Ghostland Ending Explained & Film Analysis

The meaning of the film Ghostland (also known as Incident in a Ghostland) was shot by Pascal Laugier, who had previously delighted his audience with films in the horror genre. True, a lot of time has passed since his last picture, and therefore connoisseurs of this genre and experts in the work of this director were waiting for a new film with bated breath. Let’s figure out how the “Land of Ghosts” differs from other films of the neo-horror genre, what are the “pros” and “cons” of the plot and determine the meaning of the film.

Plot of the movie Ghostland

The story is indeed the film’s strongest point. It is on him that all the tension rests, this is not a classic film with unexpected appearances of ghosts and spirits or a film filled only with cruelty and violence, which, in principle, do not even make any sense. A mother with two daughters move into a new house, which was inherited from some very distant relative, whose daughters – Beth and Vera – have never even seen. Even on the way to the old house, references begin to the fact that it will be scary further. First, they meet a strange van with sweets on the way, which cuts the car, overtakes it, and its driver and passenger simply behave indecently and ugly.

Then in the evening, almost reaching the house, the family stops at a local shop, the saleswoman of which speaks unflatteringly about the deceased mistress, calling her crazy and obsessed with dolls. And before leaving Beth’s store, we notice a note in the local newspaper, which reports that five families have already become victims of unknown maniacs who break into houses at night, kill parents, and “spend the night” with their daughters.

It is worth mentioning that Beth is a girl who writes stories in the horror genre, and Vera considers her sister abnormal, Vera herself is more confident in herself, she develops a personal life, which cannot be said about Beth. With the move, Vera has to say goodbye to her old life where there were friends and a boyfriend, this noticeably affects her mood – she clearly does not want this move.

Finally, the family arrives at their new home and understands what the saleswoman in the store was talking about – the whole house is crowded, littered with dolls of different sizes, different looks. They are everywhere, but the most frightening doll is in a large pendulum clock, when the clock tells the time, the door opens and we see an unpleasant doll, almost as tall as a man, who laughs out loud.

This doll makes Beth feel uncomfortable too, because she is afraid of almost everything.

At night, according to all the rules of a classic horror movie, the same van arrives, where the maniacs that the newspapers write about travel. But then something atypical happens, the mother manages not only to fight off the rapists, but even kill them. Over time, Beth is rehabilitated, begins to write books, becomes famous, gets married and has a child. But it is impossible to say about Vera that she successfully built her life, unfortunately. Her psyche was severely damaged, she still lives with her mother in that old house, and every night she is haunted by nightmares of the ill-fated night.

After a call from Vera asking for help, Beth decides to return home and help her mother take care of her sister, as well as sort out what’s going on in the house. She is tormented by a premonition that something is wrong there. And this is where the very plot twist occurs, for which it was worth watching the film.

In general, the film is built on the basis of cliches and typical moves of directors in such films – an old house around which the plot is tied, incomprehensible messages that appear on the windows, frightening objects of the house itself, etc.

It turns out that all this time, Beth did not live her ideal life, but only fantasized in order to escape the pain and bullying that occurs in reality. The girls’ mother could not cope with the maniacs, the girls are sitting in the basement at the mercy of the rapists. Vera retains her sanity and tries to escape, but without her sister, who constantly falls into trances, nothing will work out.

The meaning of the film Ghostland

In this you can see the main idea of ​​the film, the meaning of the film: sometimes our dreams and fantasies turn out to be much more pleasant than reality. Many people prefer to “fly in the clouds” instead of living a real life. Moreover, in the film it is shown quite literally – for clarity. Of course, few people experience such bullying in real life as the heroines of the movie. And withdrawing into oneself does not always mean that a person falls into reality like a dream, it’s just that people withdraw into themselves, ignoring problems from the outside world.

But is it always a way out? The director of the film thinks not. Vera still got Beth to want to return to the present, and the sisters work together to escape and save their lives.

All the scenes of Beth’s ideal life, the people around her incessantly praise her – for her beauty, for her life, for her wealth. At the end of the film, when the girl is riding in an ambulance, the doctor, in order to cheer her up, since the path is not close, compliments her, says that she is a strong girl, both physically and mentally. To which Beth replies that she is not an athlete, as the doctor thought, but only likes to write. It seems that the meaning of the film’s ending is that the girl understood the price of reality, realized that the present is only here and now, and therefore it is especially valuable. All the forces of a person must be thrown into the construction of this particular life.

In general, the film is very good, among the pluses are the plot, the main message, the musical arrangement, and the picture is very beautiful. It is worth mentioning that the mother of the girls was played by Mylene Farmin, in my opinion she looked very organic in the frame. But there are a couple of downsides – for example, the fact that there is no logical explanation why maniacs do it at all. Maniacs are rather atypical characters in this film, they are like a couple from a fairy tale – a witch and a giant. Indeed, one is very large and a little stupid, the second is a transvestite. But why the transvestite takes care of his partner so carefully, why the giant has such strange inclinations, is not clear.

Write in the comments your meaning of the film Ghostland. We look forward to waiting!