Over-her-dead-body

10 Movies Featuring Allegorical Ghosts

By Christopher Campbell posted 1 year ago

If you took one look at the existence of the new movie Ghost Town and dismissed it on account of its familiarity, you’re ignoring the potential of one of the most valuable plot devices available to fiction. Sure, the employment of ghosts in a narrative may also be evidence of laziness, as the device is just as much a convenience as it is a useful tool for storytellers. Not everyone can be Shakespeare, and of course there is a lot of redundancy and (excuse the pun) lifelessness in the majority of movies involving ghosts.

However, ghosts can also be highly representative and/or serve a film on a deeper level than the surface story. To use another pun, ghost movies are not always so transparent. Like zombies, their plot-device sibling, ghosts have a way of signifying greater ideas, subjects and themes, and aren’t always merely about scares and talking-to-thin-air gags. In a conversation with Cinematical’s Erik Davis, Ghost Town director/co-writer David Koepp had this to say about the significance of ghost stories:

Part of the reason they’re so enduring is because, well, first off all they give hope — because if they are ghosts, then it means we don’t die when we die. But also because they work really well in a number of genres. Ya know, in a drama like Ghost, or a horror movie, suspense or comedy in our case — I just think they offer so many dramatic possibilities; to have someone that’s dead, but still around to talk about it really suggests a lot of great situations.

Okay, so that bit of promotional fluff is actually more about the literal dramatic qualities of the ghost device than the figurative and subtextual, but the quote at least jumpstarted my thinking. Initially I had thought about simply outlining how ghosts have been applied to different film genres, but then I fortunately switched my goal to seek out ten specific ghost films (from the seemingly thousands out there) that utilize the device for more meaningful purpose.

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Classics, Featured, Lists

Paul Rudd Stars in A Parody of Itself — ‘Over Her Dead Body’ Trailer

By Christopher Campbell posted 1 year ago

I can just imagine how the pitch went for this one. Writer Jeff Lowell (John Tucker Must Die) says, “I’ve got this idea for a movie that’s like Ghost except that in the end Demi Moore falls in love with Whoopi Goldberg. Nah, just kidding, I’ve got this really serious project in mind, very artsy, something that will lift me out of my sitcom-based pattern.” And then the New Line execs say, “Umm. Yeah, so we want to do your Ghost movie, but it has to be more heterosexual.” And Lowell says, “Oh, that was just a fake idea that I was going to propose as a parody to be used on Family Guy or The Simpsons.” Then New Line flashes a suitcase full of money at Lowell, says they’ll even let him direct the movie, and the deal is done. The result: Over Her Dead Body, a movie that seems so ridiculous that it just might work as a parody of itself.

And I hope that Paul Rudd sees how silly the movie is and decided to star in it ironically (just as he appreciates the irony of how his bride died). Because, really, the guy is better than this Ghost meets The Heartbreak Kid kind of paranormal situation comedy. Aren’t there about a hundred Judd Apatow movies in the works that he can at least do a supporting role in rather than play the lead in a movie that features the old chestnut of a scenario in which somebody walks in on another character who seems to be talking to themselves but who is actually conversing with a ghost/angel/etc.? OK, I’ll admit that the “here, catch” scene is pretty funny, despite also being an old joke, and I always enjoy a good mustard and ketchup on the nice dress gag, and I’m glad to see nobody fell in a ditch or walked into a pole in this trailer. But despite the continued appeal of slapstick and discomfort humor, will the public really be interested in yet another ghostly romantic comedy — they didn’t seem too interested in Just Like Heaven, and that starred American sweetheart Reese Witherspoon — especially one that treats the recently deceased so disrespectfully?

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