Truly Dreadful Film

Brilliant and touching

Am I Missing Something?

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

"Ghost Rig" is an exceedingly frustrating and dull body-possession story.**SPOILERS**Arriving at a drilling rig, activists Tom, (Jaime Bamber) Vincent, (Jaason Simmons) Annie, (Kerry Norton) Iona, (Heather Peace) Will, (Bryan Carney) Eric, (Rory McCann) Kay, (Richard Norton) Sophie, (Juliet Diamond) and Mole, (David Rae) along with ex-worker Crawford, (Noel Fitzpatrick) prepare to stop it from being sunk into the sea to turn it into a reef. Going about their jobs, they find the supposedly-manned building abandoned and completely empty, which allows them to do their job. After a number of accidents and strange events on-board, they start to think something's wrong, and when dead bodies start turning up, they become even more nervous about what's going on. Finally realizing that the viral outbreak which caused it to become abandoned to begin with has turned them all into psychotic maniacs as it jumps from person to person, they must find a way to get out of the situation alive.The Good News: There was some good stuff to this one at times. One of the better elements is the film's location, which is quite suitable for this kind of film. It's got a perfect type of placement, with the cold concrete feel of the place looking quite spectacular and offering up a claustrophobic placement that settles in really well with several other big parts, including the exceptionally long, darkened hallways, twisting and distorted layout, completely confusing rooms and more which are just perfectly mixed with how the film builds it's scares because there's a series of creepy scenes set in a great location. These scares aren't that bad, with the film's rather fun series of encounters here from the possessed beings attacking everybody, which are some of the best parts to this one. The attack on the monitors with the hammer is absolutely spectacular and brutal, and done through the security camera is a great touch that really makes it quite fun. There's a big attack while the group is stuck inside a protective pentagram, which has a lot of rather big parts about it, from the suspense of who's who, the surprise when it's revealed who, and from the final moment of pure chaos, it makes for an overall satisfying sequence. The last plus is the finale, which has a lot to like. From the gory double murders to the outright spectacular twist that makes for some fantastic back-tracking in the plot, this one ends on a high-note. These here are what work for the film.The Bad News: There was a couple points in here that really brought this one down. One of the main factors is the fact that this one just doesn't have a fast-enough pace to sustain it's suspense-packed story. This one would definitely go over better had this one picked up the pace and threw some adrenaline into the proceedings, as this one tends to feel so much longer than it should due to the fact that the film is so dreary that just about any excitement to be pulled from this will just be sucked out completely. The sad fact is that there's plenty of potential for this one to rise above and actually get going, due to it's really fun premise, but it never capitalizes and doesn't really have that one big scene that really pushes the film over-the-edge. That is really exacerbated by the fact that this one doesn't have much of anything happening beyond the aforementioned scenes, leading this one to have just endless scene after scene of the group running around the rig simply yelling about the situation to each other, which isn't all that much fin to sit through. This is just utterly boring to go through and it makes for some really slow-going scenes, which when mixed with the overall slow-burning pace of everything makes this one such a downer that there's not much it can do about it. Also not working out right is the fact that this one manages to rip-off a quite famous scene from a classic in the blood-testing scene, which should really give it away and it ends up being quite unneeded in the film. The last flaw to this one is the fact that this one doesn't really have any answers for what it's strange accident really is. There's nothing about what it really is or how it got there, and the bit about it entering through the bites is all that's known. These here are what's wrong with this one.The Final Verdict: It's not that this is all that bad of a film, it's just filled with too many scenes that take it down, severely bringing this one down. Really only recommended to those who enjoy these kind of films or find them interesting, while those that will be turned off by the flaws should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence

The camera-work on this movie was scarier than the "horror" movie itself. I have no doubt that the Mini DV camcorder they show in the movie is one of the cameras the movie was filmed with. The computer graphics (two very short scenes with the helicopter) resembled the graphics from old Atari video games. Beyond this, the acting was pathetic. I've seen better acting in kindergarten plays at the local grammar school. The movie opened with a very boring sequence and the progression of the plot didn't begin until the middle of the movie. The subsequent un-entertaining deaths were expected, the "monster's" actions were predictable, and the rest of the movie was dull. The last 45 seconds of the movie was interesting in that it ties everything together; however, it was also predictable (if you were coherent enough to pay attention). All in all, the best part of the movie is arguable, so I'll tell you my two favorite parts. My first favorite part was the DVD menu because it didn't include the lousy acting and remedial camera-work. My second favorite part was the credits because it let me know that it was the conclusion of this abomination to the film industry.

In the realm of group-of-people-trapped-with-something-picking-them-off-one-by-one films, there has not been a lot of innovation since Alien and Evil Dead.Not surprisingly, this film does not offer much you have not seen already (at least if you are like me and watch all the thrillers, splatter and horror films you can). Direction and acting could be better, but are satisfactory in most respects within the given limits.Surprisingly however, this one hits the nail on the head in every aspect of the story.The snags in this kind of story has always been these three questions: Why are they in the monster's lair, why don't they leave, and why do they split up? When these questions are not answered to my satisfaction, my suspension of disbelief fails. Then it is obviously just a question of producing a popcorn movie for 15-year-olds to snigger at and forget immediately.But here, the basic premise works, and each question is answered logically: the ten protagonists are eco-activists who board an oil rig to stop it from being toppled. Farfetched as this may sound, it could happen, and I have no doubt Greenpeace activists entertained a similar thought with Brent Spar in those days. Since they need to find the crew of the rig (but expect no problems beyond being told to bugger off), they search the place, and when they find nobody there, they are in a fix, as their very presence is what prevents the oil company from sinking the rig. So they have to stay. (The "weather closing in" excuse preventing the helicopter from returning is ridiculous though, as all the exterior shots of the rig show calm weather with barely any wind at all).In addition to this initial premise, the rest of the story (and the twist-in-the-tale in particular) holds water in a way I had not expected. A rare sight these days, when even Stephen King expects us to believe that local police suspecting a divorced husband of murdering his ex-wife and her lover will not even dig up his back yard fifteen feet from the house (not to mention the fact that as he lived in another state, it would become an FBI case with all the additional resources this would entail).

Yep, sure was unique idea.. a guy keeping evil spirit inside of him just simply by tattooing ground circle into himself. Movie? Boring.. exciting parts but slow. So slow that you had plenty of time to lose all your interest into the darn movie before something actually happened. Good scenes, sure. And if lucky enough you were still awake when they were shown. I recommend to use the fast forward button in case you have one or as an another option, pick up a nice book to read while most of the movie and follow movie when something interesting happens. It works fine.