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Recently Viewed: The Ghost Station

Despite its apparent lack of narrative complexity, it’s difficult to properly classify Yong-ki Jeong’s The Ghost Station. Is it a throwback/homage to the J-horror masterpieces of the late nineties/early aughts (e.g., Ring, Ju-On: The Grudge)—or a shameless, shallow rip-off thereof? In any case, it’s undeniably formulaic; familiar, tried-and-true tropes and clichés that may have been perfectly functional in the source material (the film is an adaptation of a webcomic) simply feel derivative in a movie. This story has been told in this medium before. Dozens of times.

Two decades ago.

And Ghost Station adds precious little to the conversation.

The style in equally uninspired; indeed, I would characterize the direction as “haphazard.” I appreciate a good split diopter shot as much as the next pretentious cinephile, but here, the technique is implemented with such reckless abandon (and always utilizing the same basic framing/composition—at least Brian De Palma understood the value of variety) that the appeal wears off rather quickly. The visuals are otherwise serviceable at best, falling into the all-too-common trap of mistaking rapid cuts and abrupt jump scares for atmosphere and suspense.

And yet… there’s just barely enough thematic substance lurking beneath the surface of the (ankle-deep) plot to almost redeem the experience. The protagonist, an aspiring journalist forced to “make her bones” by writing for a sleazy online tabloid, is particularly compelling; while she’s obviously flawed—she is absolutely relentless in her pursuit of a juicy scoop, often at the expense of her fellow man—she has genuinely sympathetic motivations, allowing her to remain endearing even as she veers into morally ambiguous territory. Her internal conflict elevates the drama, touching on such relevant social issues as the predominance of sensationalism in the corporate news cycle, the dehumanizing exploitation of consumer culture, and the gradual erosion of privacy in the Internet Age.

None of this makes Ghost Station “good” in the conventional sense, of course; ultimately, it’s still superficial, disposable, and utterly forgettable—I believe the kids these days would describe it as “mid.” Nevertheless, it's entertaining in its own bland, generic, inoffensive way (its problematic depictions of gender nonconformity notwithstanding).

[bodiesxnumbers]

Building up a movie night marathon for the next year of riffing on horror movies with a new friend. Anyone down to help me think out my choices? A few of them are good

[bodiesxnumbers]

Tested out the random generator today, trying to decide on repeated numbers and if they'll be personal picks or not.

After Grace steps away, it might be just me, and if it is, I'd like to do more research for year 3. If it's just me droning on, I at the least want to bring more to the table.

[bodiesxnumbers]

Just saw the remake of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers for my first time. I'm in love, new addition to my top 10

I didn't expect the slow burn. The nihilism or the body horror all matched up with tender, soft, loving moments. I never heard of this film discussed, and the fact that I hated Leonard Nimoy so passionately. I only have ever seen him as Spock, and let me say I love his portrail of a two-faced evil.

I put this on so I could watch something with Donald Sutherland (due to his recent passing away), and I hope that faced with the ultimate end of humanity that we, like Matthew, go out swinging with anarchistic rebellion.

I always loved the remake of The Thing, and this feels like it's older sibling or as my life partner put it "this is what would've happened if the creature made it out of Outpost 31".

What happened to good horror remakes like these films specifically?

Anyway thanks if you've read through this post, this film struck a few chords for me.

[bodiesxnumbers]

I just found out that the next six episodes of my tiny podcast are the last six with my best friend as my co-host.

I'm so happy for them because they'll be moving to do better things in the world, but I'm so sad because they are my best friend outside of my marriage. I'll have to try to find someone to work with in their stead because I've fallen in love with having a project successfully being published, but nobody's going to replace the standard they have brought to our show.

We'll probably add a retrospective at the end of our second season's lineup and talk about year 2 of Bodies.

[bodiesxnumbers]

Good Boy (2022)

I like a movie that has the guts to go bleak.

However I did think I was going to get more of :

+

And not as much of:

+

I don't know how else to really talk about Good Boy without major spoilers, but damn was I surprised once the hat dropped.

[bodiesxnumbers]

Cargo (2017) and Maggie (2015) are great zombie movies that don't even focus on the infected as much as coming to terms with the infection.

If you're a fan of stories like The Last of Us, you should check out these movies. Maggie even had someone from TLoU on its directive team.

[bodiesxnumbers]

I did a top 10 favorite but let's give our bottom 10, the least favorite horror movies we've seen.

In order from 10 to 1, here is my least favorites ranked.

10. The Fog (2005)

9. Cry_Wolf (2005)

8. Retro Puppet Master (1999)

7. Carrie (2002)

6. Dracula (1931)

5. Hostel 3 (2011)

4. Curse of the Puppet Master (1998)

3. Doll Graveyard (2005)

2. The Omen (2006)

1. Puppet Master The Legacy (2003)

[bodiesxnumbers]

My friend Grace and I watched 2013's Evil Dead, and our head cannon is that Eric (Erik?) had romantic feelings for David, which is why until his final moments he's cold and closed off to David.

We also imagine that David had no clue, and still doesn't which makes Eric's last moments of seeing David tragic imo

He told David he didn't want to be Satan's bitch, and David left him in the cellar to bloat in the water. Eric might have been the reason shit fell apart, but man, did he deserve better.

[bodiesxnumbers]

The first time I watched Skinamarink, I was beyond exhausted and was halfway between awake and asleep. I feel like weirdly that made the movie so much more nightmarish than it already is.

If you like The Backrooms or House of Leaves, give Skinamarink a chance.

[bodiesxnumbers]

inflicting yall with the anxiety and dread this sound now produces in me

[bodiesxnumbers]

EVIL DEAD (2013) Dir. Fede Álvarez

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I watched the Japanese horror film House (1977), and honestly I still don't 100% know what I watched but I loved it.

[bodiesxnumbers]

I'm going to run a blog just so I have a place to talk into the great void about the horror genre. I always feel kind of weird on social media, I can talk for hours in person but put me behind a keyboard and suddenly I have nothing to say.

I guess the icebreaker is going to be my current top 10 horror movies as of this post.

In no particular order, other than year of release, here are my favorites.

1. X (2022)

2. Midsommar (2019)

3. The Lighthouse (2019)

4. The Lodge (2019)

5. It Comes at Night (2017)

6. Raw (2016)

7. Green Room (2015)

8. Evil Dead (2013)

9. The Thing (1982)

10. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

There's a few on here that I've seen only a handful of times, but initial reactions mean a lot to me when it comes to picking favorites. And for books I'll give a top 5.

1. House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danlielewski

2. The Wickerman, by Robin Hardy & Anthony Shaffer

3. The Ritual, by Adam Nevill

4. What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher

5. Hunger on the Chisholm Trail, by M. Ennenbach

I'm an extremely slow reader, but these (minus the Wickerman) were pretty fast reads for me. The Wickerman is a great companion piece to its movie, and honestly, the difficulty those two had getting that movie out amuses me so much.

Tell me some of your favorites, I'd love to seek out new horror content.