The Ghost of Studio's Past
At a Dallas studio, production is temporarily halted when director Alan (Billy Zane) arrives to find editor Ron (Richard Tyson) murdered, his head impaled on a coat hook on the wall. As other members of the crew talk creepy goings on Alan tries to hold everything together. But when one by one people start to die in ways which mimic scary death scenes from other horror movies Alan, his crew and his cast must try to get to the bottom of a 40 year old mystery with the help of an old lady before it is too late and they all end up dead.
Consistency, it is what many people strive for in life; racing drivers want consistent lap times, darts players want consistent throwing and so on. Consistency in a movie is also called for and it is a lack of consistency which causes "Ghost of Goodnight Lane" to falter rather than come good. The first bit of inconsistency is in the tone as is this a horror comedy or a comedy horror as it doesn't seem to know which is more important. As such there are scenes which have a nice foundation in horror but with a layer of humour over the top but then you get a scene which is the other way around and as such it doesn't know what is driving the movie; the comedy or the horror.
But there is inconsistency all over the place in "Ghost of Goodnight Lane" and you will get a scene which actually impresses with its style and camera work and then not long after there will be one which lets things down because it looks amateur. It is the same with the special effects and make up as it is generally very good but then all of a sudden it throws some at you which really lets it down.
As for the acting, well I am a Lacey Chabert fan and it was seeing her name which drew me to watch so when it turns out she is not in it much and is wasted in a nothing role you can understand my disappointment. Then there is Billy Zane who does what he seems to do in a lot of movies, that is drop those one liners in all over the place which quite simply if you are not a fan of Zane's will end up becoming annoying. And as for the rest of the cast, well the word inconsistent resurfaces as sometimes things will just work and others they really don't.
What this all boils down to is that "Ghost of Goodnight Lane" ends up a frustrating movie as the basic idea whilst not new is a good one. But the final product is inconsistent and that causes it too many issues especially when it comes to knowing if it wants to be a horror with humour or a comedy with a horror flare.
