Ghost Son

The story begins with Martin's (Jake David Matthewson) parents, before he was even a gleam in his daddy's eye. Mark (John Hannah) and Stacey (Laura Harring) are in love, and happy as can be living on their new horse farm in South Africa… until one of them stops living. That doesn't seem to stop their sex life, however.

After Mark's untimely demise, Stacey finds herself barefoot, pregnant and haunted. She decides to stay on at the ranch, living mostly in solitude. She has a house-girl, Thandi (Mosa Kaiser), her friend Elizabeth (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni), and the local doctor (Pete Postlethwaite) for the occasional outside conversation, but mostly she talks with Mark. Mark loves Stacey so very much, he just can't bear to leave her. She loves him too, and seems pleased by his presence.

Once Martin is born, Stacey's fondness for the baby boy takes strange turns between maternal and romantic as her dead husband tries to inhabit his tiny son's body — it's pretty creepy, but too ludicrous to ever become fully scary. Excellent lighting helps make the real infant's features appear sinister, but when an animatronic is used for certain key scenes it elicits more chuckles than white knuckles. When it's clear that Stacey isn't going for the baby's Mark-like affection attacks, love turns to jealousy and Mark tries to get his wife to join him in the afterlife – by any means necessary.

The actors play it straight and they're actually quite good in their roles, even if they don't have much foundation upon which to find their footing. The real standout is Kaiser (who previously was featured in Hotel Rwanda) as Thandi — a young teen whose knowledge of the supernatural is uncanny… but, in a most effective scene, her innocent side winds up falling prey to the dark force that pervades the lonely farmhouse.

The music is a bit overstated, but the cinematography is sublime. Giovanni Canevari eschews the dreaded shaky-cam, makes the most of his atmospheric interiors, and lights with a sure, artistic eye.

Less horror than paranormal romance with evil intent, Ghost Son is still worth a cautious peek for genre fans who would like to see a horror movie free of even one torture scene.

Note: This film was screened at The Egyptian Theater as part of its 7th Annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction 2007

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