The story may not be completely original but it is classic evil spirit, cursed object storytelling, and a strong, straightforward foundation always the story telling immediate plausibility. It also anchor the acceptance of paranormal events where concepts may play out creatively. In "American Poltergeist: The Curse Of Lilith Ratchet" is old-world folk magic, a cursed object and a really bad idea.
The film starts out how I like, dropping us right in the middle of horrific events unfolding as the monster, in this case a vengeful ghost, is on a killing spree. It makes it easier to tolerate the coming exposition and character grounding drama and heavy dialog to come. And this film is no exception. There is a lot of melodrama, banter and mundane "living life" moments in APTCOLR. Some could have been cut or shortened in post because it actually drags the movie's pace after such a gut-punch beginning.
That being said I liked the quality of the performances by this indie cast. Most are recognizable in indie film circles. I have seen most of the horror and sci-fi stuff from this midwestern community, or is it Mid-Atlantic? Anyway I recognize the growth and skill development from this cast, and it shows in this movie. There are moments when dialog and suspense suffers due to scenes that don't seem to move as smoothly as others though.
When the horror finally gets back in play and the paranormal activity starts, APTCOLR picks up. The creature design for Lilith Ratchet is some of the coolest ghost work I've seen. Kind of like one of the gentleman (Hush so. Buffy) in drag. Love the character and horror sustainability for future development. The tricks imployed to create the horror is the standard paranormal effects, but they work.
Overall I found a lot that I liked with "American Poltergeist: The Curse Of Lilith Ratchet". The story premise is classic ghost story fodder, with a memorable character. The cinematography is great and keeps a creepy atmosphere going through the movie. I did find the over stretched dramatic stuff boring at times. Still this is a cool indie paranormal horror with some entertaining stuff happening.
