Search - Ghost Month on DVD

Haunted for 1 month.

Micheal Hunt | Hellbourne | 06/28/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The story is of a girl named Alyssa who takes on a job as a housekeeper out in the middle of nowhere for a woman named Miss Wu and her Aunt Chen. At first she thinks the job will be a nice peaceful relaxing job being so far out of reach of others, all except for the neighbor Blake who owns the horse farm next door.



Alyssa soon finds herself being educated on traditional Chinese beliefs, like feng shui and things like that, but one particular event is the Ghost Month. Apparently the belief is that for a certain month every year, the ghosts are freed from hell and will come looking for you.



It kind of reminded me of Gremlins when Miss Wu explains the rules that for the month, if you hear voices behind you calling your name, ignore them, and don't turn around and they will leave you alone. Don't whistle as it invites ghosts to come into the house. And these salts or ashes or something they lay on the porch must not be disturbed, in which Alyssa does disturb and the ghosts seem to stalk her from there on.



To add more twists to the plot, it seems the ghosts are really trying to tell Alyssa something, something about events that have taken place in the house. Along the way you discover a plot that leaves you wondering what exactly is going on, and who is involved with it. And by the end, the confusing little sequences that happen all start to make sense.



However, there are parts of this movie I felt they did not need - The side story of Alyssa's ex boyfriend Blake really was not needed, it just added a stupid and unneeded few scenes to the film. It really slowed things down. If I had have been the editor, i;d have completely cut that story out of the whole movie. If you see the movie, you will probably agree it was not needed, it was just there.



I would not say this is a horror movie, as there is pretty much no blood. It's more just a thriller of a haunting and a few smokey effects on a ghost that has been seen before, so don't expect the FX to blow you away or show you something original and new.



I guess this movie is for people who liked movies along the lines of "The Grudge" where someone haunted is trying to unlock a mystery. Overall, it's not a bad movie. I would not pay too much for it, the cost of a rental at least would surplice.



P.S: The first reviewer said this movie is based on a real event that happened. I hope you mean it's really a Chinese belief, not the story itself was supposed to be true."