GHOST MACHINE

GHOST MACHINE

Life on a top secret military training camp can become tedious. Even playing war games on state-of-the-art simulation machines becomes drab after a while, as close friends Vic (Luke Ford) and Jess (Rachael Taylor) will quickly attest.

So when Vic's mates Tom (Sean Faris) and Benny (Jonathan Harden) clue him in on their plans to break into a highly secure army vault and steal their department's latest piece of hi-tech software - a shit-hot combat simulator that has thus far been kept closely under wraps - he's up for a share of the fun.

With the help of unscrupulous security guard Iain (Sam Corry), the trio sneak into the simulation building and prepare to "borrow" the expensive toy (not unlike the helmet Max wears in VIDEODROME, only more complex) for a weekend of guilty game-playing.

Iain takes the lads through the cold, dark building and for whatever reason leads them to a disused interrogation chamber. He reveals that some of the suspected 9/11 terrorists were tortured here ... and that some of them were never seen again.

Meanwhile, Jess is having a hard time with panto misogynist Taggert (Richard Dormer), a higher-ranking officer with an exaggerated case of psychosis. After a run-in with Taggert in the shower block, Jess leaves a message on Vic's mobile telephone asking if she can join him.

Back in the simulation building, Vic and Iain are the first to test out the new combat simulator while Tom and Benny keep a watchful eye over the game's computer control panel. It all seems very exciting for a short while, with the boys engaging in bloody gunfire against virtual rival soldiers. But, during the battle, Vic experiences visions of hooded prisoners being tortured ...

After exiting the game, they watch as Tom checks the system for viruses. None are found, but the boys are suitably excited and rattled enough to want to learn more about what happened inside the game.

They're not the only ones. Jess turns up at that point and she is curious too. The fact that she in turn is being spied on by Taggert means that so, worryingly, is he.

Would you credit it: it transpires that there is a ghost in the machine. No, really - literally. The spirit of one of the murdered terrorist suspects has somehow entered the computer system. Oh, bugger.

Filmed in Belfast, GHOST MACHINE looks pretty slick despite not boasting production values sufficient to attract the attention of a Multiplex crowd. Filtered lighting systems and purpose-built sets help to lend the film a modicum of visual flair though, and the latter half's action is explosive enough to suggest that that's where most of the money went.

The cast are adequate throughout, affording sincerity to Sven Hughes and Malachi Smyth's largely clichéd script. Character traits are thin and overly familiar as is some of the rum "action movie" dialogue, but not enough to pull you out of what is essentially a non-taxing 88 minutes.

Director Chris Hartwill cut his teeth helming episodes of TV dramas "Numb3rs" and "The Hunger". It shows. GHOST MACHINE has that polished, snappily edited and ever-so "safe" look and feel about it. Even the cast have the appearance and delivery of people more attuned to the requirements of daytime soaps rather than box office blockbusters (which is precisely what they are: Dormer started off in stuff like "Casualty" and "Soldier Soldier"; Ford will be a familiar face to avid "Home & Away" viewers ...).

Not that we expect Oscar-worthy performances from this genre. But with such a plodding early pace and dialogue-heavy first half, it's nigh-on impossible not to focus on these otherwise trivial shortcomings.

At the end of the day, GHOST MACHINE succeeds as moderate entertainment. Its horror content isn't strong enough to excite seasoned viewers and the action scenes are perhaps a little too low-rent to convert James Cameron's fan club. Some crappy CGI makes sure of that.

But for the more undemanding DVD-goer, GHOST MACHINE offers unoriginal and corny action that, once it gets going, is pretty constant. And fairly gory at times too. But if you've seen DOOM, GAMER, DEATH ROW etc, then you've essentially seen this too.

GHOST MACHINE is presented uncut in a cool, sharp anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer. The deliberate blue hues mean that colour never bursts through as much as it would in a warmer, unfiltered production. But images are well defined while blacks hold up very well throughout. There is no grain or artifacting to speak of.

English audio is provided in 2.0 and 5.1 mixes, both of which are good strong efforts.

The disc opens with an animated main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras begin with a most worthy 30-minute Making Of featurette. This offers a wealth of intriguing behind-the-scenes footage along with cast and crew interviews. Most are taken on set, although Hughes has the luxury of speaking from some sun-kissed beach. It all gives the impression of it being quite a serious-minded, committed shoot (the actors look like they're facing a firing squad while addressing the screen to give insights into their character motivations).

There's a lot of interesting information given in this featurette, making it arguably more beneficial than an audio commentary track. Which is handy, because there isn't one.

A 10-minute interview with Hughes follows, again filmed beside the sea. The well-spoken Briton tells of how he wrote the first draft of the film's script over a decade ago while in film school, and then reveals other stuff such as what influenced the story and why a lead heroine is better than a lead hero. The interview is interspersed with clips from the film.

Both of the above featurettes are graced with the same Bill Grishaw pounding, Industrial-tinged music that punctuates the main feature.

Finally, we get the original trailer. This is a brisk 2-minute effort that does a decent job of making the film look fit for theatrical exhibition.

GHOST MACHINE gets a decent DVD release from Anchor Bay, on a par with their American release of last year. The film itself is mildly enjoyable nonsense with lots of action but little in the way of brains. It strives to cross over as action, sci-fi and horror but falls short on all three counts. There's a nice pole-dancing scene in there though.

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by Anchor Bay Home Entertainment
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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