DROWNING GHOST

On the occasion of the centennial of the Hallestands Boarding School, Rebecca throws herself from the school's terrace just as a ceremony is taking place in the courtyard. One year later, as the day of the ceremony approaches, everyone is busy with preparations. In this festive atmosphere, Sara is writing an essay on the origins of the Hellestands and the tragic event that occurred a hundred years earlier, when a farmer went mad, after killing three students of the school, took his own life by throwing himself into the lake adjacent to the institute. Sara discovers that the farmer had acted in that way to avenge his daughter, raped and killed by the three boys; she also discovers that the descendant of one of the three boys killed is still a student at the school and his father is one of the institute's major financiers. Meanwhile, Rebecca's father, who was detained in the city's prison, escapes and heads towards the school... Coming from Sweden is "Drowning Ghost", a late slasher of clear American inspiration that roughly follows the horrific teen movie relaunched by Wes Craven with "Scream". The problem with "Drowning Ghost" is precisely its lateness; although it was produced in 2004, this film arrives on the market with at least 5 or 6 years late, when the new youth slasher has already been proposed in all its forms and has exhausted all its appeal. Overlooking this particular ideological-temporal aspect, "Drowning Ghost" appears as a solid film of the manner, made with skill but little inventiveness. The direction of Mikael Hafstrom is very careful and the author gives an excellent performance that will open the doors of Hollywood (his is the good thriller "Derailed - Deadly Attraction"); as well as the actors appear very convincing and especially the protagonist Rebecka Hemse who in the middle of so much déjà-vu appears as a well-built character, capable of evading the stereotype of the classic beauty in danger. The screenplay by the same Hafstrom does not fully convince, not because it is not well structured, on the contrary, the "giallo" mechanism works perfectly, but everything seems a bit too banal and telegraphed as to never create the necessary suspense in the viewer. The narrative balance between supernatural mystery and gialla component is poorly conducted, in the sense that the interesting urban legend of the drowned ghost is not deepened where it could have constituted the strong point of the story creating a climate of ambiguity, instead it has been opted to mix the cards on the table on the identity of the killer without indulging much on the possible supernatural implications. The look of the killer is certainly attractive and well done, a mix between Dr. Decker of "Cabal" and the Scarecrow of "Batman", unfortunately the killer appears in the scene in an advanced film and shows very little to the viewer, as well as it has been decided to show the minimum possible of gore violence, decreasing the interest of the average slasher movie viewer. In conclusion, "Drowning Ghost" presents itself as a slasher certainly well made, but which suffers from lack of originality and predictability caused by excessive saturation in the market of similar products. If this film had been made at least a decade earlier, it would have surely benefited.