Ghost Chase (1988)

Warren McCloud (Jason Lively) and his friend, Fred (Tim McDaniel), are two young horror filmmakers who are constantly in need of cash, When Warren reaches his 21st birthday, he discovers his grandfather left him a huge inheritance, which ultimately amounts to nothing but a measely pawn ticket. So they think! This ticket leads them to a world where special effects dummies come "alive." This pawn ticket turns out to be worth more than Warren could ever have imagined!

Interesting

When I think of the other movies that Roland Emmerich has directed, I am astounded to think that he actually had his hands involved in something so strange as the 1988 film, GHOST CHASE. Set in Hollywood, California, two young independent film-makers just trying to pay the bills, get a pawn ticket as inheritance from an old grandfather who passed on years ago. They receive a clock and a few photographs with the pawn ticket, all packed into a lovely brown suitcase. And when midnight strikes (or one o'clock, it's never made completely clear when exactly), the ghost of Louis, butler to the deceased grandfather comes to life, who looks like an odd mix of Yoda and E.T. and maybe Kermit the Frog thrown in there somewhere. What ensues is quite the romp for a long lost treasure, and of course the nasty villain who wants his hands on it as well.

First off, Warren is acted horribly. I wanted to just about die watching him scream for help near the end in his whiny, cracking voice. And he's a jerk the entire film - I don't know how anyone could ever appreciate his character. He seemed more like a "bad guy" than the villain, played here by Paul Gleason. But Fred and Lori are pretty fun, and if anything saves this movie, it's the butler, Louis, quite funny and of course, very proper.

There's quite a bit of cussing in the movie, and that needs to be taken into consideration before watching. Other content is very mild, gore/violence is next to zero, and sexual content is limited to one or two quick mentions of the word.

Overall, fun, definitely eighties, and a pretty quick film for a cheesy movie night. February 10, 2006

Symphathy for the butler

An early work of Roland Emmerich but besides Stargate it's his best work for me so far.

A movie you won't love cause of thrilling special effects (there aren't any) or a million dollar budget (there isn't)- but for a nice, dazzling story, funny actors & quotes (Fred rules !) and the cutest ghost you've ever seen (ok he might look a bit like E.T. but whatever). And the starting song says it - "Imagination - that's all i want from you !"

Joining Warren (the symphatic [dumb] type - eating cornflakes with beer for breakfast) and Fred (the nerdy inventor - always full of weird ideas)in the quest for some money to pay their bills is a cheeky adventure with a lots of gags and ghostly appearances(butler louis is still my number one movie ghost).

Seeing that picture makes we want to hit Emmerich upside the head for creating a superficial plot and charakters like in "Godzilla" where this movie shows that he KNOWS how to do it. Maybe all this money clouded your mind, Roland ?

This is movie for the whole family - entertaining, funny and cute. You maybe ask yourself now if you should give this flic a chance. "Yes and no." "What do you mean with .. yes and no ?" "Heavy losses on both sides." "Great ..." You'll love it or hate it. Find out for yourself. June 23, 2001

WARPED

It's weird how the writer/director of such exciting blockbusters such as ID4 and The Patriot could create such a strange film. I'll try my hardest to recount the plot.

Two ultra-cheap filmmakers (art reflects life) have a great idea for a movie and rope in an unwilling but attractive starlet and make up a Muppet-like monster based on the photographs of a long-dead grandfather's butler. A rival studio producer wants to blow up the grandfather's house as the climax to his big budget movie so the butler's ghost comes back to possess the Muppet doll to lead them to hidden billions in the cellar.

It's not a bad film, by no means, it's quite cringeworthy in places but inconsistently entertaining. There are no big name stars or SFX but that is made up for with bizarre plotting and storyline.

This film is more in the style of Roland Emmerich in his Making Contact/Moon 44 days. But if he had the budget he gets these days who knows what this film might have ended up as. I give it 3/5 for weirdness, plot and defying convention.

The DVD is in Mono and is cropped to fullscreen instead of the theatrical 2.35:1. January 8, 2001

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