USA 2010 86m Directed by: Matt Osterman. Starring: Sasha Andreev, Michelle Bergh, Lynette Biunno, Matthew Feeney, Emily Fradenburgh, Bill Gorman, Ted Hall, Mari Harris, Max Hauser, Katrina Hawley, Ellen Karsten, Gary David Keast, Laurie King. Music by: Wojciech Golczewski.
After his parents are killed in a car accident, Cody is left dealing with enormous guilt, caring for his younger brother and the persistent thought of how to bring his parents back to life. Cody knows he is not the first person to have this idea or the first to have attempted to carry it through. After several attempts with his electromagnetic device, he becomes the first to breach the wall between the living and the dead But where is the line between life and death? And who actually comes back? What ghosts come out of the machine?
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Ghost From the Machine is an original and ultimately heartbreaking ghost story. Subtle and nuanced, the film tells the story of an afflicted young man who's bound and determined to reach and bring back his parents from 'the other side' at the expense of maintaining personal relationships. You hope he achieves his singular purpose because if not, he stands to lose a lot. After many trials and some success, he learns a difficult lesson in that no one is meant to ever come back.
The film itself is a more character based film than pure horror. Sure, it has its scares and genuinely creepy moments, but it's the focus on the characters which really drives the film. When I stated that it's subtle and nuanced, I meant it is in such away that it never really force feeds you the 'why' of Cody being so single minded. You just know that he is extremely grief stricken and in some way, feels responsible for what happened. The same with our widowed tech geek. You never really know the ins and outs of his relationship with his wife. You just know that she was the love of his life. The horror elements are balanced carefully with our character driven moments and the filmmaker pulled off this balancing act exceptionally well. Had he not done so, the ending would not have packed as much of an emotional of a punch as needed. Truly not a made for Hollywood ending.
Check this one out if you like more emotionally engrossing films that are thought provoking but also terrifying. It sounds like an oxymoron but this is one horror film that is truly different.
Review by jcorty28 from the Internet Movie Database.