Ghost Walk Ends Up Stumbling More Often Than It Strides

We all have our limits, be they things we realistically cannot do or those we must overcome. As much as we want to, we must make choices in our own personal lives that define our paths to becoming who and what we truly want to be. There comes a point in time where we must make the sacrifices, not necessarily large ones, but choosing one over another in whatever respective crossroads we find ourselves at can impact our outlook in a variety of ways going forward.

Ghost Walk, a film directed by Yu Eun-jeong, follows our protagonist, Hye-jeong, and her provincial life as a factory worker. Her life is lacking an amalgamation of things many of us may be well accustomed to: A family worth going back to see, friends to spend quality time with, the desire to find a special someone to ride through life with, let alone even considering the idea of “settling down.” She is disillusioned with the grind of existence, uninterested in finding further stimulation, believing her race to have already been run, and she has no interest in running it any further than she already has.

The next morning she wakes up in a confused darkness, intermittent flashing, distant echoing cries of distress and pain to discover that she has been murdered. The investigation taking places around her, living police officers and witnesses unaware of her spectral form. She takes it upon herself to trace her steps back across the previous week of her life to understand how, and why.

Rather than focusing on a whimsical tone, jaunting through the unaware masses, space and time to eventually come back and “right the wrongs” of her life like we see in other films with a similar premise, Ghost Walk decides to lead with a much more psychological horror slant to go along with it’s murder mystery proceedings deciding to emphasize atmosphere over a police procedural.

Where its horror especially excels is in its ability to create a sense of unease and uncertainty through clever shot framing, lighting, music, and sound design. Using flickering lights to convey the motif of an uncaring and uninterested self-serving world that is constantly on the move, rarely willing to pick up stragglers like Hye-jeong. And it is through our protagonist that we are coldly greeted by an intimate, personal, yet isolating brand of horror through every day life that at times made me think of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue, a brand of horror that is masterclass of making the mundanity of everyday life terrifying and invasive. Non-linear story telling furthering the sense of disorientation, keeping the viewer from being able to easily piece the bits of information presented to them mostly through momentary imagery.

Its music features a mix of atonal whirring, distant and unresolved piano chords, and echoing unreachable screeches. Never cowering behind stingers to punctuate major revelations or discoveries. Building the other-worldly sense that it deserves considering for Hye-jeong, well it is quite literally another world wholly unfamiliar to a human. And with its slow pace consistently ramping up the sense of dread and uncertainty, many horror elements are here and done well enough to be the basis of a solid scary work.

And here’s the but: Remember what I said at the beginning, about the choices in life we find ourselves making? Unfortunately that theme explored in the film wasn’t able to be properly fulfilled in its structure. It’s tone and story take a strange turn, not necessarily an overtly jarring one, but one that is noticeable and worse still, multifaceted. Ironically a film that involves making the decision to be something more in life spends too much time deciding what it wants to be.

Its focus is lost in its second half. Focusing on incorporating other genres instead of doubling down on what made it so interesting in the first half. After working so hard to build itself into an assault on the sense, it’s tone and narrative focus shifts away from our protagonist Hye-jeong to much less developed, arguably auxiliary characters, or at the very least peripheral. That has dramatic ramifications on the genre flipping from psychological horror focus to a much further emphasis on the murder mystery elements, sprinkling in bits and pieces of coming-of-age elements too that feel drastically different and dramatically lower in quality. Incoherent elements being poorly thrown together in attempt to create clarity and cohesion while often ending up doing the opposite. There absolutely is a way for horror media to clarify itself without completely losing its ability to unsettle its audience.

When it was at it’s best it was a psychological horror film that used its elements very smartly. At its worst it was an uninspired murder mystery focusing on comparatively uninteresting people. It almost feels like the film changes directors halfway through. Its vision becoming unrecognizable and translucent compared to its first half. What’s left is a film that couldn’t say no to itself that feels so much more bloated than it’s 90 minute run time.

The messages I believe this work are trying to convey center around the preciousness that is human life. It certainly would be painful to gain a sense of your own personal life’s purpose after death. The self destruction of social isolation is akin to living a life already dead. But often times it is those that often find themselves in need of a listener the most. Choose to make a difference it not for yourself, then for others. People cannot view each other as inherently bothersome to each other. We all have a purpose to find and cannot drag others down with us if we have not. Usually it is the tragedies of life that bring us closer together, that help us open up more to others, and ourselves.

For Hye-jeong that understanding comes down to you can’t be anything if you don’t want to be anything in life. Unfortunately she is playing part in a film that can’t be anything spectacular because it ends up wanting to be too much for itself. Corrupting the very genuine and thoughtful messages it tries to emulate.

I would still recommend this to hardcore horror fans. It certainly does botch its landing, but it’s dismount, while not necessarily unique, is of high enough of a quality that some might find themselves able to forgive its final third more than I was. However for a broader audience more interested in dipping its toes into horror only once in a full blue moon, there are better places to look.