Inner Ghosts Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter)
Old-school British horror collides with a more visceral modern approach in the chiller Inner Ghosts. Fans of writer Nigel Kneale, whose screenplays include The Stone Tape (1972) and the Hammer Films classics Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and The Witches (1966), will see his influence in this English-language Portugese/Brazil coproduction.
Brain researcher Helen (Celia Williams) used to be a medium until the death of her daughter. Helen’s university work is on the verge of being funded for a large grant, but she clashes with her supervisor over her wanting to combine science with the supernatural. She takes two young women under her wing to train them as psychics: Rachel (Iris Cayette) and artist Elsa (Elizabeth Bochmann, Williams’ real-life daughter). Working in the house that Helen inherited from her mentor in psychic studies, who was also Rachel’s mother, Helen finds the place to be full of paranormal activity.
Like Kneale’s screenplays, writer/director Paulo Leite’s script finds its characters discussing theories, possibilities, and ramifications involving what they are getting themselves into. It’s headier stuff than the average wide-release horror film, and it rewards patient viewers. Once the fright-fare elements kick into full gear, Inner Ghosts provides nail-biting suspense and impressive practical effects grue and gore. The creature design of a demon-in-training is highly admirable, as well.
The cast is splendid, with Williams leading the way as an emotionally strong woman who refuses to allow evil entities to get what they desire. Cayette, Bochmann, and Norman MacCallum as Helen’s university supervisor all give strong supporting performances.
Inner Ghosts has something for both arthouse horror aficionados and scare-fare fans who like their shocks more visceral. It’s a fine debut from Leite, and here’s hoping the filmmaker has much more cinematic fright fare in his future.
Inner Ghosts, from Uncork’d Entertainment, is now available on DVD and digital.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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