Pretty Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Released in 2007, "Dean Teaster's Ghost Town" (or "Ghost Town: The Movie") is a Western that takes place in the East, specifically the Great Smoky Mountains of NC. Maggie Valley has an amusement park called Ghost Town in the Sky (i.e. a Western town on a mountain), which is where the film was made and is now called Ghost Town Village.The scenic beauty of this area was enough to pique my interest. In addition, the movie features the beautiful Renee O'Connor (Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle) in a small role with very few lines and Bill McKinney as the villain (he's always great for such a role; remember him as the perverted mountain man in "Deliverance"?). Other positives include Princess Lucaj as Violet Teaster and DJ Perry as Will Burnett, the good son of the villain (McKinney). Rance Howard is also on hand.This is low-budgeted independent film, of which I'm a fan. Unfortunately, "Ghost Town" is not a good movie despite the positives noted above, it's not even okay; in fact, it's nigh embarrassingly bad. I wanted to quit watching after a mere 10-20 minutes but forced myself to endure to the end. It's as if the 'filmmakers' didn't really know what they were doing.The locations are great and the story could have worked, but they needed to hire a screenwriter, director and editor who knew what they were doing.Needless to say, don't invest in this one unless you're a fan of Renee O'Connor (or any of the other cast members) or you're interested in the Maggie Valley area.GRADE: D-

While I don't profess to know much about movie making, I know when a movie follows a coherent plot or storyline. This movie does not. According to many of the previous comments the fault lies with the editing. I would have to agree. There are whole scenes and smaller bits that I really like in this movie. The cinematography and camera placement of these individual shots is just wonderful. The problem begins when the shots and scenes are strung together. At times it is just awkward, and at times it is just downright confusing. It is as if the editor put the movie together with no thought at all to telling a story from start to finish. i'm not sure if it is possible, but I think this movie could use a complete re-editing, keeping the idea of telling a story as the primary focus. I Ghost Town you often feel like you are viewing those 3-d pictures where you have to squint your eyes to see the hidden image within. I just want to squint my eyes and have the whole thing pop out and make sense to me.

I tried so hard to watch this movie, but from the beginning things went downhill. The scenes jumped from place to place without any decent dialogue tying the scenes together. I found myself fixed mainly on the ridiculous wig that Dean Teaster wore. The other characters were introduced throughout the movie at mixed intervals, again, without even a telltale sign of who/what/where/when or why they were there. There seemed to be no method to the madness in creating this film. To make matters worse, Dean's wife, Tammy, who played Susie Teaster (the ghost lady)looked every bit as goofy as Dean's wig!! Even her one screaming scene was an utter disaster. Apparently, they thought all the gunfire blazing in between scenes, would make the movie gel. It didn't work. At best, Dean's lucky he didn't throw anymore of his, or anyone else's money away on this project. It really was/is a substandard attempt at movie making.

I have a masters degree and while I don't hold that above anyone I was surprised by a few of the comments listed. First I knew of DJ Perry at MSU many years ago but I have not kept up with him or spoke to him since those days. I do look out for new films he is in because I really like how someone that had dreams so many years ago made all that happen. Most recently I had to go to Walmart and buy Dean Teaster's Ghost Town. I was surprised when I did not see him on the cover but after watching it DJ is one of the main stars. My husband told me the one guy on the cover is a country singer Sammy Kershaw. OK. I watched the film twice and I found that the beginning was a great visual trip that took the audience through the Old man's sickness filled with guilt. It eluded to all this through several feverish flashbacks hence the trippy dream within a dream. I thought that the whole story unfolded in a very unique way vs just A to B to C to D. That is what I liked about PULP FICTION. I guess I'm glad that they did not dumb the film down. The characters and themes added a real depth. The power of legend and superstition. Father and son relationships. Seeds of love planted and never harvested. I could go on and on about what I liked in this film. The cast was great and I have to say that I never guessed that DJ would be doing these moving scenes today. Back at MSU he was also a nice person but I guess when we hear people talk about being in movies we say to ourselves...yeah right.I'm here to say...he was right. Congrats to him and the entire cast. I loved the cranky old general and the old outlaw as well. Great to see some faces from other popular TV shows. My father was a TOUR OF DUTY fan and so when he saw Terence Knox and Tony Becker he was excited. He also really enjoyed the film and was excited about Rance Howard and Bill McKinney.Overall a great film and for those that can't piece stuff together...I can't wait to see what comes next.