Tony Reames’ Spookt tries to juggle a lot in its 80-minute runtime, but struggles to pin down a strong point.
At the heart of its story is a haunted house tale tied to local folklore, and that can be fun, as we’ve seen many a time in the past, but Spookt is a film unsure of what kind of haunted house movie it wants to be, and suffers for it.
Is it an examination of a town’s dark history? Is it a look at the battle between skepticism and belief in the realm of the supernatural? Is it a dig at online personalities milking tragedy for cash? It’s parts of that and more without ever really picking a lane or finding a way to blend these aspects together.
Two supernatural investigators are called to the infamous Gibson House, where a young girl went missing. Supposedly, the dark spirit of a sadistic surgeon known as Dr. Byler (Eric Roberts) inhabits the house and may have been behind the girl’s abduction.
But our two investigators are here with different agendas. Paranormal Investigator Claire (Haley Leary) has a connection to the town and perhaps even the house, and fully believes inspirits and the paranormal.
On the other side we have Rachel (Christen Sharice), a YouTube cynic and skeptic who courts controversy with her dismissive debunking of supernatural tales. She’s out to prove no ghost has taken the young girl.
Thrown together by circumstance and with a baked-in disharmony between them, the two women reluctantly team up to find the girl and discover the truth behind the house.
There’s some fun to be had in this clash of belief systems, as Rachel makes fun of Claire’s beliefs and gets given a reality check or two of her own along the way. Unfortunately, we only get fleeting glimpses of it as most of their ”battles” devolve into aggravatingly contrary guff.
It also doesn’t help that the story incoherently staggers from one thing to the next. For instance, there’s an orgy flashback scene that comes out of left field and is awkward in its implementation.
The setup of Dr. Byler as a grisly legend and the story of the house is probably the strongest aspect of Spookt. The budget clearly only allowed for a slice of Eric Roberts’ time, and Reames makes great use of it. It means Roberts’ Dr. Byler is often a shadowy figure who we don’t really get a proper look at. The result is a more mysterious villain, but then Reames decides to throw some more storytelling options in there to cover the lack of Roberts.
To be fair, I think it’s sensible not to put all your antagonist eggs in one basket if your antagonist isn’t going to really be in the mix when it matters, and bringing name recognition to your project, however limited its use is.
But beyond that, Spookt is just a messy ghost story with uneven performances (ranging from earnest to annoying to outright stiff), and a weak conclusion. It hits some familiar haunted house beats along the way and occasionally makes something interesting out of them. It’s a watchable enough light slice of supernatural horror, but it won’t haunt your thoughts beyond the credits.
Score: 4/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 4 equates to ”Poor”. The negatives outweigh the positive aspects, making it a struggle to get through.
Spookt screened as part of Panic Fest 2024.
