by Terry Sherwood
The short film Spanked by a Ghost begins as something that could easily be filed under conventional supernatural horror before gradually becoming something different. A non-softcore look at the lengths a person will go to when confronted with an opportunity for fulfilment of a personal kink, with some unexpected.
Director / writer Katelyn Douglass uses the example of The Entity (1982) to create a successful, singular-actor piece of work that turns supernatural horror into what some would call a violation. Oddly enough, I also found myself thinking of the more brutal Inseminoid (1981), another film where horror become entangled with sexuality and bodily vulnerability The connection isn’t literal, but both films understand that the unknown can become considerably more disturbing when it invades the most intimate parts of human experience. Dangerous illicitness is also part of the allure of the sensual.
Touch the forbidden unwillingly then go back for more and have guilty pleasure. I’ve personally have seen and experienced some different things in cemeteries at night, including moments around graves one would go “It a big world so join the banquet”.
At the centre of it is Lindsay Li, whose natural grace carries much of the picture. Her performance works particularly well because the character isn’t overloaded with dialogue. Instead, Douglas allows Li’s face to become part of the film’s visual language. A glance, a slight smile, the movement of her eyes these small expressions gradually create an unusual sensuality. Even when she is simply standing or observing, there is a sense that something is happening beneath the surface.
That restraint is important. Spanked by a Ghost is at its most effective when it leaves things unexplained. The unknown has always been one of horror’s greatest weapons, and the film understands that silence can sometimes be more unsettling than a soundtrack telling you precisely how you should feel. Li making a garment, trying it one with ease then getting a playful interruption sets the tone.
Li’s relative lack of dialogue also creates an interesting contrast with Brandon Daley, whose character is the irritating male live-in presence, repeatedly calling her “baby.” In a film made in 2025 and viewed in 2026, that sort of pet-name familiarity feels deliberately dated and increasingly irritating.
That irritation of the “Talky guy and the water cooler’ actually becomes useful, because it makes the quieter, more enigmatic supernatural presence considerably more intriguing.
The film slips for me is its soundscape when it appears. There are stretches where the music and atmospheric effects are not needed except perhaps to cover up a live audio glitch during shooting. Let the actor and the room breathe. Let the audience listen to the emptiness.
I won’t get into the ending or explain what happens with Luca. I’ll simply say that the name briefly pulled me out of the picture because the surname comes uncomfortably close to that of a real-world killer whose notoriety has acquired an unpleasant degree of fascination.
What remains is a playful piece of kink that knows how to exploit voyeurism, unease and curiosity. Like The Entity, it understands the disturbing intersection of fear and desire; like Inseminoid, it occasionally wanders into that peculiar territory where horror, sexuality and the inexplicable become difficult to separate.
Spanked by a Ghost won’t be for everyone. But if you enjoy your haunted-house movies about a perhaps unexpected casual flirtation. this one is worth a look. The “Little death’ in this one if it occurs has no gore.
