Indyrod Just watched a bizarre mind bending thriller "The Ghoul", that is not a horror film, although by the title, you might think so. This movie is just as much reality in the non linear plot, as it is just a fantasy going on in the lead character's mind. Don't expect me to explain it, one reason, many have compared it to David Lynch's "The Lost Highway", which I don't agree. I was able to follow it, if that is possible, by figuring what is really going on, and what is just a figment of the lead character's mind. That's not easy, but I like the very bizarre twists and turns the movie takes, to only end up where it started, but with many questions answered. You have to stay with it, and pay very close attention to the script as it moves along. I don't know if I would recommend it, it's like putting together a big puzzle, with a few pieces missing, that you eventually find laying on the floor somewhere.

ian-bell92 Gareth Tunley draws top-notch performances from a distinguished cast, while spinning a story about mental illness into the hunt for a double-killer. How he managed it on what is obviously a small budget I have no idea. The word here is quality, from everyone involved.Tom Meeton is a crumpled detective landed with trying to find a double-murderer. A couple have been shot in their own home, but appear to have run towards their assailant, even when shot several times? Why would they do that? Meeton's flawed detective Chris goes undercover to try and find the chief suspect. But as Chris gives a psychiatrist a cover story, only to secretly sift files in her office as he looks for leads, he starts to question his own role in the case. He professes to be an unemployed man who has no life, and when we see him marooned in a poky flat, being brought bottles of vodka by his partner/best friend it seems his cover story is being played by the book.But as his search for the killer takes him to a second doctor, it appears there may be more than one murderer in this beguiling journey into our troubled anti-hero's psyche. This is a low-budget film, but one with considerable talent behind it. The haunting soundtrack by Waen Shepherd is almost a character in its own right, and as Chris struggles to keep his own sanity he appears to be becoming the cover story he has created for the purpose of trapping the killer. Or as an inquisitive party-goer suggests, maybe he is just an ordinary lost man, and the shrinks have made him think he really is a policeman.As he draws closer to his main suspect called Coulson, his quarry turns the tables by suggesting the two shrinks, Drs Fisher and Morland are in fact the guilty parties here, and they are out to steal the mind of an unsuspecting patient as an exercise in psychological body-snatching? Is Coulson mad, or has he in fact stumbled upon the real culprit/s? There are no easy answers to this haunting mystery, but the performance by Meeton in the lead role is one that will stay with you long after the credits, while the rest of the cast never strike a false note.It would be good for once, just once, if the UK's so-called marketeers would pull their fingers out of their backsides and put some muscle into promoting a minor gem like this instead of throwing their weight behind yet another James Bond blockbuster made for $200m. Just a thought, people, just a thought. Go see it. It's well worth the effort.

Nigel P It's strange: I can go through a phase of watching horror films that actually debilitate because of their lack of originality. They tell the same variations of stories, featuring a gang of deeply unpleasant people being stalked by something horrible, or a house giving up its dark secrets to the latest happily married non-entities to have moved in. It sometimes makes me wonder why I love horror so much, when the limitations film-makers impose upon themselves result in such mediocrity.And then, I can watch a run of utter gems. Often low budget, these are films with something original to say, or at least an original way of presenting an established idea. 'The Ghoul' is one such refreshing example – at times I fought to follow the narrative because I didn't want to lose the thread of interest being weaved around events."Fancy a cuppa? Normal or some sort of gay tea? We've got the lot." Says Doctor Morland (Geoffrey McGivern) cheerily, welcoming depressive Chris (Tom Meeten, who has a look of Neil Gaiman about him) into his home, the unorthodox place where Chris's demons are to be confronted. Meeten plays Chris brilliantly, and through the writing/directing, Gareth Tunley really conveys to us the unending depths of despair he suffers as everybody around him leaves or betrays him. Meeten is immediately engaging and has our sympathies with each new heartbreak – the most callous of all is in the casual abuse dished out by Kathleen (Alice Lowe). All the cast (including Naimh Cusack and Paul Kaye) are excellent, in fact.There are lots of shaky panoramic views of a twilight metropolis: a travelogue of a silhouette city. It's interesting that among the credits, the excellent Ben Wheatley (Director of 'High Rise', 'A Field in England' as well as a couple of Doctor Who stories from 2014) features as executive producer. The sprinkling of such city-scape imagery contrasts with Chris's isolated torment as the demons continue to grow.It would be too easy to dismiss this as another 'were the demons real, or all in his head' essay. 'The Ghoul' has so much more going for it than that. A labyrinthine modern day Lovecraft parable that only disappoints at the end - *because* it ends. The journey is more powerful than the destination, perhaps? Either way, I'll be watching this again more than once, but not so much so that I know each line before it's spoken; I don't want to lose the disturbing, frightening atmosphere. A brilliant film - highly recommended.

davidsaid Sorry folks, its great to do a project like this film but it kind of falls down flat. I believe a good vision of depression or psychosis must begin by showing us the character in a balanced frame of mind. This should help us perceive what they will eventually lose, giving us a greater understanding of their slow/fast decline from reality into somewhat darker territories. Without that a film like this is just an abstract nightmare for a character we have little connection to. As a consequence of this the film feels a little too abstract but without the depth to carry that abstraction. I like the synopsis, it could be a fine film but it needs some work.Perhaps what would offer this film a better reaction is if it were presented in a different manner. I would do a serious edit, make it into a half hour short and issue it as a piece of art film rather than a feature.