morrison-dylan-fan After watching the first 2 seasons of the excellent Spartacus,I took a look at John Hannah's IMDb page,and discovered that he starred in what is currently Lamberto Bava's last film,which led to me getting ready to catch a glimpse of the ghost son.The plot:Recently getting married,Stacey & Mark go to live on Mark's farm in South Africa.Whilst driving down to town one day,Mark gets involved in a car crash that kills him. Experiencing a deep sense of grief,Stacey starts to close herself off from the rest of the world,as she begins to see Mark's "ghost." Noticing that she has not had her period,Stacey goes to the doctor,and discovers that she is pregnant.Returning home with her new son Martin,Stacey finds the ghost of Mark to become increasingly aggressive,as Martin starts to act in a rather strange manner. View on the film:Filmed on location in South Africa,co-writer/(along with Silvia Ranfagni)director Lamberto Bava reveals an unexpected,restrained elegance for what is currently his final film.Largely taking place in one building,Bava and cinematographer Giovanni Canevari grip the title in a tightly coiled terror atmosphere,as long,elegant tracking shots close in on Stacey (played by a terrific Laura Harring,who also appears naked in the film)as Mark (played by a great,burning with rage John Hannah) makes his presence felt.Along with the classy chiller mood,Bava also uses the movie to sum up his career,as the house location and eye-catching in-camera trick shots allows Bava to revisit the lurking in shadows Giallo mystery of A Blade In The Dark,whilst Mark's possession of his son lets Bava return to the gory delights of his Demons series.Focusing on Stacey having to raise Martin on her own,the screenplay by Bava & Silvia Ranfagni pushes parental fear to the extreme,as the writers smartly take an even-handed approach for the first half,with the first sighting of Mark strongly hinting at Stacey suffering from parental stress.After spending the first half hitting the ghostly chills with a real precision,the writers push the tension to the side lines in order to turn Martin into a Bava "mini-Demons",which whilst allow the practical effects makers to cover the screen in outrageous gore,leads to the relationship between Stacey & Mark being seriously damaged,thanks to Mark's psychopathic side completely coming out of left-field,with there not being the slightest hint of the ghostly son that awaits Stacey.

indranee The best way to approach a screening of this decidedly non-Hollywood fare is to not have any expectations. Bava succeeds to an extent in terms of bringing us the ambiance of the classic horror flick because there are definitely some weird/creepy scenes that do stand the "horror" test. But the script/dialogue/pacing/editing was so badly done that they completely drown the few virtues (which are): 1) interesting "chemistry" between Harring and the actor who plays the baby. The baby is actually very well chosen. The actor -- I guess without any real intent -- had an interesting face: that of a man-child. In his key scenes of interaction with his "mother", right after he did the "naughty" stuff (i.e., biting his mom's breast, vomiting on her, and then, of course, the... ahem... shower scene in which he has a little "accident", the camera focuses on his face and we see that he has this sort of mischievous smile on his face and his eyes are extremely "aware" of his deeds. I don't know but these may have been the only times I got a kick out of this movie -- watching that kid's face. So whomever edited/directed that bit did an okay job.2) The cinematography was simply superb (despite the choppiness of some cuts) but then even this is a problem as the African landscape is criminally underused.3) Laura Harring's er.. figure (for the boys watching the thing) ;)Anyway, the virtues are few and far between. The whole thing is an exercise in frustration and futility as all it made me do was regret ALL of the choices not made. Perhaps Bava was trying to not be predictable and so not use certain horror elements... but, hey, using green vomit is pretty much a standard horror element, so why not use some other ones to better effect? For instance, we don't ever get to see or hear Thandi's mom. Why not?! I mean, this is a GHOST story and you don't do anything with the oft-mentioned ghost in the tale? It's just, well, frustrating.So, yes, this is not a movie even five bucks will cover. So don't even try to buy it in a bottom of the pile sale. Use that fiver elsewhere. Just watch this thing on cable when they show it (which is quite often, actually).

HumanoidOfFlesh "Ghost Son" takes place in South Africa.A married couple Stacey and Mark live on the farm with their black teenage maid.Mark and Stacey love each other deeply.Unfortunately Mark dies in a tragic truck accident.Stacey returns to the farm and decides to remain there since she feels close to Mark.She is also carrying Mark's baby.After delivering the baby Stacey quickly becomes sure that her infant son is possessed by Mark's spirit.The evil force tries to kill Stacey to bring her to Mark."Ghost Son" has the higher production values than Lamberto Bava's efforts.The production design is great and the cinematography is very lush.There are some dull moments and silly scenes,though.The climax is truly terrible.6 vomiting babies out of 10.

Claudio Carvalho Stacey (Laura Harring) and Mark (John Hannah) have recently married and are deeply in love for each other, living in Mark's farm in Africa. When Mark has a fatal car accident, the widow Stacey misses him and decides to stay with their orphan teenager maid Thandi (Mosa Kaiser) in the farm. Later, her friend and doctor Doc (Peter Postlethwaite) finds that Stacey is pregnant of Mark. After a complicated delivery, Stacey notes that her baby in some moments seems to be possessed by the spirit of Mark, trying to kill her to bring her to spend the eternity with Mark.Lamberto Bava is the son of the great Italian director of horror movies Mario Bava, and directed the cult "Demons" and "Demons 2". Based on these samples of his filmography, I bought "Ghost Son" expecting to see a scary and creepy horror movie. Unfortunately, my expectation was only satisfied in brief moments and I can list some reasons. First, there is no previous development of the key characters of Mark and Stacey and their love, inclusive for a better explanation of the motives of the ghost of Mark trying to bring Stacey to stay with him. The creepy and mysterious Thandi, who insists that lives with her mother that died when she was five years old, is simply wasted along the narrative. I expected to see her mother, but she is simply ignored and limited to be another lie of Thandi. The baby boy recalls "Chucky" in some moments, and Doc is completely stupid, at least not noticing that Stacey has had at least a nervous breakdown. In spite of the flaws in the screenplay, there are some creepy scenes along this film, which could be better and better based on the cast. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Mensagem do Além" ("Message From Beyond")