By David Dent
Charlie Bailey (Eric Tabach) runs a podcast called ‘Paranormalcy’; he describes himself as a debunker of the supernatural, priding himself on ridiculing those who believe, much to the horror of his girlfriend Brie (Kaikane) who feels that Charlie’s a bit too full on.
When he invites on to the programme a strange guy, Duncan Slayback (Gabriel Rush), who claims that he can prove conclusively that there’s no such thing as ghosts, Charlie jumps at the chance, only for things to spiral out of control when Slayback, whose partner was recently killed in a hit and run incident, shoots himself dead; live on air. Predictably, Charlie’s subscribers increase exponentially, more so when Duncan’s ghost appears to Charlie, contradicting both live Duncan’s claims and Charlie’s whole world view.
Ghost Duncan remains mute but has the ability to communicate through spirit writing; the presence of a supernatural if silent podcast co-host is Charlie’s potential passport to the big bucks (particularly useful now that Brie is pregnant) but in return Duncan has a favour to ask of the show host; namely tracking down and disposing of the person responsible for Duncan’s girlfriend’s death.
Director Dean Alioto, whose 2019 feature ‘Portal’ also dealt with the supernatural, is clearly in his element here; he’s made a funny, charming movie which nods to Griffin Dunne’s dead character in An American Werewolf in London in the relationship between Charlie and Duncan.
Unusually, although it has some moral points to make about ambition and the desire for likes, Alioto takes a far less hectoring approach to social media communication than is usual in a contemporary fright flick. Charlie is just trying to make a living; he’s by no means unlikeable, as opposed to his far slicker, and more annoying, podcasting rival Jasper Cooper (Charlie Saxton) and his ‘Para-Abnormal Files’ show. Great fun.
Bloody Flicks 