Ghostland
{{short description|2018 film directed by Pascal Laugier}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Ghostland
| image = Ghostland-film-poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| director = Pascal Laugier
| producer = {{plainlist|* Clément Miserez
- Jean-Charles Levy
- Matthieu Warter
- Nicolas Manuel
- Ian Dimerman
- Scott Kennedy
- Sami Tesfazghi
- Brendon Sawatzky}}
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on =
| starring = {{plainlist|*Crystal Reed
| cinematography = Danny Nowak{{cite web|url=http://www.premiere.fr/film/Ghostland|title=Ghostland|work=Première|language=fr|accessdate=16 March 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-246532/casting/|title=Ghostland: Casting|work=AlloCiné|publisher=Webedia|language=fr|accessdate=16 March 2018}}
| production_companies = {{plainlist|* 5656 Films
- Mars Films
- Logical Pictures
- Inferno Pictures
- Highwire Pictures
- Kinology
- Radar Films}}
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2018|2|3|Gérardmer|2018|3|14|France}}
| country = {{plainlist|
- Canada
- France
}}
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Ghostland (also known as Incident in a Ghostland) is a 2018 psychological horror film written and directed by Pascal Laugier. Ghostland was shown in competition at the Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer, where it won three awards, including the Grand Prize. The film is a co-production between Canada and France.
Plot
A woman named Pauline travels with her teenage daughters Beth and Vera to their recently deceased aunt Clarisse's secluded home after they inherited it in her will. Beth reads an article about a string of home invasions where parents are murdered, but daughters are spared. Unbeknownst to the family, they are being stalked by someone driving a candy truck.
Shortly after they settle into the house, two intruders - a large, mentally impaired man known as the Fat Man and a woman known as the Candy Truck Woman - break in and attack the family. Vera is raped by the Fat Man, while Beth tries to escape, but is accosted by the Woman. When Beth asks what she wants, the Candy Truck Woman replies, "We just wanna play with dolls." Pauline then kills both intruders.
Sixteen years later, Beth is a successful horror fiction author living in Chicago with her husband and son. She appears on a talk show to promote her new novel Incident in a Ghostland, which is based on the events of that night. She receives a frantic phone call from Vera begging her to return to Clarisse's house, where she still lives with Pauline. When Beth arrives, Pauline explains that Vera has been unable to recover from the trauma and has suffered from delusions since the incident, locking herself in a padded room in the basement. Beth begins to have strange dreams, while Vera claims that their tormentors are still trying to find them.
During an episode, Beth finds Vera in chains, made up to look like a doll. Pauline calls an ambulance and tells Beth not to listen to Vera. Beth falls asleep and is captured by the Candy Truck Woman. She awakens to discover bruises all over her face, and finds Vera also visibly injured in the basement. Beth blames her for both of their wounds. Vera implores her sister face the truth, whereupon is revealed that the Candy Truck Woman actually killed Pauline that night - Beth and Vera are still teenagers being held captive in Clarisse's house, and Beth's entire adult life has been a hallucination.
The Candy Truck Woman dresses Beth like a doll and leaves her in a room littered with dolls, which the Fat Man molests and breaks. When he attacks Beth, she fights back and flees. She frees Vera and they escape the house. They make it to a road where two state troopers help them, reporting the incident to dispatch. However, both are gunned down by the Candy Truck Woman, who recaptures the girls.
Beth mentally retreats to her adulthood fantasy. At a cocktail party, she meets her idol, H.P. Lovecraft, who tells her that her novel is a masterpiece. Beth sees Vera screaming for help, and decides to return to rescue her. She escapes from the Fat Man and violently confronts the Candy Truck Woman. Another state trooper arrives in time to gun down both the Fat Man and the Candy Truck Woman. After authorities arrive, Beth sees a vision of her mother waving at them from the house as she and Vera are taken to a hospital.
Cast
- Crystal Reed as Elizabeth "Beth" Keller
- Emilia Jones as young Beth
- Anastasia Phillips as Vera Keller
- Taylor Hickson as young Vera
- Mylène Farmer as Pauline Keller
- Kevin Power as Candy Truck Woman
- Rob Archer as "Fatman Nizar"
- Paul Titley as H.P. Lovecraft
Production
=Accident=
In December 2016, actress Taylor Hickson was facially disfigured while shooting a scene for the film. She was rushed to the hospital and received 70 stitches, but was permanently scarred. In March 2018, Hickson sued the film's production company Incident Productions over lost work as a result of the incident.{{Cite news|last=Andrews|first=Travis M.|date=March 9, 2018|title=Taylor Hickson, an up-and-coming actress, was disfigured on a movie set. Now she's suing.|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/09/taylor-hickson-an-up-and-coming-actress-was-disfigured-on-movie-set-now-shes-suing/|access-date=2021-08-06|issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite news|date=March 7, 2018|title=Actress Taylor Hickson sues producers of Winnipeg-shot movie after face badly cut during filming|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/actress-taylor-hickson-sues-ghostland-producers-1.4566419|access-date=August 6, 2021}} Hickson claimed in the lawsuit that "in the course of shooting the scene, the director Pascal Laugier, consistently told Hickson to pound harder on the glass with her fists". While filming another take, the lawsuit states:
{{blockquote|The glass shattered, causing [her] head and upper body to fall through the door and shards of glass. As a result of the incident, [she] badly cut the left side of her face.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/03/taylor-hickson-injury-lawsuit-ghostland-facial-injury-disfigured-1202312643/|title=Actress Taylor Hickson Sues Producers Over Disfiguring Injury|accessdate=7 March 2018|last=Robb|first=David|date=6 March 2018|publisher=Penske Business Media|work=Deadline Hollywood}}}}
Hickson, in the lawsuit, states that the company failed to take "any and all reasonable steps to ensure that industry standards and practices were adhered to, including but not limited to the use of safety glass and/or stunt doubles as appropriate."
