, in English with no alternate language options or subtitles (the packaging says that there's English closed captioning but it's not there). The dialogue is easy enough to understand and the levels are well balanced. There are no hiss or distortion related issues. No problems here, the movie sounds very good actually. At times it's a fairly minimalist mix, and then you'll get smacked upside the head with a musical stinger to startle you with a jump scare. It works well. The visuals build tension and the sound mix the jolts.
Extras start off with a commentary track from director Derek Cole and actors Stephen Twardokus and Jon Gale. It's an active track that covers the joys and the pitfalls of making an independent low budget movie. They talk about the camera work, the locations, the score, the casting and pretty much everything else you'd want. This is informative and well-paced.
Additionally, there's a forty minute behind the scenes featurette hosted by Cole and Twardokus. Much of this is the two sitting in front of the camera talking about the production and covering some of the same ground gone over in the commentary, but some of the behind the scenes footage is pretty interesting which makes this worth checking out. The disc also includes roughly half an hour's worth of deleted scenes, one of which gives us a bit more information on Paul and Stella's relationship. We also get to see what happens when Sam encounters the spirit in the house and we get a bit more with the landlord here as well. These were probably cut for pacing but some of this material is pretty good.
Rounding out the extras is a still gallery, a trailer for the feature, trailers for other Breaking Glass Pictures releases, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
This is a pretty solid example of creative low budget filmmaking that works. It's not a perfect movie but An American Ghost Story contains some scenes of serious tension and offers up a few genuinely scary jolts as well. Breaking Glass Pictures' DVD looks and sounds very good and rounds out the package nicely with a few quality supplements.
