Ghost of Goodnight Lane (2014, Alin Bijan)

Ghost of Goodnight Lane is nearly okay. It's definitely amusing throughout–director and co-writer Bijan inexplicably throws on a terrible epilogue thing–and the constant joking really helps it. Most of the scenes play like a horror movie spoof, only one where the movie doesn't take the time to laugh at itself. There's a joke, there's a moment for the viewer to laugh or smile, but there's a prolonged delay. It moves. But then there are also these lame insert shots of the haunted house with bad CG ominous weather. And the movie's about a small film production company, so there should be some acknowledgment of the disconnect–a movie changing in editing.

There are a couple good running jokes and they're always coming at the most inappropriate time. It's set in Dallas, not Hollywood, which makes the apathy somehow more grounded. And funny.

The most important component are the leads. Billy Zane plays the dimwit narcissist director and producer. He's hilarious. Every line delivery is played for maximum effect (and humor). Lacey Chabert and Matt Dallas are the young couple working for him. They're both good. Neither has much to do, but they're likable and play off Zane's silliness well.

Christine Bently is surprisingly solid as the bimbo actress. Actually, all of the supporting players are fine except Lynn Andrews III. He's bad (and is in the first act a lot).

Bijan occasionally has some good shots.

Ghost goes on too long, but thanks to cast and script, it has its moments.

0/4 ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Produced and directed by Alin Bijan; written by Bijan and Amy Acosta; director of photography, David Blood; edited by Bijan and Jonny Revolt; music by Amin Emam; production designers, Adam Dietrich and Matthew Englebert; released by Inception Media Group, LLC.

Starring Billy Zane (Alan), Lacey Chabert (Dani), Matt Dallas (Ben), Adam Whittington (Johnny), Christine Bently (Laurel Matthews), Danielle Harris (Chloe), Brina Palencia (Micah), Lynn Andrews III (Amin), John Franklin (Nico), Allyn Carrell (Thelma) and Richard Tyson (Ron).


RELATED

OTHER 2014 RELEASES

Lost in Space (1998, Stephen Hopkins)

For maybe forty minutes–from twenty minutes in to the hour mark–Lost in Space is actually rather engaging. It’s not any good as a narrative, but Hopkins’s direction of the space sequences is phenomenal. The film opens with something familiar, a dogfight out of Star Wars, but the later sequences are not. They aren’t original, but they’re the first time such a budget had been expended on them.

Overall, Hopkins does an excellent job with the film. The last hour, featuring an alien planet and time travel, falls apart because Akiva Goldsman’s script collapses under its own idiocy. The first hour, when Goldsman is still setting up the plot, only has awful dialogue and can survive.

The CG is sometimes excellent, sometimes not. Lost in Space tries a lot with the technology. Hopkins is able to get good performances opposite the CG–especially from Lacey Chabert and Heather Graham.

Chabert is good throughout (she’s inexplicably underused, having nothing to do) while Graham occasionally runs into some problems. Her flirting scenes with Matt LeBlanc are terrible, but she’s otherwise good. LeBlanc’s terrible the whole time. Often laughably so.

William Hurt is excellent (though one wonders why he said yes to Lost in Space and not Jurassic Park). Gary Oldman is hammy, but the character’s terribly underwritten. Mimi Rogers, Jack Johnson and Jared Harris are all awful. Watching Rogers act opposite Hurt is painful.

The film’s bad, but there are some amazing sequences in it. Nice score from Bruce Broughton too.