FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Stevieboy666 This is not a horror film but a complex and dark psychological thriller about a policeman investigating a double murder - or is it all in his imagination? Some reviewers have complained that it is boring but I found it to be a slow yet riveting burn, all the way to it's clever finale. It is well acted & liked the many great shots of London. Certainly not to everybody's taste but to deride this as rubbish is unfair & ignorant.

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.

Mark Turner I had no idea what to expect when I put this movie in to watch. I'd heard nothing about it, found little online and had watched the trailer getting an idea of what was to come but not quite. The end result was mixed.The film begins with the investigation of a double murder in a London home where detective Chris has been called on to the case. Deciphering clues and after some assists from an old girlfriend, Chris finds that there is a connection to a psychoanalyst. He goes undercover as a patient with the woman to see if he can access more information.And that's where things begin to go a bit off kilter. As the movie progresses forward we as the viewers suddenly find that perhaps what we saw at first was not reality at all. Instead, we find that Chris may indeed be a patient of the psychoanalyst but not in an undercover capacity. Instead, perhaps the entire scenario of his being a police detective is the delusion that he as a patient is suffering from.As the story twists in that direction we learn more about Chris. We find that he suffers from a deep form of depression that is compounded with other events that take place as the film moves on. As the detective he was trying to find out information on another patient named Coulson. The two eventually meet and form a friendship. But Coulson soon begins to become agitated, telling Chris not to trust the psychoanalyst and predicting she will find a reason to send him on to another.When she does exactly that, Chris begins to wonder if Coulson is correct in his conspiracy theories concerning both the new and the old psychoanalysts. More clues come, or at least through the eyes of Chris, that make him ponder everything that is going on around him. As things he takes comfort in suddenly begin to change, he begins to wonder of the improvement he was showing was staged or if he is indeed losing his sanity. The last segment will make the viewer wonder the same about their own view of what's going on.The movie is a dark film to say the least but interesting at moments. On the whole there are some points that will feel like they drag on too long or go nowhere. Still, it at least takes chances and goes places we've most likely never gone before. It's original and there is something to be said about that. The acting is well done but the story is the centerpiece here.Arrow Video has done their usual solid job on this one offering a well done presentation. Extras include interviews with the cast and crew, the film makers commentary track, THE BARON a short film by director Gareth Tunley and the original theatrical trailer. This is not an Arrow release of a classic film but something new. It's worth taking a look at but for me I can't recommend adding it to your collection. That will depend on your own tastes.

rapid_randy "The Ghoul" is not a horror movie or even one that will make much sense to the majority of viewers. If you happen to enjoy mind-bending stories with no true finish line, this is your movie. David Lynch fans will rejoice. It's quite the experience and will leave you disoriented, thinking you may have taken LSD prior to watching. It's enjoyable if you know what's in store so hopefully this review has been of some help.