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Movie review: I AM A GHOST (One night only!)
You will believe in spooks. You will, you will, you will believe in spooks!
Billed as "an experiment by H.P. Mendoza," I Am a Ghost is best experienced in a dark room surrounded by strangers.
I AM A GHOST (2014) Written, Produced, Directed, Edited, Photographed (Camera Operator/1.85:1), Composed, Special Effects, and Sound Mixed by H.P. Mendoza / Cast: Anna Ishida, Jeannie Barroga, and Rick Burkhardt / Distributor: Gravitas Ventures / Not Rated / Length: 76 mins.
No doubt die-hard devotees of the San Diego Asian Film Festival will slap on their best ear-to-ear grin at the mention of H.P. Mendoza, an ambitious writer and director determined to have a go at as many genres as possible, give or take a western. There's musical comedy (Fruit Fly, Colma the Musical); romantic comedy (Yes, We’re Open); documentaries (Great Hymn of Thanksgiving: Conversation Storm, Now and the Hour); crime drama (Bitter Melon), and fantasy (The Secret Art of Human Flight). Even with an animated sci-fi musical (Attack, Decay, Release) to his credit, there’s not a clunker in the carload. This weekend presents an opportunity to see one of Mendoza’s finest, the horror thriller I Am a Ghost, when it screens April 26 at the Digital Gym.
Video:
Trailer: I AM A GHOST
How does a suicidal ghost occupy her free time in a haunted house when there's no one there for her to haunt? Emily (Anna Ishida) is a soul caught in limbo, under house arrest, incapable of getting unstuck and so continuing her journey into the afterlife. After taking up residence in the Victorian pile that in life Emily called home, the new owners procure the services of medium Sylvia (voiced by Jeannie Barroga) to flush out the phantasms — and, if need be, shepherd them into everlastingness. Fortunately for Emily, repetition is the mother of understanding; the young woman has no choice but to live her afterlife in a manner befitting Groundhog Day.
Confined to one location, the look and design of the film is nothing short of brilliance on a budget. (The one flaw lies in its inability to draw us in sooner, before the repetitiveness takes a brief turn to monotony.) Consider it a reference manual on how to mount a low-budget spook show —a period shocker, no less! — while upholding a commitment to style, a sense of purpose, a vision. Purists in the crowd will note that the film’s frame maintains rounded corners throughout, reminiscent of the handheld 3D stereo cards popular in the late 1860s. And horror devotees will thrill to the tangible air of mystery that made good on a couple of richly-earned seat-shifting jolts courtesy of the film’s bone-cauterized sound design. ****
Here's something you might be interested in.
Movie review: I AM A GHOST (One night only!)
You will believe in spooks. You will, you will, you will believe in spooks!
Movie review: I AM A GHOST (One night only!)
You will believe in spooks. You will, you will, you will believe in spooks!
Billed as "an experiment by H.P. Mendoza," I Am a Ghost is best experienced in a dark room surrounded by strangers.
I AM A GHOST (2014) Written, Produced, Directed, Edited, Photographed (Camera Operator/1.85:1), Composed, Special Effects, and Sound Mixed by H.P. Mendoza / Cast: Anna Ishida, Jeannie Barroga, and Rick Burkhardt / Distributor: Gravitas Ventures / Not Rated / Length: 76 mins.
No doubt die-hard devotees of the San Diego Asian Film Festival will slap on their best ear-to-ear grin at the mention of H.P. Mendoza, an ambitious writer and director determined to have a go at as many genres as possible, give or take a western. There's musical comedy (Fruit Fly, Colma the Musical); romantic comedy (Yes, We’re Open); documentaries (Great Hymn of Thanksgiving: Conversation Storm, Now and the Hour); crime drama (Bitter Melon), and fantasy (The Secret Art of Human Flight). Even with an animated sci-fi musical (Attack, Decay, Release) to his credit, there’s not a clunker in the carload. This weekend presents an opportunity to see one of Mendoza’s finest, the horror thriller I Am a Ghost, when it screens April 26 at the Digital Gym.
Video:
Trailer: I AM A GHOST
How does a suicidal ghost occupy her free time in a haunted house when there's no one there for her to haunt? Emily (Anna Ishida) is a soul caught in limbo, under house arrest, incapable of getting unstuck and so continuing her journey into the afterlife. After taking up residence in the Victorian pile that in life Emily called home, the new owners procure the services of medium Sylvia (voiced by Jeannie Barroga) to flush out the phantasms — and, if need be, shepherd them into everlastingness. Fortunately for Emily, repetition is the mother of understanding; the young woman has no choice but to live her afterlife in a manner befitting Groundhog Day.
Confined to one location, the look and design of the film is nothing short of brilliance on a budget. (The one flaw lies in its inability to draw us in sooner, before the repetitiveness takes a brief turn to monotony.) Consider it a reference manual on how to mount a low-budget spook show —a period shocker, no less! — while upholding a commitment to style, a sense of purpose, a vision. Purists in the crowd will note that the film’s frame maintains rounded corners throughout, reminiscent of the handheld 3D stereo cards popular in the late 1860s. And horror devotees will thrill to the tangible air of mystery that made good on a couple of richly-earned seat-shifting jolts courtesy of the film’s bone-cauterized sound design. ****