The Mission Is To Get Out Of Ghostland (also known as Incident in a Ghostland) (2018): The Solution To The Popular Thriller.
Country: Canada, France
Genre: horror, thriller, drama
Year of production: 2018
Directed by: Pascal Laugier
Cast: Crystal Reed, Mylene Farmer, Anastasia Phillips, Emilia Jones, Taylor Hickson
tagline: “Did you really think you were scared?”
Awards and nominations: “Grand Prix 2018”, audience award, 25th place at the International Fantastic Film Festival.
Ghostland is a spectacular horror film that has many moments that make even horror fans shudder. The premiere went off with a bang, but at the same time, many viewers left a feeling of understatement after watching. Let’s try to figure out what the meaning of the film “Ghostland” is.
Plot Analysis
Let’s start the description with the first frames. Ghostland begins with Pauline Keller, along with her daughters Beth and Vera, going to the house they inherited after the death of their aunt Clarissa. This is an old mansion located in a sparsely populated area. On the way, the family catches up with a white van, and Vera, inflamed after a skirmish with her sister, shows the driver the middle finger.
Crystal Reed played the role of Beth. Frame from the film.
At the gas station where the family is staying, Beth reads a newspaper that reports on unknown people who kill parents and spend the night with their children.
The new house has a lot of dolls that Clarisse collected. The family is just laying out things, when suddenly a couple of maniacs appear in their house: a crazy fat man and an equally crazy woman (or a man dressed as a lady). The fat man drags the girls into the basement, but Pauline, protecting the children, kills both maniacs.
Then the content of the film takes the viewer several years ahead. Beth, who has been writing horror stories since childhood, has become a well-known writer. She is successful and rich, she has a loving husband and son. One day Beth’s world collapses. She receives a call from her sister Vera, who continues to live with her mother in the old house, but has not been able to recover from her encounter with the criminals. Beth drives home, where she witnesses a horrifying sight. Pauline takes care of the house and often drinks cheap beer. Vera lives in the basement and injures herself, believing that the ghosts of maniacs are punishing her.
Soon, Beth notices strange things. These are incomprehensible sounds and the inscription on the mirror “Help me!”. She hears voices, and one day she sees a fat man in the house. Then the second maniac grabs her, who says that they have already broken her sister and now it’s Beth’s turn.
Frame from the film.
From the blow, the girl loses consciousness and comes to her senses already badly beaten. She cannot find her mother and does not believe her sister, who is trying to explain to her the real state of affairs. It turns out that adulthood is just a figment of her imagination. In reality, she continues to live in the house. The girls’ mother, who tried to fight back the maniacs, died. The sisters hide in the basement of an old mansion, and the criminals visit them, subjecting them to various bullying.
Beth is destined to be a fat man’s doll. He is absolutely abnormal, but at the same time he loves to play with dolls. A man does not see the difference between a toy and a living person, loves to twist the fingers of his victims and burn the skin with a lighter. At the same time, he becomes furious if the doll tries to talk to him or cries. Taking advantage of the mental retardation of the madman, she manages to escape and even save her sister. The girls wander across the field and out to the highway. Here the police try to help them, but the maniac in the form of a woman kills the patrolmen, again pushes the girls into the van and brings them back to the house.
The consciousness of Vera again transfers her to an imaginary world, where she is an adult and successful. However, she sees her sister and decides to return to help her. At the end of Ghostland, a policeman appears to save the girls. As the victims are being loaded into the ambulance, Beth sees the ghost of her mother in the second floor window. Finale, credits.
Ending explanation
“Ghostland” ends with a happy ending, so in general, additional explanations are unnecessary here. However, there is one point that deserves attention. This is the scene where Beth is talking to the ER doctor. The guy asks what the girl is doing. She replies that she writes stories.
This is the key idea of the whole story. Thanks to this scene, the meaning of the ending of the film “Ghostland” changes somewhat. The girl is a writer with a well-developed imagination. Moreover, in her fictional world, her most successful book was Ghostland. In this interpretation, the explanation of the ending can be as follows. Beth will write her book based on the events that really happened in her life, she will become the most successful lady that the audience saw in the film.
Frame from the film.
The meaning of the film
The essence of the film is as clear as the ending. Beth fancies herself a writer, and even gives herself interviews. This entry was found in her diary by her sister. At the same time, the girl’s psyche is unable to cope with the stress that she experienced as a result of the attack of maniacs.
Her consciousness turned off, and her imagination created a cozy little world where Beth hid from the terrible reality. In the middle of Ghostland, Beth is normal and Vera is insane. In reality, it’s the other way around. Beth has abstracted from reality, and events begin with Vera’s attempts to return her. This concerns the phone call that brought the girl home, the inscriptions on the mirror.
When Beth falls into the imaginary world again, she quite meaningfully returns back. The girl makes a choice in favor of her sister. She understands that she is scared and lonely, so she leaves her cozy little world where she is comfortable and safe, returns to a reality filled with pain and fear.
However, in the film “Ghostland” there is a hidden meaning. It consists in the fact that you should not commit thoughtless acts. Perhaps the whole story would not have happened if Vera had not given the van driver the middle finger. This definitely hooked the maniac who brought the fat man to this particular house. At the same time, according to the meaning of the film, Vera paid in full for her recklessness.
She was left alone with her fears, endured a lot of bullying and humiliation before she managed to bring her sister back to reality. It is in this reckless gesture of Vera that the main clue of the film lies. We are always responsible for our actions, but sometimes we pay a very high price for them.
Similar films
- “Split” (USA, 2016). In Kevin’s head there are 23 personalities who have come to a common agreement and follow the sequence of controlling the body. However, they are all afraid of the main dominant – the monster.
- “Child of Darkness” (Canada, 2017). Taking little Samantha from the orphanage, the parents did not suspect that a real monster lives in the form of a fragile girl.
- “Sinister” (USA, UK 2012). Alison Oswalt is a writer who tries to find inspiration in the house where the murder took place. Soon a strange figure begins to pursue the man.
- “Visit” (USA, 2015). Becca and Tyler visit their grandparents, whom they’ve never seen before. The guys do not realize that the old people are not who they say they are.
- “In the still water” (USA, 2019). A 10-year-old boy disappears in the city, and this is not the first crime. Meanwhile, in the house of detective Greg Harper, something inexplicable is happening, indicating the presence of otherworldly forces.
