Ghost Town: The Movie (2008)

the audience applauded

Such a frustrating disappointment

good back-story, and good acting

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ghost Town could have been good. You've got some good actors, a pretty good story idea, and an unusual location. Unfortunately it breaks down very quickly. First off the script. There are way too many characters taking up way too much space and time in the movie. Victor Burnett's group of hired bad guys run around the town like they are in a cartoon. When he sends them out on a "search" in the own, they laughably stay together in a tight pack instead of splitting up to cover more of the town. Watching them move through the town in a large group makes them quite feeble. How many does it take to round up one girl? And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are way too many non-essential talking parts in the whole movie. It seems like we are introduced to as many townsfolk and henchmen as possible just for the sake of adding more speaking roles.If they don't carry the story forward, cut them. Secondly, and more importantly, this movie needs serious editing. The pacing is off, the cuts are poorly chosen, and some scenes are also non-essential if not plain confusing. Many other comments have pointed this out so I won't go into detail. Suffice it to say that this is not a trifling matter concerning a few weak spots. This whole movie needs to be re-edited with the idea of telling a story from start to finish. Cut out some whole scenes. Trim dialog. Get rid of those confusing mystical Native American scenes. You have a good idea here-just poorly put together.

I fell in love with the story Heaven's Neighors quite a while ago. So naturally I kept my eyes open for anything Jeff Kennedy is associated with. Heaven's was a beautifully crafted story that tugged at your heart and stayed with you, rumbling around in the back of your mind for weeks. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for Ghost Town. The plot and characters are incredibly hard to follow. The storyline suffers from horrible editing. And it lacked that special touch that brought you in to the world that was created through the lens. To be honest, Heaven's, according to the credits was written and directed by Kennedy. And on Ghost Town he was only co-director. Dean Teaster/West was the other co-director as well as being involved in the story as well as producing. So I cannot say for certain how much of an impact Kennedy had on the movie, but judging by the end product it wasn't much. If Heaven's Neighbors is an example of his film making fingerprint, then Ghost Town was clearly not in his hands.

We would like to humbly thank all the great fans of the film that have emailed, myspace, facebook, smoke signals and ESP:) We have been touched by the outpour of interest and we are happy to announce that this month foreign sales will begin with Industry Works. Thank you so much to Barnholtz Entertainment, Lionsgate and all the fine people of Maggie Valley, N.C. who made this film possible. One last big thank you to GHOST TOWN IN THE SKY theme park. For those of you who got a free ticket with your DVD buy from Walmart and other stores please do travel there and see this western town set high in the clouds. It is a magic place to visit and to shoot a film at. Beauty is everywhere in the Great Smoky's!See you again soon in the movies!CDI

Having watched Dean Teaster's Ghost Town several times and carefully read the comments here I have come to several conclusions. First of all as someone else has pointed out Teaster's name is all over the movie. Yedt when you check the database here the credits have changed to Dean West. Hmmm? I wonder why? Changing your name will not hide you from the truth. The truth is this story had potential, but not with you. Watching the movie is like looking at something through thick dark glass. You can make out images, ideas, characters, plot, but somehow nothing particular. One commentator said that they were happy the movie wasn't dumbed down. That the confusing editing had something akin to Pulp Fiction in it. Pulp Fiction was never confusing in the least. While it was edited in a non linear manner, one was never confused as to the storyline. To claim that Ghost Town was edited in a like manner is a blatant attempt to give credence and respectability to what is obviously an amateur effort. I would be very surprised to find that Teaster when to film school or for that matter knows even the the basics of editing. The camera angles and shots are first rate for an independent film. The acting, while is spots is marginal, overall is quite good. But beyond this the film lacks a coherent framework that holds the story together. Some have likened it to a jigsaw puzzle put together incorrectly. But I think it goes beyond that. The lack of even a fundamental understanding of film construction points to a basic lack of talent in this area. That is not something that can be learned. You either have it or you don't. Take the critical comments here, by people who know, as overwhelming evidence that your talent does not lie here.