The Ghost Lights (2022)

Directed by Timothy Stevens [Other horror films: N/A]

I didn’t quite know what to expect when going into The Ghost Lights, but I do know that what I got wasn’t exactly it. This low-budget science-fiction/horror/drama mix does have a few solid ideas and performances, especially toward the finale, but I can’t say the whole of the film was exactly to my liking.

The base idea is solid, though – the daughter of a recently-deceased newspaper reporter goes down to the ghost town of Terlingua, Texas to figure out what the ghost lights, a topic her father had worked on, are. It’s nothing special, but it has promise. We have some mysterious lights, potential government agents, superstitious locals – the elements are all here.

It has to be said, though, that a lot of The Ghost Lights felt like set-up for a larger story. Though the film is around an hour and 26 minutes, it’s not until an hour and 12 minutes in that Katreeva Phillips’ character actually reaches the small town of Terlingua. I will give the movie props for having a decently emotional finale, but I still don’t know if it was worth it. Seems like a classic case of all hat, and no cattle.

Katreeva Phillips did decent with her role. I will admit that she started out a bit shaky, and I found some of her character’s choices obnoxious, but I did applaud the emotion she brought into the role. Related, I didn’t actually care for John Francis McCullagh’s character for most of this film, but I do think he too shined in the finale. Billy Blair (Nocturna, Cherokee Creek) was perhaps the most consistent performance, and though Timothy Stevens’ character didn’t have much character, he still looked occasionally threatening.

As solid as portions of the finale were, though, there was just too many unanswered questions here, such as what exactly the ghost lights are, and what the man in black’s (potential government agent) goal was, and what, if any, interest did the United States government have in mysterious lights. It’s not like Howard’s Mill, where it makes sense that we wouldn’t find out these answers – these are things that could have been addressed in the film, had they wanted to do so.

All this said, I will say that the cinematography looked quite nice, and because they filmed in Texas, much of the scenery does look lovely. The special effects, when they use them, seem decent, and again, I thought the ending, despite leaving us completely in the dark about everything, had solid emotional resonance.

The Ghost Lights might make an interesting lower-budget science fiction movie – one, according to the credits, was at least partially funded by Indiegogo – but as a horror film, I think The Ghost Lights was rather lacking in meat. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the film is bad, and to the right audience, it may hit the right spot, but personally speaking, it’s not one that I think I’d spend time with again.

5.5/10