IMDb RATING
5.0/10
1.3K
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Three friends on a New Year's Eve snowmobiling excursion find themselves stranded at an abandoned lodge where the elderly female innkeeper is concealing a sinister secret.Three friends on a New Year's Eve snowmobiling excursion find themselves stranded at an abandoned lodge where the elderly female innkeeper is concealing a sinister secret.Three friends on a New Year's Eve snowmobiling excursion find themselves stranded at an abandoned lodge where the elderly female innkeeper is concealing a sinister secret.
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Did you know
- TriviaAccording to director Jim Makichuk the film's money started to run out when the movie was only half shot, so rather than cancel the production altogether he decided to abandon the remaining script and make things up as he went along, hoping to at least retain the film's creepy atmosphere. He said this explains the released film's rather uneven, incoherent second half and sparse use of the plot's monster.
- GoofsThe trio of hikers wonders why it's so warm inside the hotel, yet you can clearly see their breath in every shot.
- Alternate versionsAn alternate introduction was filmed two years after the movie's completion by its distributors. The scene shows a young man running through the woods away from the hotel, who is then stabbed with a wooden stake against a tree. This alternate introduction appeared on some home video releases in Europe and Canada. The alternate introduction is not featured on the 1986 U.S. VHS release of "GHOSTKEEPER" from 'New World Video'.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 31 Days of Horror: Wes Craven Presents The Hills Have Ice (2019)
Featured review
Disappointing Horror Film
Ghostkeeper (1981)
** (out of 4)
Jenny (Riva Spier), Marty (Murray Ord) and Chrissy (Sheri McFadden) are out snowmobiling when they come across an old lodge. The three end up staying the night there when they encounter a strange old woman but they have no idea of knowing that there's much worse there.
GHOSTKEEPER is a Canadian horror film that I've been wanting to see for many years and especially since there were some really glowing reviews out there. Some people called this one of the creepiest movies ever made but after viewing it I'm going to guess that those who said that probably saw this as a child. With that being said, GHOSTKEEPER turned out to be one of the bigger disappointments out there.
It's really too bad that the film didn't work better because the setting and location were wonderful. I really loved the snowy look to the film and I thought that director Jim Makichuk was able to milk some atmosphere out of the low budget. However, all of that is pretty much wasted because there's really not too much going on here. Apparently the production ran out of money so the script was scrapped and they just went along with whatever felt right.
That explains why there's really not too much of a plot here but what really kills the film is its ultra-slow style that really makes the film drag at times. I did find the three leads to be good enough in their roles and the supporting players were good as well. The film at least had an atmosphere but at the end of the day it's clear that the director was wanting to try and cash-in on THE SHINING but it just didn't work.
** (out of 4)
Jenny (Riva Spier), Marty (Murray Ord) and Chrissy (Sheri McFadden) are out snowmobiling when they come across an old lodge. The three end up staying the night there when they encounter a strange old woman but they have no idea of knowing that there's much worse there.
GHOSTKEEPER is a Canadian horror film that I've been wanting to see for many years and especially since there were some really glowing reviews out there. Some people called this one of the creepiest movies ever made but after viewing it I'm going to guess that those who said that probably saw this as a child. With that being said, GHOSTKEEPER turned out to be one of the bigger disappointments out there.
It's really too bad that the film didn't work better because the setting and location were wonderful. I really loved the snowy look to the film and I thought that director Jim Makichuk was able to milk some atmosphere out of the low budget. However, all of that is pretty much wasted because there's really not too much going on here. Apparently the production ran out of money so the script was scrapped and they just went along with whatever felt right.
That explains why there's really not too much of a plot here but what really kills the film is its ultra-slow style that really makes the film drag at times. I did find the three leads to be good enough in their roles and the supporting players were good as well. The film at least had an atmosphere but at the end of the day it's clear that the director was wanting to try and cash-in on THE SHINING but it just didn't work.
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- Michael_Elliott
- Jul 16, 2018
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- CA$750,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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