GHOST FROM THE MACHINE (Alliance, 2010) D: Matt Osterman, w/ Sasha Andreev, Matthew Feeney. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNN Rating: NNN
Seventy years ago, the mad scientist slaving over a machine to bring back the dead would have been Boris Karloff in a storm-battered castle. Today it’s Sasha Andreev in a suburban garage.
Newly orphaned and consumed by grief and guilt, 20ish Cody tinkers endlessly with a machine he is certain will bring back his parents. He has custody of his teen brother, but he’s too obsessed to take care of him. The child welfare authorities are closing in. Enter Cody’s parts supplier, Tom (Matthew Feeney), a 40ish widower tormented by a ghost of his own.
Plain visuals and the absence of effects, shock cuts and gore make the film look almost amateurish, but restrained, naturalistic performances and believable dialogue lead to a quiet, sad horror in which the greatest impact comes from the human consequences rather than the eruption of the supernatural.
The making-of doc zips by in a blink, but there’s some fun in the 15-minute exploration of a haunted movie house that Andreev, Feeney, director Matt Osterman and their producer undertake with a veteran ghost hunter.
EXTRAS Making-of doc, ghost hunt. Widescreen. English audio. No subtitles.
