The Meeksville Ghost (2001)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

David Lister

Writers:

David Lister (written by)
Paul Matthews (written by)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot Keywords:

Inheritance | Cowboy | Ghost | Time Travel | Grandmother

Cast

Judge Reinhold	...	Lucius C. Meeks
Tanja Reichert	...	Isobel Carter / Kate
Todd Jensen	...	Joshua Carter
Andrew Kavovit	...	Danny Logan
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Emily Meeks
Anne Curteis	...	Granny
Ronald France	...	Walsh
Robin Smith	...	Ox
Darryl Fuchs	...	Sully (as Darryl Evan Fuchs)

Also Known As:

The Silver Winchester (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

UK:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Company:

Peakviewing Transatlantic PLC

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kate first meets Danny, she drives up with both hands on the wheel. When she starts talking to Danny, she has only the right hand on the wheel and her left arm hanging out the window.

Not as Bad as everyone is made to believe

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film has some pretty bad reviews, and on the whole you can see why. It was shot on what must have been an extremely low budget, a cast largely made up of relatively unknown and extreme little league actors and a screenplay so full of holes you could fill it with water and use it to feed your plants. However it is not as bad as it could have been....far from it and great family entertainment can be derived here.

I am not however going to lead you up the garden path and let you all believe that this film is a masterpiece, because it's not. It is merely an entertaining story, which for a change is suitable for he whole family which is always nice to see. It contains its fair share of romance, comedy and mystery with just enough supernatural ghostliness to intrigue yet not scare the bejesus out of the little ones.

The story is taken straight from The Canterville Ghost, where the unsettled spirit of a character from history walks the earth searching for eternal redemption that is held in the hands of his modern day descendant.

However to spice this up and make this a little different from the aforementioned 'The Canterville Ghost' or even 'The Ghost Goes West' the action is moved to the wild west and our down trodden ghost is a gun packin', cheroot smoking, whisky sippin' outlaw, who in 1878 was responsible for the theft of the deeds to a thriving mining town, the murder of the towns founder and most influential citizen and the accidental death of the two mens shared love.

Now destined to find no peace in this world or the next he turns to his last surviving descendant a modern, streetwise biker boy named Danny, to find the lost deeds to the town, clear up the mystery of what really happened in the past and finally reunite the towns two main families who have been feuding over the issue ever since.

It is quite predictable in places and the acting leaves a lot to be desired but it is harmless fun, good for the kids and can pass an hour or two when there is nothing else on the TV.

Give it a go what have you got to lose?