Ghost Keeper (1981) User Reviews

Good setting, bad plot

[Tikkin · 4/10 · 15 June 2006]

Ghostkeeper is not as good as others would have you believe. It does have a beautiful and creepy setting, and the film itself is rather creepy, but in a rather fake way. This is achieved mainly through the use of music, and whilst this is effective for the first 30 minutes or so, you get a bit sick of hearing the same music over and over.

I think this film could have been a whole lot better. You can see the potential whilst watching it, and within the first 30 minutes I had figured out several ways it could have been better. The plot is where everything falls apart. It's really about nothing much at all. The ending is a bit of a surprise, but is so shallow that you think "jeez, that's what this film has been building up to?" Despite the excellent setting, I can't really recommend Ghostkeeper. It's like a very poor mans version of The Shining. If slow pace, creepy atmosphere yet lack of plot is your thing, you may enjoy this, but otherwise I would skip it.

Happy new year!!!

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 24 October 2019]

Filmed in Banff, Alberta and using the Canadian tax shelter rules that have produced so many of our favorite films, Ghostkeeper rises above its unstable finances and near-unseen theatrical run to become a fun piece of somewhat forgotten slasher fun.

This one is all about the Wendigo, even if it spells the monster's name Windigo. It's a monster that lives off human flesh and is one of Canada's few unique monsters, but the movie doesn't spend all that much time discussing it.

Basically - if you wanted another snowmobile slasher after The Chill Factor, here it is.

Jenny, Marty, and Chrissy spend New Year's Eve in the Rocky Mountains but end up seeking shelter from a blizzard in an abandoned hotel. There's an older woman who claims to live there with her two sons.

Of course, one of the sons named Danny ends up drowning Chrissy, slitting her throat and putting her in a freezer. That's also where the Wendigo lives in the body of her other son.

By the end, Jenny has shotgun blasted the old woman and assumed her mantle of the Ghostkeeper, which takes hours to happen and plenty of darkness to wade through. But the end is really effective, so if you have the patience to take it this far, the movie is totally going to reward you.

The music for this comes from Paul Zaza, who also composed music for My Bloody Valentine, Curtains and Prom Night. In fact, most of the music in that Jamie Lee Curtis disco dancing slasher was recycled from this film.

I just want someone to explain to me why the UK VHS of this movie has a mutant chicken rising from an Incan temple under the hot sun. Because...I kind of want to watch that movie, too.

The Chilling: Force of Dementia

[Vomitron_G · 6/10 · 30 August 2009]

***Only the 3rd & 4th paragraph contain spoilers***

I had read up a little bit on "Ghostkeeper" before I decided to get me a copy and watch it. Since up until now I hadn't really seen a movie about the Wendigo legend that actually worked like it should, I was pretty interested in seeing another take on it. Furthermore, the comment-section for this film on here, is a bit peculiar, to say the least. Not too many people seem to have seen it, and in addition to that, there seems to be hardly any gray area. Some people praise it too high heaven, while others bash it to hell. I'd like to enter that gray area.

While I'm not ignorant to the movie's flaws – because it does have its fair share of those – I would prefer to focus on its merits rather than to enlarge its shortcomings. I won't go too deep into the story and its characters, as enough of it can be read in schwarhol628's comment. Onto the things this movie has going for it. First off, the desolate, snowy Canadian mountain region provides a wonderful backdrop and adds to the bleak and hopeless tone of the film. Secondly, the musical score by Paul Zaza works wonders. Not only is it effectively eerie, it also helps to support a lot of scenes without dialogues (and there are quite a few of those). On more than one occasion you'll find yourself watching someone just walking through the dark corridors of the hotel with not much else happening. Take away the musical score, and indeed, you'll have a sequence with a whole lot of nothing going on. But the score brings a deep sense of dread and creepiness that fills up the hotel as if it was a dark, malevolent entity itself. This brings us, thirdly, by the hotel – or inn - which really feels like a forsaken place and it brings a similar presence to the film as the Overlook Hotel did for "The Shining". On a smaller scale, of course, yet also a darker one. Because this hotel, at times, really seems engulfed by darkness.

Then we have what this film's story is actually about: The myth of the Wendigo. Now when it comes to that, I felt it had a distinctive ambiguity to it. Not noticeable on the surface at first, but it becomes more and more palpable as the events progress. I've seen the Wendigo depicted as a creature already in films, but here things are a little different, drawing more influences from the spiritual aspects of the myth. An over-powering evil dichotomously divided into the earthly and the supernatural. The hotel is inhabited by a mysterious old woman – undeniably Georgie Collins gives us the best and most enjoyable performance of the whole cast – who comes across as the caretaker of the hotel, but actually is the titular Ghostkeeper. Now the title of this film, confirms how this film handles the Wendigo myth. Partly, the Wendigo is portrayed as a "beast", more specifically a ghoul-like being with cannibalistic tendencies, living a locked-up life in the basement (nourished with human flesh provided by the old woman and her "other boy"). On the other part, the Wendigo seems more like a presence or a force, filling this isolated location with evil, driving everybody who draws near the place slowly to insanity.

