Ghostkeeper (1981)

directed by Jim Makichuk
Canada
87 minutes
4 stars out of 5
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While it's true that it falls victim to a lot of the usual cliches of 80s slashers, there's also something in the mix with Ghostkeeper that makes it some small measure stranger. I'm not talking strange as in surreal or unexpected, but strange as in there's a feeling to it that I'm unused to seeing in films from its era; a vibe that comes across as a solid, palpable sense of foreboding. I think this is due to the fact that it doesn't put such an excess of panty shots and frivolous sexy dialogue in, although there are one or two bits of flirtatiousness that felt out of place. Those bits don't come in until a while into the film, so for a while we just watch some people get further and further away from civilization in a snowstorm and know there's something coming for them. There's a quietness to it that pervades everything and that quiet is incredibly important in establishing a haunting atmosphere.

Unfortunately what that quiet and lack of sensationalism also means is that it's very, very boring. The characters speak softly and the landscape seems to drown them out, and that makes for a good and creepy overall vibe, but it doesn't do much to keep your attention. I had some trouble motivating myself to continue watching it, but in the end I did, because I could tell how it would have felt to watch this in the 80s- probably like how watching something tense and unsettling like The Witch is going to be in 36 years. I'm not saying Ghostkeeper holds a candle to The Witch, but I could feel its authenticity, and that factor sets it apart from the rest of its ilk.

I also greatly appreciated the performance of the woman playing the creepy old innkeeper as well as the writing that saved her from being the "sinister old lady" cliche I've seen a thousand times already. That performance alone had a lot to do with why I found this to be a respectable film as well: she's not the witchy, "eeeeeh heh heh heh come in dearie" type or the sugary-sweet, feeding-people-cookies type; she's an old mountain woman, and while she is murderous, she's played with a sense of intelligence and formidability that was much better than what most writers and directors go for when creating an old lady in a horror film. It was great seeing a character made for a specific role who had facets to them that didn't concern that role, like real-life people do.

I don't know, y'all... I think I really liked this one. I'm not used to watching 80s movies where I can see how they would have looked to audiences back then through their patina of outdated fashion and hairstyles. If somebody did it right, a remake of this could be fantastic.