Inner Ghosts (3/5) – Movie Review

INNER GHOSTS is a low-budget horror movie that works very well despite being too long. The acting especially is really powerful and the story is fascinating in many ways. Read more in our full Inner Ghosts review here!

Inner Ghosts is a horror movie with ghosts and hauntings and mediums, oh my! I know, it might sound like something you’ve seen many times before. Still, I definitely think this movie has quite a few new tricks up its proverbial sleeves.

For one, a 3D printer is key to the plot and that isn’t something we see every day in ghost horror movies.

You might like: If you enjoy ghost stories, check out our review of the Netflix anthology movie Ghost Stories here >

Continue reading our Inner Ghosts movie review below.

Celia Williams is a strong lead

The story in Inner Ghosts is essentially the story of Helen who is portrayed wonderfully by Celia Williams. Overall, the acting is wonderful in this movie but I have to single her out since the entire plot relies on her performance.

Also, the visuals in this low-budget movie are very gorgeous. Both the color-grading and camera work seems very deliberate. More so than we usually see with many low-budget horror movies where money can often force you to compromise.

For this movie, it doesn’t feel like production quality was ever sacrificed. The actors are largely unknown to me but they give good performances and I like getting to know new faces. I especially hope to see Celia Williams in more horror movies.

The ending of Inner Ghosts

I do have to mention something regarding the ending of Inner Ghosts. No, this isn’t one of those spoiler-filled “ending explained” pieces. I’m not going to do any spoilers here.

However, I do have to talk about the Inner Ghosts ending since it features quite a lot of flashing lights (or strobe lights). This can be difficult for some people to watch since it can cause seizures. Especially for people with epilepsy. These flashing light scenes last several minutes, so if you’re sensitive to that, you will probably have to miss the ending of this movie.

However, if you are not, then the effect is actually very good for the purpose it’s used. While all the special effects in this horror movie are very impressive, they look even better with the added effect of the strobe lights during these scenes.

Check out Inner Ghosts on VOD

Paulo Leite wrote and directed Inner Ghosts and shows a whole lot of potential. Though I must mention that another director was also mentioned in credits of the screener, we watched. The opening credits list Paulo Leite as the director while the first closing credit is stating that João Alves is the director.

Whatever the case with this is, Paulo Leite certainly did write the story and it’s one fascinating story. I don’t want to give away too many details but I did like how it combined the concept of mediums with cold, hard science.

Also, while this movie is low-budget, the production quality is very impressive! It is, however, too long for my liking. A tight runtime of 80 minutes would have been stronger than the 90 minutes it is now.

Inner Ghosts premieres on DVD and Digital January 7, 2020, from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Details

Director: Paulo Leite
Writer: Paulo Leite
Stars: Celia Williams, Elizabeth Bochmann, Iris Cayatte, Norman MacCallum, Amanda Booth

Plot

If ghosts can think and remember who they are, then the physical brain is not the only place where we store our inner selves. Helen is asked to train two young women into the art of communicating with the dead. But Helen’s days as a medium are long gone. In fact, she gave up that life 15 years ago when she lost her daughter. Today Helen is a different woman dedicated to her career in brain research. Things start to change when a visit from the other side offers her the design of a device that can do amazing things. But to everything there is a risk.