THE GHOSTMAKER

Kyle does odd jobs to earn money with which he must procure drugs and pay his numerous debts. Among other things, Kyle clears basements and in the home of one of his elderly clients, he finds a strange coffin and despite the woman's recommendations to destroy that object, the boy keeps it with the intention of selling it on eBay. While cleaning the coffin, Kyle realizes that there is a curious mechanism under the padding and after showing everything to two of his friends, he discovers that it is a machine built in the 15th century by the alchemist and architect Von Tristen with the intention of experimenting with death. The mechanism in the coffin would in fact allow those who lie inside to experience pre-death experiences, during which the spirit detaches from the body and is free to wander. The three friends then decide to test the coffin, but from that moment on, strange things will begin to happen, including the presence of a mysterious and unsettling figure that pursues them. What is there after death? Often, cinema has asked this question by bringing to the screen films that address the subject and choosing, depending on the case, to use the language of sentimental stories like "Ghost" or "Beyond Dreams", horror comedies like "Suspended in Time", or supernatural thrillers like "Linea mortale". It is precisely to this last film that "The Ghostmaker" seems to take more inspiration, although some influence from Peter Jackson's aforementioned film can be noted, especially in the depiction of ghosts and the death that pursues them. But it is reductive to compare Mauro Borrelli's film to other works because if cinema as a whole has been this director's playground for a long time, in his film there is so much fantasy and desire to test himself that he has managed to produce a decidedly valid product with notable points of originality. The basic idea of "The Ghostmaker" is to experiment with death, a clear and simple point that nevertheless gives life to a reflection on the choices of life and the possibilities of redemption. The character of Kyle, played by Aaron Dean Eisenberg, despite his good boy face is a bad subject: a drug addict, a loafer, and a thief, a man who, despite his youth, has practically ruined his life. Kyle seems to strive to "change", making promises to his girlfriend and looking for a job, but it is useless, on every attempt the specter of drugs and previous choices prevails. Perhaps it is precisely the extreme condition in which he will find himself fighting that will give him the decisive push to regain his dignity. And we have, therefore, a character sufficiently sketched and deepened to trigger a series of dynamics also of some interest. The supporting characters are less convincing, starting with the two friends and "co-ghosts" Platt (Jared Grey) and Sutton (J. Walter Holland); the first is simply the "intelligent and cultured guy" who serves to answer some questions about the coffin, the second is the paraplegic friend who, without much explanation, becomes the villain of the story. Perhaps a greater development of this character would have been needed because the final dynamic seems to work quite well, but the choice to turn a character immediately presented as mild for a simple love rivalry is not fully shared. Very good the quality of the visual effects and the design of Von Tristen's coffin and of Death, but it could not be otherwise, given that the director Mauro Borrelli mainly works as a concept artist and illustrator for major Hollywood films like "Wolfman", "Dark Shadows" and "Captain America". Another appreciable aspect of "The Ghostmaker" is the very 1980s flavor of the story, at times naive but always engaging and devoted to the development of the most imaginative and fanciful aspect. A quality that has been practically missing in our genre cinema for over two decades and that we now find in a low-budget production that is only Italian in its director. In short, "The Ghostmaker" is a film that works quite well, knows how to entertain and captures all that admirable naivety of certain 1980s fantasy-horror productions. Perhaps more care would have been needed in the writing of the characters and in their development, but the overall result is undoubtedly positive. "The Ghostmaker" is the first in a series of films distributed for free on DVD (the G-movies) in some specific locations in major Italian cities. For more information and to discover where to find these DVDs, I refer you to this article.