Nothing against the cast who does try hard, the breathtaking
vistas and panoramic view of Montana, and the interesting house with a tragic
back story, but the sinister sound in the attic being revealed as nothing more
than a biker at odds with rivals for killing a couple of their gang is anything
but a powerful wallop worth holding out for during an extended period of
glacial pacing. The name of the film needed to be different and the use of an
artist’s murder of his family with his own eventual suicide after to keep the
audience guessing as to when the paranormal would eventually surface only to
instead deliver such a whimper of a finale just felt disingenuous and left me
frustrated. This is really about a family in disarray, with a father addicted
to porn and hoping to rekindle his inspiration as an artist despite being
stifled, a wife hoping her brand new pharmacy business might be a fresh start
in the right direction career-wise, and a daughter trying to escape a past of
bullying after a viral recording of her fucking her boyfriend at a party seems
to haunt and follow her.
Autry Haydon-Wilson, with “blurry” vision that clears
when a person approaches her up close, is Imogen, very reserved, introverted,
and keeps to herself. Her mother is Samantha, portrayed by Scottie Thompson, a
frustrated wife to artist, Will (Nick Farnell), who cannot get erect for her in
bed because he seems impotent to sex in real life due to his unyielding
attraction to porn. Will wants to get back to producing art but the melodrama in
his life seems to be stymieing him. As far as casting goes, Joy Brunson, as Sam’s
assistant in the pharmacy, Cath, does what she can with a rather underwritten
part while Devon Bagby is a bike-riding, ogling, doggedly annoying teen wanting
to “get to know” Imogen (who goes by Grace in order to keep her identity from
the past she’s running secret). Brandon Lessard is the disappointing Eugene,
seemingly a sweet, thoughtful, horse-riding teenager who doesn’t push himself
on Imogen as much as offer friendship to her, later revealed to be a side-kick
to Brandon once the Grace alter ego is undermined…Bagby’s Brandon is too often
trying to worm his way into Imogen’s protected space while Eugene seems to try
a more careful approach, arriving at her house on a horse, easing her tensions
by remaining at a distance, only later proving to be just as much a creep, a
camera in hand outing him as Brandon’s accomplice. John Teague is the enigmatic
Jason Adair, a biker Sam sees in the local watering hole, immediately attracted
to him, looking to let off some steam. Prior to this particular evening at the
bar (after work), Sam had told Will that she had a fantasy involving sex with a
stranger…Will just couldn’t get a rise and Samantha wanted her pleasure. Adair
after sex with Sam (in her car), scurries off into the woods, actually
inserting himself into the lives of the Day family. The noise in the attic isn’t
the spirit of the artist but is actually Adair, using the old “haunted house”
as a hideaway. Adair hears conversations from those in the house (such as Sam’s
admission of a fantasy, the whole issue with Imogen, the sexual deficiencies in
the marriage, Imogen’s contemplation of suicide due to bullying, etc.) and
actively commits to helping out where he can (while also stirring up trouble such
as turning on Will’s smart television to the porn over and over, raiding Sam’s
pharmacy for Oxy after taking her keys, being a participant in the affair that
gets back to Will, etc.). Adair does “injure” Brandon and Eugene for their
actions in trying to record sex with Imogen and saves Imogen from near death by
hanging. And Imogen later helps Adair when she finds him injured in the attic,
in need of assistance (like finding his motorcycle), while Sam also finds him,
falling out of the attic after panicking, landing hard to the floor, seemingly
paralyzing herself. So this sort of starts out as a house of mystery (Will “unwraps”
a bedroom’s walls of its paper, finding the previous artist’s mural of the “good
life” and “life in chaos” depicting both sides within his tortured psyche…this
sets off Will’s own “homage” to the artist’s work while adding his own visions
to the work on the walls) but is ultimately about a family dynamic struggling
with personal demons that must be addressed and finessed or it will all come
crashing down. I think the film’s poster and opening half really promise one
thing but as you watch it, you realize that “Broken Ghost” (2017) isn’t about
anything that haunts besides the past to the current occupants of the house.
2/5
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