Independent of the pending lawsuits, the Winnipeg-based film company Incident Productions, Inc. pled guilty for "failing to ensure the safety and welfare of a worker under the Workplace Safety and Health Act," and was fined $40,000 by the province of Manitoba.{{cite web |title=Winnipeg film company fined $40K for incident that left actress with cuts to neck, face |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/film-company-fined-injury-actress-1.5376358 |website=www.cbc.ca |publisher=Canada Broadcast Radio |access-date=28 December 2020}}
Release
Ghostland was first shown in competition on 3 February 2018 at the Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer.{{cite web|url=http://festival-gerardmer.com/2018/programmation/|title=Programmation|language=fr|publisher=Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer|accessdate=24 February 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224123232/http://festival-gerardmer.com/2018/programmation/|archivedate=24 February 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://festival-gerardmer.com/2018/portfoliomovie/ghostland/|title=Ghostland|language=fr|publisher=Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer|accessdate=15 March 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205072747/http://festival-gerardmer.com/2018/portfoliomovie/ghostland|archivedate=5 February 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/global/pascal-laugiers-ghostland-crowned-at-gerardmer-pre-sells-to-key-markets-exclusive-1202688896/|work=Variety|publisher=Penske Business Media|title=Pascal Laugier's 'Ghostland' Crowned at Gerardmer, Pre-Sells to Key Markets (Exclusive)|accessdate=24 February 2018|last=Keslassy|first=Elsa|date=7 February 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224123502/https://variety.com/2018/film/global/pascal-laugiers-ghostland-crowned-at-gerardmer-pre-sells-to-key-markets-exclusive-1202688896/|archivedate=24 February 2018}} Ghostland won three film awards at the festival, including the Grand Prize, Audience Award, and the SyFy Award.{{cite web|url=http://festival-gerardmer.com/2018/palmares-2018/|title=Palmares 2018|language=fr|publisher=Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer|accessdate=24 February 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224125339/http://festival-gerardmer.com/2018/palmares-2018/|archivedate=24 February 2018}} The SyFy award was chosen by five bloggers at the festival. Frédéric Strauss of Télérama noted that this was the second French co-production in a row that dominated the awards at the festival with the previous years big winner being Raw by Julia Ducournau.{{cite web|url=http://www.telerama.fr/cinema/festival-de-gerardmer-2018-lannee-des-poupees-sanglantes-%28et-francaises-%29,n5467911.php|work=Télérama|accessdate=24 February 2018|first=Frédéric|last=Strauss|title=Festival de Gérardmer 2018: l'année des poupées sanglantes (et françaises!)|language=fr|date=5 February 2018}} The film received a theatrical release in France on 14 March 2018.{{cite web|url=https://en.unifrance.org/movie/43023/ghostland|publisher=UniFrance|title=Ghostland|accessdate=24 February 2018}} In some territories, the film was released as Ghostland and in others as Incident in a Ghostland.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/incident-in-a-ghostland-review-1202854281/|work=Variety|publisher=Penske Business Media|title=Film Review: 'Incident in a Ghostland'|accessdate=26 June 2018|last=Harvey|first=Dennis|date=21 June 2018}}
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of {{RT data|score}}, based on {{RT data|count}} reviews with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Incident in a Ghost Land may satisfy horror fans in search of a nasty kick, but it's narratively flawed and decidedly not for the squeamish."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/incident_in_a_ghost_land_2018|title=Ghostland (2018)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango|access-date={{RT data|access date|df=dmy}}}} Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".{{cite web|url=https://metacritic.com/movie/incident-in-a-ghostland|title=Incident in a Ghostland Reviews|work=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|accessdate=28 August 2018}}
The Hollywood Reporter declared the film to be a "taut—if somewhat corny—slasher flick" and it was "neither for the faint of heart nor the sharp of mind".{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/ghostland-review-1095839|title='Ghostland': Film Review|accessdate=23 March 2018|date=20 March 2018|first=Jordan|last=Mintzer|work=The Hollywood Reporter|publisher=Prometheus Global Media}} The review noted the dialogue, finding that "for [the director's] second film in English after 2012’s The Tall Man, he could have brushed up more on his dialogue, which rings awfully flat." Dennis Harvey of Variety declared that Ghostland "all seems slick, intense, and unpleasant in the same hollow way "Martyrs" did, because all the cruelty is so meaningless. Replacing that film's empty pseudo-mysticism are villains for whom Laugier doesn't bother providing any motivation or backstory." Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote that the film was a "disturbing and effective critique of misogynist torture porn," it "may sometimes play like a mindlessly gory slasher clone, but Laugier’s tormented girls consistently prove to be stronger than their brutalized bodies."{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/06/22/incident-in-a-ghostland-is-a-disturbing-and-effective-critique-of-misogynist-torture-porn/|title="Incident in a Ghostland" Is a Disturbing and Effective Critique of Misogynist Torture Porn|last=Abrams|first=Simon|work=The Village Voice|accessdate=12 July 2018|date=22 June 2018}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|6195094}}
- {{Mojo title|incidentinaghostland}}
{{Pascal Laugier}}
Category:English-language Canadian films
Category:Films directed by Pascal Laugier
Category:Films shot in Winnipeg
Category:Canadian mystery horror films
Category:Canadian psychological horror films
Category:Canadian body horror films
Category:Canadian horror thriller films
Category:French mystery horror films
Category:French psychological horror films
Category:French body horror films
Category:French horror thriller films
Category:Films about home invasion
Category:Films about child abuse
Category:English-language French films