A Ghost Waits is an endearing horror romance made on a shoestring budget that proves, once again, that the horror playbox can be all manner of things to all manner of people. I thought this was a charmingly likable film, and a worthy addition to the pantheon of Valentine’s horror movies.
The film opens with a series of smash cuts of a family urgently fleeing their home. Amidst the chorus of confused yelling we detect they are fearful of some “she” that inhabits one of the bedrooms upstairs. Finally, just as they’re about to escape out of the door, a female ghost materializes, hovering above them, and screams bloody murder.
Soon after, the house is abandoned. Enter Jack. He is a handyman/decorator for the rental company that owns this property. Upon arriving, he discovers that the previous tenants left without taking most of their possessions, so there’s not a lot he can actually do until the movers come to remove all the furniture.
On a positive note, the vacant unit provides him somewhere to crash for a few nights as his apartment building is being fumigated and none of his acquaintances are returning his calls when he asks if he might spend a few nights on their couch. So, sleeping bag on the floor it is.
That catch, of course, is that this particular house is haunted.
It takes Jack a while to notice. As he busies himself numbering electrical outlets, taking notes of things to be fixed, and doing some light cleaning as he goes, he doesn’t notice the subtle haunting going on all around him.
Eventually, however, the ghost can no longer be ignored. The doorbell rings incessantly. His freshly-order pizza disappears into thin air. And all the markup tape he’d diligently and carefully placed throughout the house vanishes right along with it.
And then the ghost appears. She terrifies Jack just as she did the previous residents. He flees the house but then realizes he left his car keys inside. And then, in a moment of bravery and sheer stubbornness, he reenters the house and determines that the ghost is just a girl. Sure, she scared him, but she isn’t actually scary.
The ghost is Muriel. This is her house. Or rather, it is the house assigned to her by the posthumous firm that ensures houses are haunted. (Think Beetlejuice by way of mumblecore.) Muriel is an incredibly successful spectral agent. She has triumphantly terrified occupant after occupant out of this home for decades now. She has never failed in this mission — until Jack.
While Muriel tries to figure out how to scare Jack away, he only becomes more interested in why she does what she does, and the ultimate business of the organization that ensures the living are regularly haunted. The film dabbles in existential horror; although a ghost’s sudden appearance might make Jack jump, what truly scares him is being alone and of not having a purpose in life.
Gradually, a beautiful friendship blossoms between Jack and Muriel. Slowly, they come to have great affection for one another. But what possible ending could their love story hope to have?
A Ghost Waits is not a scary movie in the traditional sense. But it is a touching and riveting exploration of its themes, and a refreshing and imaginative take on the haunted house/ghost subgenre. The closest comparison I can think of is David Lowrey’s A Ghost Story; there are certainly abundant similarities between the two films, yet they are distinctly different in scope and intention.
It is a sweet, heartwarming, and bittersweet love story positioned very much within the horror milieu. If you’re looking for something a little different to watch with a special someone next date night, I urge you to give A Ghost Waits a try.
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