The Blackwell Ghost 8

So, what can we take from Part 8?

1. Everyone in America has a really bad phone line that sounds like they're speaking from 1982.

2. The police have no idea how to analyse media and rely on genius amateur movie makers to do it for them.

3. Those selfsame amateur movie makers don't have to share any information with the police unless they reeeaaally want to.

4. The Blackwell Ghost has nothing to do with ghosts. It's a typical series focussing on the American paranoia of home invasions and 0 to do with anything supernatural.

5. Tracking Devices are big, have infinite battery life and connect to your local network as "Vehicle Tracker".

6. The director/actor of this series is so narcissistic, and believe themselves so much better than the police and everyone else, that they'll probably turn out to be a Real killer one day.

7. Sometimes, each sentence requires a different camera angle, so prepare to suffer from dizzy spells.

8. This franchise should've stopped 5 films ago.

I respect what Turner Clay (which appears to be an alias) has been trying to achieve with these films. There's not much else out there like this nowadays - essentially a longform web series like Marble Hornets, with some cheeky social media tricks that have hilariously convinced a lot of folks that this is a real documentary.

All the more impressive is that it's essentially a one man show.

His acting is great, the cinematography and editing is great, he writes all the music for the series, the ghost hunting of the early series was unique and compelling, and the Zodiac killer-style narrative he's designed is ambitious, albeit not at all unique and less compelling.

That said, it's becoming more and more obvious that this project is "steady work." The universe he's built is starting to collapse in on itself. The releases keep coming, but the quality has been on a steady decline since we went from a humble truth seeking ghost hunter, to witnessing his deceased wife playing piano from the afterlife, to now singlehandedly solving an active serial killer case that the police and FBI "don't feel like investigating" with the help of said ghosts.

The series appears to be losing audience interest with each installment as well, judging by Amazon review numbers.

I think he's keenly aware of this, which is why he's pivoting to a new ghost story, but it would probably benefit him to drop the pretense, maybe even rename the project to something fitting of an anthology, and earnestly engage with the audience about the content he's making like every other filmmaker on the planet.

The first few movies were really quite good, and though you knew it was fiction, it incorporated enough real-life stuff and was filmed in a style that created an illusion of it being a documentary rather than a scripted movie.

The illusion has weakened with each instalment (I'd say from 1-4 are good, 5 is mediocre at best, and each one after that gets worse and worse), with number 7 getting to the point of being barely watchable - badly keyed green screens, "in the moment" reaction shots that were very obviously set up from the camera position (and the poor chroma keying), and "effects" that are far from special, e.g. He fires a pistol where the muzzle flash is very obviously added on in post, there's no recoil, the action doesn't cycle, and no cartridge is ejected. It's just starting to feel lazy at this point. It feels like something cooked up by a group of amateurs in an internet forum.

Despite this, I'd say these movies are all worth watching the first 4, and if you want to understand why you needn't bother after that point, watch the 5th instalment. The 7th was really bad, the 8th is somehow worse. Any doubt that this was a movie as opposed to a documentary is completely destroyed. If you've watched the other 7, you may feel as though you may as well watch this one, I'd recommend using your time more productively, perhaps by putting wooden toothpicks under your toenails and kicking a wall as hard as you can.

At this point I feel like I've started watching a TV show, and it's a few seasons in, and it's got really terrible, but I keep watching anyway because I've sunk so much into watching up to this point. It's really a shame, because I found the first few movies to be captivating and enjoyable. Now it just feels like content on YouTube generated by a user with no experience in script writing, directing, or maintaining a cohesive and compelling plot.

I think I've reached a breaking point, and I won't be watching Blackwell Ghost 9 if and when it comes out. Sometimes, you just have to cut bait and admit to yourself that you're wasting time on something that's no longer entertaining or enjoyable in any way.

The first movie was intersting and engaging, I liked it enough to buy part 2. Then 3, 4,5,6,7 and now 8.

They're obviously made on a shoestring budget, but the storyline moves right along. The movies end and I want more.

These are clever installments that keep twisting and turning. Original enough to get you hooked.

There's nothing fancy, no extravagant effects, but these movies don't need it. Our protagonist, Turner Clay, has a twangy nasal voice that I find endearing; not annoying. I want to hear what he finds next.

Each installment introduces something new. Part 8 is very different than what got us going in part 1. We're in some strange serial killer with a manifesto territory now and it seems perfectly normal and true to the continuity of our storyline.

Don't skip to part 8. Start at 1 and watch them in order.

I binged watched all of these recently and I gotta say I'm not a fan of the direction of the films since 5. I much preferred the amateur found footage type of filming in the early films, they were much more intriguing and felt real and terrifying at times.

Now it's gone all hollywood and daft with its cinematic shots and over the top serial killer story, it really feels like a B movie instead of a cleverly done indy film which is what I liked about it in the first place.

Shame really because I like Turner Clay, he's got good charisma and is entertaining to watch.

I hope the series goes back to its roots I really do.