These days it seems like everyone is on TikTok or has a YouTube channel. Simply talking to a camera and posting the video online will get you likes and follows and can also be your ticket to being an internet celebrity, which may or may not be a good thing. Far too many people are willing to do whatever it takes for online fame. There have been countless internet challenges leading people to film themselves doing all sorts of outrageous things, sometimes resulting in injury or death. In the age of internet culture, people have no shame and no fear, especially if it will make them famous.
In Epic Pictures’ Ghost Game, not too long after meeting on a dating app, deciding they were compatible and moving in together, Vin (Zaen Haidar) discovers his new girlfriend, Laura (Kia Dorsey), has been secretly breaking into houses at night to play the Ghost Game internet challenge. Vin isn’t thrilled to learn that Laura’s partner in the game, Adrian (Sam Lukowski), is an obnoxious asshole willing to do anything for views and likes, maybe even commit violence. The game consists of a dare to break into a house, called a haunt, and film yourself trying to make the homeowner think their house is haunted, while also living in the house undetected. While playing the game, participants wear different kinds of scary masks, with Laura donning a glow-in-the-dark devil mask and Adrian choosing a Lucha Libre mask to hide his identity. Vin doesn’t feel any better about Laura playing the game when she tells him she looks up to the mysterious online community leader Mr. Whatley, who sets the rules for the game and encourages players to take their hauntings to the next level.
Ghost Game boasts a powerhouse creative team, who are all well-known in the world of independent genre film. Ghost Game is written by Adam Cesare (Last Night at Terrace Lanes, Clown in a Cornfield), and directed by Jill “Sixx” Gevargizian, known for the excellent short films 42 Counts (2018) and One Last Meal (2019), as well as the short film turned feature film The Stylist (2020), with Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project) serving as executive producer.
When Laura tells Vin about her plans to break into Halton House, a home that is believed to be haunted by the family who tragically died there, he insists on playing Ghost Game with her. The new owners of Halton House, Pete Trammel (Michael C. Williams), his wife Meg (Emily Bennett), and their daughter Sam (Vienna Maas) are about to move in, so Laura and Vin will have to break in and get cameras set up around the house without being caught. This is a much more dangerous version of the game than Laura has ever played before and the first time she has played in a haunted location. What Laura and Vin don’t know is that they aren’t just playing for likes and follows online, they’re playing for their lives.
Ghost Game features an engaging story and impressive performances from the entire cast, but Haidar and Dorsey are especially notable as Vin and Laura, who seem to have a genuine camaraderie. Halton House has all the necessary components of a haunted house and even a few jump scares; there is an abundance of cobwebs; doors slam on their own; the lights flicker.
Spectacular bloody practical effects, a foreboding score, and uncertainty about what will happen next contribute to the consistently unsettling mood of the film.
Ghost Game benefits from exceptional direction and timely commentary about the dangers of trusting everyone you meet online. Ultimately, Ghost Game is an effectively spooky haunted house movie which warns that it might not be the things that go bump in the night we should be afraid of; sometimes people are much scarier.
Ghost Game had its World Premiere at Panic Fest 2024, which offered a hybrid festival this year.
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