In our age of megabudget sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots, finding a film that tells an innovative original story while marching to its own beat can feel particularly special. A Ghost Waits is just such a film. While this microbudget indie takes its cues from the myriad of haunted-house films that came before it, it uses their tropes as a jumping off point to create something that's charmingly unique and poignant.
A Ghost Waits, which was directed by Adam Stovall who also co-wrote the script with star MacLeod Andrews, starts with some of the familiar beats of a typical ghost story as a terrified family vacates their home in a panic after being tormented by an angry spectre. This nondescript house in Cincinnati, Ohio is haunted by a ghost named Muriel (Natalie Walker), and it’s literally her job to keep the premises free of the living. So when Jack (Andrews) is sent to the house by the property manager to repair and clean it for the next tenant, Muriel is prepared to once again scare this latest mortal away.
Jack had planned to do his job quickly and leave, but circumstances, including his so-called friends unwillingness to put him up and the fact that the previous tenants left most of their stuff behind, lead to him staying in the house overnight and for more days than expected. In that time, Muriel comes very close to successfully driving Jack out. But Jack has a job to do, so after his initial fright, he steels his nerves and continues to go about his business. Since Muriel realizes she can no longer scare Jack, the pair start to talk, and soon they recognize one another as lonely kindred spirits, isolated from others but desperately wanting to make a connection. As the story continues, they must confront Muriel’s ghost boss, Ms. Henry (Amanda Miller), who supervises house-haunting personnel from an office in the afterlife, as well as Rosie (Sydney Vollmer), a younger ghost who is sent to the house in the hopes that she’ll succeed with Jack where Muriel failed.
While A Ghost Waits includes its fair share of ghostly scares, it’s the surprising quirk of Jack going through the motions of his job (including a memorably silly scene of a conversation with a toilet) and then bonding with Muriel that set it apart. Andrews is instantly likable as Jack, making the character’s futile attempts to bridge the divide with others tragic in a way that's also sadly relatable in today’s busy world. Meanwhile, Walker does an impressive job conveying Muriel’s lack of practice speaking with people after spending hundreds of years haunting them. Together, the pair have an easy chemistry that grows along with their relationship.
Director Stovall gives the film an idiosyncratic, relaxed tone that’s enhanced by the well-chosen indie tunes that are peppered throughout. Moreover, even as the movie forges its own path, it pays homage to other horror films, perhaps most surprisingly with the ghostly bureaucracy Muriel is a part of, a seeming nod to Beetlejuice that also offers a means to lightly interrogate the driving force behind classic haunted-house films.
While the film is largely a delight, it’s not without its flaws. The black and white picture is sometimes on the muddy side, which can become distracting at times. More importantly, the movie’s romance is rushed, ultimately preventing the story's conclusion from feeling earned. Viewers are also likely to react to that conclusion in different ways. While some may think it’s romantic, I found it disappointing; a cliched climax with a wrongheaded message that felt contrary to the rest of the film’s inventiveness.
Overall, however, A Ghost Waits is worth seeking out. It’s a creative riff on traditional ghost stories that ultimately speaks to our common desire to connect and be understood that will appeal to horror fans and rom-com fans alike.
A Ghost Waits, starring MacLeod Andrews, Natalie Walker, Sydney Vollmer, Amanda Miller and Adam Stovall, is available now on ARROW in the US, Canada and the UK.
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