The Ganzfeld Haunting, one of the many titles I purchased in my last DVD haul. I watched it for the first time about a week ago and then for a second time last night. Was it so good that I needed to view it a second time or was it so bad I needed to view it a second time to confirm my negative thoughts? Read my review to find out.
The Ganzfeld Haunting is written and directed by Michael Oblowitz with Theodore Gildred III and Caroline Riley. Cast members include Rumer Willis (“90210,” The House Bunny), Billy Zane (Back to The Future, The Hillside Strangler), Toby Hemmingway (The Covenant, Black Swan), Dominic Purcell (Blade III, “Prison Break”), Taylor Cole (April Fool’s Day, “CSI: Miami”), Ryan Donowho (“The O.C.,” Altitude), Kimberly Estrada (“Deal or No Deal,” “All My Children”), and Laura Wiggins (“Shameless,” “The Tomorrow People”).
“Set out to prove that thoughts can be transmitted psychically, a group of hard-partying students mistakenly unearth a grisly series of murders from their forgotten youth. As ghosts from the past become increasingly violent, the students must solve a 20-year-old crime before they are driven insane – or become murder victims themselves.”
At this point the “we’re going to record ghost experiments” subgenre of horror is starting to get stale. Off the top of my head I can name about a dozen feature films focusing on full-fledged reality shows or young people with cameras who try to capture a paranormal experience on camera. The Ganzfeld Haunting brings something new to the subgenre – mostly in the form of how they conduct their experiments – and for that I am thankful. Innovation and originality should always be highlighted, especially in an industry that loves recycling storylines.
In my opinion, Rumer Willis and Taylor Cole pulled in the best performances in this film. The Ganzfeld Haunting is Rumer’s second lead role in a horror film, with the Sorority Row remake in 2009 being her first. Finally, Rumer is growing into her abilities as an actress – I mean, she is the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis – and I was quite pleased with her performance here. As for Taylor Cole, this was my first time stumbling upon any of her work, but I’m glad I did! Two best actors in the movie, although the entire cast is quite impressive.
With that said… The Ganzfeld Haunting is slow… really slow… and not in the “it slowly builds to a big, climactic finish,” kind of way. It’s just, I’m sorry, boring for the most part. This is why I needed to watch it again. Maybe there was something more to appreciate with a second viewing. Maybe I missed something? Nope. Still boring. My attention could not be held for longer than ten minutes at a time, which is why I somehow missed the appearances from Billy Zane and Dominic Purcell. Sure, I know this is about a haunting so the bloodshed will be somewhat nonexistent, but that means you have to make up for it with thrilling aspects, spine tingling revelations, suspense… and I didn’t get much of that here.
Not only that, but I was neutral to every single member of the core cast. There are two reasons (out of a hundred) that people watch horror titles: so they can root for the characters or they can find gratification in watching the characters get butchered. Me? I’m more of a rooting type of guy, and was let down when I didn’t find any of the characters to be likeable or the adverse. I was pleased that there was no horrible acting here, but what does that do in a film with boring characters? Although, I will say drugs are bad, kids!
So, what is my overall opinion? Where does The Ganzfeld Haunting fall in my grading system? It had an impressive cast with good performances. It had slight hints of originality in a dying, recycled genre. The production value was very professional too. However, it was boring and had completely neutral characters, no connection either way. You know what? I’ll give The Ganzfeld Haunting a 5.3 out of 10. It gets extra points for production value and lesbianism, but – just like the characters – I’m smack in the middle of love and hate.
