Pay the Ghost (2015)

A professor frantically searches for his son who was abducted during a Halloween carnival.

Director:

Uli Edel

Writers:

Tim Lebbon (novel), Dan Kay (screenplay)

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Veronica Ferres

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicolas Cage	...	Mike Lawford
Sarah Wayne Callies	...	Kristen
Veronica Ferres	...	Hannah
Lyriq Bent	...	Jordan
Lauren Beatty	...	Annie Sawquin
Kalie Hunter	...	Ghost Annie
Jack Fulton	...	Charlie
Stephen McHattie	...	Blind Man
Susannah Hoffmann	...	Jane
Juan Carlos Velis	...	Cop
Mark Irvingsen	...	Angry Villager #1
Liam Buckle	...	Eldest Child
Sofia Wells	...	Middle Child
Aidan Wojtak-Hissong	...	Youngest Child
Caroline Gillis	...	Priestess

Storyline

One year after Mike Lawford's young son disappeared during a Halloween carnival, he is haunted by ghostly images and terrifying messages he can't explain. Together with his estranged wife, he will stop at nothing to unravel the mystery and find their son-and, in doing so, he unearths the legend of the crying woman who refuses to remain buried in the past.

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Plot Keywords:

father son relationship | mother son relationship | husband wife relationship | cop | bus | 

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Taglines:

Evil walks among us.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sarah plays Dr. Sara Tancredi in Prison Break (2005). She is the love interest of Michael Scofield. For this film, she plays wife of another character named Michael (Cage).

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Goofs

The bus route is M34. In NYC, the M34 bus is an articulated bus line, and is now the SBS 34 bus. The M34 does not use regular buses on that route. (from a NYC Bus Operator who has done the M34)

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Quotes

Kristen: Why didn't you protect him?

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Crazy Credits

In a mid-credits scene Hannah's corpse is being picked at by ravens. A close up shot of her face ends with her eyelids opening up to reveal black eyes.

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Soundtracks

Beautiful Garden
Written by Alexander Orest
Performed by Alexander Orest
Published by Hollywood Film and TV Music

User Reviews

So very mediocre, commonplace, average, middling, undistinguished.

Pay the Ghost is pretty much as mediocre or average as they come. It's not bad, it's not good. It's just there in the middle. Right in the middle.

(In Norway we have a saying that directly translates to "in the middle of the tree", that expression describes this movie perfectly. I don't know what word in English is most suitable though)

Pay the Ghost had one jump scare that definitely did the job for me. I jumped, and got that cold chill inside my chest. But that was also the only time the movie was remotely scary. Not that it is much horror anyway. It's way more thriller/drama than horror, really.

Nick Cage is usually entertaining to watch, and also here. Sara Tancredi (you know, Prison Break) does an alright job, her character is a little annoying, but that's the scripts fault. The kid, well, he's.. OK. he has a couple of lines that sound out of place, but hey.

The effects are mostly good, except a couple of small problems here and there. The story is just interesting enough for me to wanna watch it through. But like I said, the main keyword here is mediocre. Meh. Commonplace. Average. Call it what you will. There are a couple of problems with the script, doesn't seem like a whole lot of thought went into it, at least not into all of it. But that was as I expected, really.

The movie looks pretty good. I don't know the budget, but it doesn't have that low budget-feel to it. I like it when movies look, you know, at least a little expensive.

This is one of those horror movies you can watch in the evening on a Sunday or whatever, not the kind you build a movie night around, see what I mean? It's right there smack-dab in the middle.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA Canada UK Italy Germany

Language:

English Spanish Chinese Scottish Gaelic

Release Date:

25 September 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pay the Ghost

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,914,020

Company Credits

Production Co:

Midnight Kitchen Productions, PTG Nevada, Voltage Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1