Ghoul

Nothing outright sucks about this movie, but it doesn't really do much interesting. It's not bad, but some of these reviews are truly perplexing.

If you are a found footage fan, an interesting premise and real world link are worth a single watch, but wouldn't be the end of the world if you missed it.

Ah, found footage. A niche genre that at its best can be exceptional, and that at its worst might be more unwatchable than even the worst of conventional film-making styles. Given the conceit of three amateur filmmakers making their own documentary, there is at least standard plausibility for the camera constantly rolling as it does. Given that conceit, too, it's arguable that 'Ghoul' is a tad on the exploitative side of cinema as the picture begins with denoting a terrible real history of orchestrated famine, and accounts of cannibalism, as the basis of its narrative. From there one might reasonably say that the proceedings become fairly routine for this type of picture; that Czech filmmaker Petr Jákl and his cast and crew were able to shoot on location in the Ukraine enters in the equation mostly only as a matter of flavoring for this specific tale. Maybe it speaks to my expectations more than anything else, but I was also a bit surprised that the course of events is limited to a single primary location, and a nondescript one at that; for some reason I assumed something a little more dynamic. In any event, none of this is an inherent mark against this feature, and while how much one enjoys 'Ghoul' will mostly depend on how much one likes found footage in the first place, I think this is at least moderately entertaining.

True, there's perhaps nothing here that we haven't seen before, and for lack of any especial spark, this will struggle to stand out in a crowd or rise above a basic level of horror fun. For what it's worth, though - while overall "average," I'd say this is about as well made as most any such title. On the one hand, I like small touches like Inna's witchcraft, and nuanced inclusion of folklore about consuming (human) flesh. I think the cast is swell, effects and special makeup look good (including blood and gore), and there are some smart ideas scattered throughout, including the more subtle instances of sound effects or visuals. At its best, in some measure 'Ghoul' successfully crafts some fine atmosphere, and some chilling moments. On the other hand, especially as the length progresses, the movie does fall into some of the common traps of found footage specifically and horror generally, and is prey to the same criticisms. Unsteady camerawork, long darkness, and bursts of loud audio mean that even some scenes that are otherwise worthy are beleaguered by a sense of being arbitrary and far-fetched. That's to say nothing of other scenes that as they present are too blunt or tactless at the outset, just flailing and/or "too much," and the climax and ending are rather overfull.

If my words seem blasé or noncommittal, take that as a reflection of the feature itself. It's not bad, and I can safely I say I do like it - it's also nothing special, either. There are no major, glaring flaws; nor are there any major, luminous strengths. How much you like or dislike this will correspond exactly to how you generally feel about found footage at large. It's duly enjoyable if you come across it; there's also no reason to go out of your way for it. When all is said and done I had a fairly good time watching 'Ghoul,' and maybe that's all it needs to be.

Yes, it's a clichefest, but very well-made, entertaining and scary one. If you know the culture, the language, the way Ukranian people speak, behave and live, you'd know how realistic everything is in this movie. The characters are also not as dumb as you usually see in everyone's favourite Hollywood horrors.

If you're found footage fan, I can definitely recommend this movie. I think I already watched at least a half of all digitally/physically distributed found footage movies in the world, and I can say it's a really good one.

There are at least 3 fake reviews on IMDb for this movie at the moment, one positive and 2 negatives (accounts registered only to post a review for this movie). One of these fake ones says "worst move of all time" and doesn't even say why, so connect the dots for yourself.

I ran into this movie by accident, but I am happy I did. I must say that this movie is underrated, and in it's category - docu footage horror, it's one of the best I've seen. Unlike in Bkairwitch, where you are tortured for hours by yells and crackling sounds without ever seeing some actual horror scene, here you get your portion of horror. Gradually things go more intense and you try to understand who is good and who isn't.

The plot isn't much complex, but clear enough to make you enjoy what happens in between. The acting is actually good and believable.

For sure, I would not stay there for a day longer, as obviously things were not right there when a person disappeared, but they did stay... And that's why you have something to watch now:-)

The final was ok, but I would prefer a happy ending at least for one of the characters, still this way it's more realistic.

Life is not a Fairy tale after all.

I loved every second of this one and I'm sure other die hard fans of the found footage genre will too!

Pretty standard plot, but the setting and execution were near flawless. I have no complaints other than a few cheap jump scares towards the beginning. Other than that, this was a really cool movie!