NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
smakar
What a WONDERFUL surprise this was! It's been a LONG time since I've watched a movie of this genre that I've enjoyed this much - the last being Oculus. There was nothing ground-breaking about the story, but how it was told is what won me over, plus the cast not only acted well, but they were all LIKE-ABLE - something sorely missing in the majority of movies like this.I read another review complaining about the special effects - that they were obviously someone in makeup - and was reminiscent of a stage play. I agree with the stage play comparison, but this is part of what I enjoyed - instead of the use of CGI, everything was practical, as it should be! I compare this to old television shows, specifically The Outer Limits and Star Trek. The effects were not what was important - it was the stories and characters that were the focus and allowed me to be immersed.Kudos to the director, cast, and all others involved in the making of this film. I watched it for free on Amazon Prime, but am now purchasing it, for they deserve it and will hopefully be an incentive to make more movies like this.
Catharina_Sweden
It was difficult to mark this movie, because it would not be right to give it high marks as a HORROR movie, because that would get people's expectations up. And this is not a good HORROR movie, in the sense of creepy atmosphere, excitement, good scares etc.. It is not creepy at all, the special effects are very crude and simple, the "ghost" is so obviously a person in stage make-up, the "blood" is so obviously paint etc.. There are no good scares at all. It is very low budget, and it is more like a filmed stage play than a movie.But on the other hand: if you accept this as a stage play about a typical ghost hunt situation, and do not expect it to be "The Orphanage" or "The Others" - then it is in fact quite good! The script and dialogue are intelligent, and the actors are good too.
nick king
JUDAS GHOST Simon R Green writes his first film script and director Simon Pearce makes a rare move into feature-length films to direct a low budget horror that's confident and comfortable in its genre.The plot is derived from Simon R Green's Ghostfinder novels about the paranormal investigations of the Carnacki Institute; a small team is sent by the Institute to a non-descript church hall that has seen some ghastly goings-on and they record events to use as a training film for the Institute's new recruits.Judas Ghost benefits from a sharp, witty script, strong acting and direction that maintains a cinematic quality despite the single location and few actors – it never looks like a stage play. The film has won several awards for direction and acting at festivals and even the special effects look pretty good for the low budget.The central drama is of a nameless horror shrouded in a creeping darkness that advances on the team, picking them off until vanquished by a heroic sacrifice. One criticism is that this is not the most sophisticated set-up, the film comes across as a light run-through of a horror tale and there is the feeling that it could have gone to a deeper level. Having the characters hold hands and chant the magic words to repel the darkness just seemed trite.Overall, any criticisms should only be mentioned in passing. So many horror films are instantly forgettable or so sub-genre that you know what's going to happen almost as soon as the film starts. Judas Ghost has enough attractions to avoid that, not least the ghoulish Judas Ghost itself, well played by Graham Fox. It also has the name of Carnacki, and anything that keeps Carnacki the Ghost Finder and his creator, the great ghost writer William Hope Hodgson, before the public must be a good thing.
stackk
Saw this at Shriekfest: literally the 1st "movie" I've seen at my 4 festivals. Terrific acting and story, solid story-driven camera-work, great "look," shot for half-a-Mil. Only flaws are nitpickies made in any film. My vote was a 9, but I kicked it to 10 for this first-time director because it's every bit as good as Cusack/Håfström's 1408 on a tenth the budget. - Really IMDb? Ten lines of text? - Okay: I thought this would be a standard indie horror when I saw the trailer, but it *way* exceeded my expectations. The characters were people you enjoyed spending the time with embodied by actors confident (for good reason) in their abilities. The camera-work was innovative without putting a spotlight on itself, in full service to the story. The effects were used to striking effect, the low-budget shadows notwithstanding. I especially loved the "main" character's one bright-red arm of gore, like some sort of military presentation/accolade. -- Nice job and can't wait to see more from this hat-trick of director, producer and screenwriter.