Director:
Petr JáklCámara:
Jan ŠusterMúsica:
Karel HavlíčekReparto:
Jennifer Armour, Alina Golovlyova, Jeremy Isabella, Paul S. Tracey, Debra Garza, Инна Беликова, Vladimír NevedrovSinopsis(1)
Una historia de la vida real del asesino en serie más violento de la Unión Soviética, Andrei Chikatilo. Tres estadounidenses viajan a Ucrania para filmar un documental sobre la epidemia de canibalismo que se extendió por el país durante la hambruna de 1932. Ellos entrevistan al último superviviente de esa hambruna, pero los espíritus del mal se apoderan de ellos cuando deciden invocar al Diablo. (Apple TV+)
(más)Reseñas (8)
Por fin un checo, cuyas películas de género no se ven obstaculizadas por la inferioridad de Europa del Este, son valientes y comercializables a nivel mundial. Una película de terror de funcionamiento universal de la escuela paranormal de Hollywood-Blairwitch, con una mejor dirección que la mayoría de las similares, por ejemplo, Atrapados en Chernóbil, El paso del diablo (lo que convierte a Jákl en mejor director que Renny Harlin :-) La película está hecha de cosas que ya hemos visto en otros lugares, pero funciona. Principalmente gracias al término «Chikatilo», que da escalofríos solo al pronunciarlo. Es una pena que su nombre no empiece a aparecer en la película antes, el arranque podría haber tenido una atmósfera más fuerte. Y es una pena que a Jákl no se le haya ocurrido eso antes. Hoy, su película será solo una de muchas.
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No entiendo por qué los cineastas se aferran tanto a la etiqueta de «thriller oscuro» cuando se trata de una película de terror. Aunque no es tan terrorífica como tiene fama de ser y es más bien cursi de clase B, por otro lado es totalmente comparable en calidad a las películas de terror americanas de un tipo similar. En este sentido, es una victoria para Petr Jákl, que haya conseguido hacer una película checa puramente de género que podría tener algún éxito fuera del territorio nacional. Además, es bastante funcional, atmosférica y, en algunos aspectos, incluso mejor que su equivalente de la competencia extranjera, por lo que no hay por qué avergonzarse de ella.
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Aprecio que Petr Jákl haya hecho una película de terror realmente no convencional con una trama inusualmente construida, poniendo mucho énfasis en lo clásico estilo Hitchcock: lo que más tememos es lo que no vemos. La conexión con la historia real de Čikatilo también es interesante de alguna manera. Sin embargo, esperaba un poco más. Aún así, me alegra mucho que un director checo haya logrado el avance en el extranjero y se pueda considerar a Ghoul como un proyecto exitoso.
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This is a western genre standard undermined by the absence of a single moment of surprise and the fact that for the sake of effect, the characters are willing to act like monumental dullards. This fact could be forgiven if they were given an extra drop of personal life. However, all of this is unfortunately absent, and so in the end it is... a western genre standard. [Whether that's praise or scorn is up to you]. 3 ½.
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Ghoul is a good horror film by Czech standards, in fact the best horror film from our country (the list of Czech horror films is not very big). It is very close to The Blair Witch Project in its concept and form, but Ghoul is not as amateurish, bland and uninteresting. But I cannot share the enthusiasm too much, I am not a big fan of this style of horror. Ghoul in particular tries to look interesting story-wise, but I'm not convinced it was a good move, it's not a very entertaining or informative film. The jump-scre didn't impress me at all, which I also consider a minus. The plus points for me were the setting of the run-down building and the impressive atmospheric finale, for which I give it an extra 10%, so definitely a must for fans just because the film comes from here. I wouldn't watch it again though. 60%
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I don't need to write about how Ghoul stands out in Czech horror, because in this respect it has almost nothing to excel against. Jákl has shown himself to be a modern world filmmaker well versed in what attracts viewers to the scary genre and who, above all, is able to realise all the old horror motifs at such a level that the result overshadows the vast majority of more expensive and ambitious but very similar pseudo-documentary horror films. A brisk, imaginative (excellent jump-scares), superbly scored and decently paced European movie that cleverly highlights the already stifling atmosphere with the help of the chilling phenomenon of Andrei Chikatilo. The intro is quite protracted, the cannibalism is severely underused and it’s impossible to form a strong enough relationship with the characters for the final part to draw you in other than by virtue of the effective stylization, but within the massive Blair Witch wave, Ghoul is definitely one of the more interesting and sophisticated representatives. 65%
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Since I'm going to see Jákl's new film Medieval today, it seemed fitting to revisit his earlier work. Besides Kajínek, this Czech director also made a found footage horror set in the intriguing landscape of Ukraine with a rather interesting premise. Sure, Western cinema has produced higher-quality entries in this genre over the years, but keep in mind that this is a Czech horror film (with an international cast). The setting in remote Ukrainian forests provided a reasonably chilling atmosphere. The acting wasn’t top-tier, but it wasn’t particularly off-putting either. I was pleasantly surprised by the way they combined the theme of cannibalism with the case of Chikatilo, the serial killer who murdered dozens of people in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. This gave the ending an extra punch. For me, it’s 5.5/10.
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This is still found footage, and in its execution, it’s quite typical. I'm not enjoying these films, and neither Jákl nor Czech coproduction nor the fact that it has a very good visual side helps with that. This genre doesn't have much left to say, and the interesting information that Ghoul conveys could be communicated in a classic horror movie, which, of course, there was not enough money for.
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