Ghost Game opens with home video of a home invasion of sorts. We quickly learn that this home invasion is part of an internet challenge that one of our main characters, Laura (Kia Dorsey), frequently participates in. After her boyfriend, Vin (Zaen Haider), comes across the video, he convinces her to let him join in a Ghost Game at a famously haunted (allegedly) house.
The stated intention of Ghost Game is to simply live in a stranger’s home undetected for an extended period of time. There are no pranks, or ulterior motives. In ways, it feels slightly pointless. But Laura, and her friend Adrian (Sam Lukowski) express their interest in Ghost Game because they connected to something larger.
The pointlessness of the exercise can seem infuriating or confusing as an audience member. However, it does reflect the IRL existence of internet challenges, or internet culture at large. The latest TikTok trend, recycled Twitter joke, or Instagram post aesthetic all make us feel like we’re part of something larger than the monotonous boredom of everyday life.
Laura hints at her dissatisfaction with the normalness of her regular life. That emptiness is filled by the thrill of the Ghost Game. It’s unclear what Adrian’s deeper motivations for playing the game are, and Vin just seems eager to come for the ride in order to spend more time with his girlfriend.
As we follow Laura, Vin, and Adrian playing the Ghost Game in the famous Halton House, which was the sight of a gruesome and infamous murder years earlier, we also come to learn that the house was recently purchased and intended to be inhabited by a young family.
We quickly learn this family has issues of their own and their time within the haunted mansion will come with its
own challenges – regardless of Laura, Vin, and Adrian’s presence there. Needless to say, things begin to get freaky. Creepy things begin happening to both groups of characters. As such, Ghost Game, slowly begins to feel like more and more of a ghost story.
The unsuspecting family can only assume the weird occurrences are due to the evil spirits that lurk within the house. As an audience, it’s unclear if the strange happenings are being caused by the Ghost Gamers or something more sinister and otherworldly.
This uncertainty is easily the most enjoyable and creatively expressive chunk of the movie. It allows writer Adam Cesare and director Jill Gevargizian to display some true promise as filmmakers.
The film unfortunately calls for a storyline and resolution that pulls us away from this fun. It’s a wholly understandable direction for the story to take based on everything else we’ve seen in the film prior.
However, said resolution and our ultimate path to it, causes the action to move a little slower than desirable. It also doesn’t allow for tensions to fully bubble under the surface; despite there being many character dynamics and questions of the supernatural that would be perfect for bubbling.
Much like the Ghost Game itself, this film can feel slightly aimless, but it ultimately finds its footing and enjoyability in being part of something larger. The thrills of horror films – home invasion and ghost stories alike – come from the communal shared experience.
In a way, as horror fans, we are all just playing the Ghost Game.
Ghost Game began a limited theatrical run on October 18 and will be available to rent or purchase on video-on-demand (VOD) beginning tomorrow, October 22, 2024.
