Pay The Ghost

There used to be a time in history when Nicolas Cage delivered a lot of good films. And he actually proved himself to be a good actor, with the right script. But somewhere along the way, with his personal problems, he usually ended up in a lot of smaller films ( it does not mean that it´s bad, if you choose something good ). Now, he worked with a lot of legendary directors and actors, so going from this into the B movie world, changed his career a lot. He still made some bigger films, that actually made a profit, like Ghost Rider, and Knowing. But then we also have films like The Wicker Man, that actually was the reason why his acting choices were becoming less good. After a lot of straight to dvd releases, and some smaller cinema releases, something happened in 2013. A film called Joe changed everything. This was finally the proof that Nicolas Cage still knew what acting is all about. The story felt realistic, the characters felt realistic, taking place in a smaller community, where laws are not meant to be followed. Unfortunately not many people saw this film, it should have been screened worldwide, and given a chance to grow on people´s minds. But you can of course see it on blu ray or dvd, so my suggestion is you should buy it. Joe is the best Nicolas Cage film for many years, and deserves respect. Lately i have noticed that cage have released some smaller films, especially 2 of them called The Dying In The Light and The Runner. I have not seen any of them, but i suspect i will eventually. His latest film, simply called Pay The Ghost, was just released on VOD recently, and it seemed different from his latest releases, so i decided to take a look. This film is directed by Uli Edel, who directed the very well acted german drama film The Baader Meinhof Complex. I was surprised to see this combination of Nicolas Cage and Uli Edel, simply because i did not expect them to work together. But here we are, with a new film called Pay The Ghost, with both of them in this project. I honestly did not know much about this film at all, since no promotion was made online, except for the usual trailer. Is this a positive step for Nicolas Cage, or are we back into his usual straight to dvd dull releases ?

Mike Lawford ( Nicolas Cage ) is a respected teacher. Mike is happily married to his wife Kristen Lawford ( Sarah Wayne Callies ), and they have one son, Charlie Lawford ( Jack Fulton ). Since it is Halloween, Charlie is really excited about going trick or treating on the streets, just like all the other kids. On this night, Charlie asks if he and his dad Mike can go to the Halloween carnival that is taking place in town. As they look around, and Mike is about to buy Charlie something tasty, he suddenly disappear. Mike looks everywhere, and contact police. Charlie is not found anywhere. Months pass by, even years, and Charlie is still not found. Until Mike begin to see Charlie on different locations, for some strange reason. He begins to look into this, since he have a feeling something must have happened. Then he remembers what Chalie said what before he disappeared, if they should pay the ghost. At the time, Mike did not think this meant anything, but more strange things begin to happen, as Mike sees more strange visions. Mike is determined to find out if Charlie is still alive, but what really happened on Halloween that night ?

Since it have been a long journey for Cage ( considering he made some odd film choices along the way ), choosing some very odd scripts, it would be easy to say that he made another bad choice with Pay The Ghost. But let´s not go that way yet, because this is not the complete truth. If you compare Pay The Ghost with some of the films he made between 2011 up until now, there are not many titles that are worth to mention. Joe of course, but i have to say Frozen Ground was alright with John Cusack included. He could have easily made another action film, or another thriller, as he usually does, with different stories only. The good news is that this new film is at least a different approach, from his previous films. It is not the first time he have done a film with horror influences, but maybe not as traditional horror as this film is. The formula is something we have all seen before, so if you want something original, Pay The Ghost does not give us anything fresh. Now to the problems. What could have been an interesting story, about a missing child, becomes way to simple. When a person is missing, you want the story to be more complicated, so you have to think about what might have happened. Here, you know pretty much everything from start, except for some details. Instead of making a horror film with an intelligent plot, director Uli Edel use all the typical cliché tools, that have been made so many times before. And this is where Pay The Ghost falls, there is not much left to be happy about. Another detail i would have liked to see improved, are the special effects. I realise that the budget is limited, but we have seen what you can do with a small budget, and make it look really good, anyone remember District 9 ? Nicolas Cage is not doing his best here, and he is not doing his worst performance either. Somewhere in between, he makes this character feel not so interesting, and we all know how important it is to have interesting characters. Sarah Wayne Callies, who played Rick´s wife in The Walking Dead, is here also. Unfortunately she does not give this film much either. Pay The Ghost could have been so much better, if only director Uli Edel would have changed the concept to something more original. I still belive in Cage, he did surprise us all with the film Joe. Just try to avoid doing too many mistakes again.

Rating: DD