Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
This October I decided to watch and review some of those great horror movies (31 to be exact) that I missed on their initial release. And for Part 17 of my series of the 31 OF THE BEST HORROR MOVIES YOU (MAY HAVE) MISSED we will be checking out documentary-style paranormal horror The Blackwell Ghost. Let’s get to it:
Day 17 of 31: The Blackwell Ghost (2017)
Director: Turner Clay (uncredited)
Starring: Sonny Burnette, Turner Clay (uncredited), Terri Czapleski (uncredited)
IMDb Trivia: Turner Clay also played John, the security guard from the popular Screaming Hotel Guest, a 2009 hoax paranormal video on YouTube.
Plot: A journalist goes on an adventure to prove that ghosts are real.
Review: Cannibal Holocaust, The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project. All three movies have one thing in common—they all freaked people out to the point some audience members thought they were based on real events. No matter how you might feel about the quality of the films mentioned you have to admit that’s an impressive feat. Particularly The Blair Witch Project, which up to this day there are those who refuse to believe it was just a movie.
Now here’s where I drop a truth bomb that may or may not be well received, I don’t like BWP and I think it’s overrated. It just didn’t do for me what it did for others, and I never believed what I was seeing might be true. But I can’t say the same for The Blackwell Ghost, a movie that pushes itself as a legit documentary and was so smartly executed I couldn’t help but reach for my phone to play detective as to whether any of the events shown were true.
When I said “smartly executed” I mean it. You may have noticed the director is uncredited and that’s because no part of The Blackwell Ghost is presented as a movie. There are no opening or closing credits and instead we jump right in with Clay as the filmmaker who is investigating the case of Ruth Blackwell and who has made it his mission to capture and document a “real” ghost on camera.
The brilliance of this entire endeavour is in its presentation. Utilising documentary-styled directing with cinematography that looks like it was shot for your typical YouTube channel, Clay ensures you’ll become totally immersed in the story and by doing so you’ll want to believe whether you’re a natural skeptic or not. The “filmmaker” even presents himself as a skeptic, another smart choice as most people who see this will be more likely to believe in any “evidence” that’s found if it comes from a skeptic.
The anonymity of the cast and crew and the cinematography is good but the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, the finishing touch that makes it all come together is the fact The Blackwell Ghost is genuinely creepy. It’s not that we haven’t seen this gimmick before; anyone who’s a fan of these types of stories have come across this in one form or another prior to watching this movie. But at just an hour long they allow that atmosphere they create to sneak up on you. And with the knowledge of The Blackwell Ghost presented and a couple of subtle eerie scenes thrown in, these are the things that all come together to create not just a good movie, but a fun creepy one that can be enjoyed by skeptics and paranormal enthusiasts alike.
The Blackwell Ghost has about five sequels under its belt and while I myself have only seen one of them I read solid reviews for each. But if you’re interested in checking this “documentary” out yourself it’s always better to start at the beginning. So if you want to creep yourself and some friends out why not add this to your October watch party and have some ghostly discussions yourself on whether or not The Blackwell Ghost is real.
Sommer’s Score: 6.5 out of 10
You can check out Part 16 of my 31 Days List and supernatural horror Pyewacket below together with Part 5 found footage horror Resolution:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
Double Tap Baby!
I’m happy to stumble across your October movie list and reviews! It was a lot of work, I imagine, so thank you. I’m going to start out with The Blackwell Ghost and then backtrack to your list for some Halloween entertainment!
Thank you so much. Enjoy the journey.