SPIRITS IN THE DARK presents the thoughts of a lonely widower, recorded via camera mostly in a first-person perspective, who is drawn to an abandoned town by a mysterious video. Once there, he encounters strange events.
This is an extremely slow-paced movie that places heavy emphasis on a moody atmosphere. And in that, it partially succeeds, both because the director has a good eye for composition and color, and because the abandoned setting he chose is naturally well-suited for that purpose.
Unfortunately, there is just too little going on to provide a payoff for most people. As the protagonist goes through the abandoned buildings, watching the movie begins to feel like watching someone play a sandbox video game. There certainly are people who enjoy this, but this is a movie, not twitch!
I think the director was intentionally going for an excessively contemplative approach, but if that is the aim, then the contemplations have to be of such a high caliber that they themselves provide a payoff to the audience. In this case, they don't, in my opinion.
The ending was both anticlimactic and a bit confusing, but not necessarily unpredictable. There is a possible suggestion that the child he finds in the building is his own, stolen by the murdered woman right after the accident that killed his wife, and that much of what we see in the end are visions of a dying man, but it is not definite.
All in all, this is only recommended for people who value atmosphere in movies over everything else.
