A muddled mess. This is how we can best describe "Ghost Lab". The interesting premise goes to waste as the film was unable to do anything special with it at all. Worse, it has a serious case of identity crisis as it tip toed from being a horror film, a comedy film, a drama film, and even a scifi film.
After witnessing a real-life ghost in the hospital they are working in, two doctors decide to do research on the paranormal - prove scientificcally that ghosts are real and in the process find a way to make ghosts appear whenever they want them to. Soon, the research becomes an obssession for both leading the two doctors into a deadly path. What are they willing to sacrifice to achieve success?
"Ghost Lab" just didn't have the courage to go full blast with its premise. For a film that "tries" to make science out of ghost hunting, what the film was able to provide audiences was nothing new and very uncreative if we're being honest. There's just this overall sense of blandness throughout its runtime that we couldn't shake. Unfortunately, part of the problem was the film's identity crisis. It just didn't know what it wanted to be. For us, the film could have worked best as a straight up horror film. The couple of scenes were it decided to show its horrific potential were intense and awesome. Its dramatic side just didn't work in our opinion and the pseudo-science it takes to explain ghosts even worse. It also had these dream-like sequences that feature our protagonsists achieving their goals that just confused us more. Finally, it had a very unnecessary and under-developed love triangle drama dynamic that just added to the bloat further. Acting-wise, it was great considering the material they had to work with and surprsingly, we found ourselves slightly invested with their characters especially with the character of Wee (played by Thanapob Leeratanakachorn). Overall, "Ghost Lab" just couldn't deliver were it mattered most and its shotgun approach just made all of its narrative and writing deficiencies even more noticeable.
Rating: 1 and a half reels
Why you should watch it:
- had a couple of scenes that had us clinching our seats
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the writing and story was just all over the place
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