Now this last aspect, is also played out ambiguously. The old woman (as the Ghostkeeper under the influence of its evil) refers to Jenny as the strongest person of our trio, strong from the inside. While in reality, Jenny is the most feeble-minded of the bunch, which makes her the perfect victim for the Wendigo to get a hold of, to turn her into the new keeper. It's only gradually that the plot plays it out like this, as first everyone else either dies or slowly goes insane. Now as to the execution of this malevolent plot device, "Ghostkeeper" misses depth. And this is – aside from the obvious pacing problems – a major flaw. Instead of focusing more on the psychological downfall of the characters – admittedly, the cast of three would probably not have been able to handle this, as we're not dealing with stellar performers here – the script kills off Chrissy (the blond girl) soon enough, only to re-introduce the friendly old store-clerk from the opening scene, serving no other purpose than to also end up as food for the ghoul in the cellar. The only one left with hunger, is the viewer himself, as the script offers us little else to chew on.

Looking at "Ghostkeeper" from a glass-half-full point of view, you might be able to put all the film's flaws aside and discover a chilling tale of supernatural mystery driven by an eerie atmosphere. If not, it might remain merely a strangely compelling void of nothingness. And worst case scenario: Perhaps it could put you to sleep. Such a shame.

a snow-covered creep-fest

[corpvault · 21 December 2005]

Ghostkeeper probably has one of the best horror movie settings ever, in my opinion. It takes place in an isolated old lodge (Deer Lodge, an actual functioning resort)amid the snowy Canadian Rockies, surrounded by huge snow-covered mountains and towering evergreen trees. The outdoor scenes alone make the film worth seeing. Once we get inside the lodge, we start running into some lighting issues. In some cases, the overly dark scenes are effective, especially when all you can really see are the character's piercing eyes. Also effective are the shots of the wendigo's basement enclosure, which is made out of blocks of ice, emitting an eerie blue light. Very cool. I also thought Paul Zaza's score worked well for the film. In particular, there is a strange synthesizer part that sounds like distorted wind or maybe a train...whatever it is, it's spooky as hell. The acting, unfortunately, is mediocre with the notable exception of Georgie Collins, who plays the "ghostkeeper". Her performance, especially in her last scene, is really disturbing and frightening. I recommend Ghostkeeper to any serious horror fan who likes creepy, atmospheric films.

Zero budget Canadian misfire

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 21 July 2016]

Imagine a cross between The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, THE SHINING, and THE GHOUL, and you'll have some idea of GHOSTKEEPER's general direction. Sadly, however, it's not nearly as interesting (or entertaining, for that matter) as any of those films. Perhaps inspired by David Cronenberg's success at making effective, low-budget Canadian films, the makers spin a story of insanity and psychological torment, but only succeed in confusing the viewer with the nonsensical storyline. I don't mind films for what they are, but when one comes along claiming to be insightful and clever, it just gets my goat. The box (incidentally, the cover image has NOTHING to do with the film) claims that this film is Hitchcockian, what?! The most fun you'll have here is looking at the pretty scenery of the snow-covered mountains. With such an isolated and picturesque location surely it wouldn't have been difficult to get a little bit of atmosphere conveyed on film, but sadly there is none here. All it needed was a nice tracking shot over some icy locales, with the wind whistling on the soundtrack, and that would have been enough for me. But no.

For two thirds of the film not much happens at all, it's just boring people sitting around and talking about their boring lives. In the final act it all goes a bit weird, with one man (obviously having watched Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING too many times) cracking up and going for a walk in the snow without his jacket. A blonde bimbo has her throat slashed (the only tiny bit of gore in the entire film) and then is apparently cannibalised by something living in a locked room, although we don't actually get to see any of this or know fully what's going on.

The acting is poor (none of the actors or actresses are familiar, apart from one woman who appeared in RABID), the music is non-existent and the whole film makes little sense. One major twist at the end is obviously from the first moment the characters enter the hut. They're an unlikable bunch as well, breaking into a sealed building and demanding that they stay the night. With little action, poor writing, little horror, bizarre cuts (one scene goes from two characters fighting to one of the characters impaled on a fence, whether this was poor editing or some kind of cut to the video have, I'm not sure), and a total lack of drive, GHOSTKEEPER is yet another low budget misfiring film to avoid.

The Terror of Tedium

[DoctorMeticulous · 3/10 · 20 November 2020]

Watching this, one has the impression that the filmmakers saw The Shining, and thought to themselves, "Hey, we've got a lodge! Let's make a horror film!"

The plot: Three obnoxious yuppies on snowmobiles wait out a snowstorm in a spooky lodge with a cranky and demented caretaker. The initial set-up is promising, as there is an incipient love triangle dynamic among the characters. But that potential is wasted fast, as one of three is killed early in the film. That leaves no suspense as to who the "final girl" of the film is. The film purports to be about the Windigo myth, and it simply isn't. There is virtually no supernatural element to this film, and the supposed "monster" is only in a handful of scenes and never escapes the room in which he is locked, so he is hardly threatening.

The performances: Again, things go from mediocre to worse. The male lead is suitably despicable, but fails to sell the mental collapse of his character in Act III. The female lead is pretty good at subtext, but otherwise wooden when delivering dialogue. The liveliest character is the one who's killed-off first. The old lady gives an engaging performance that goes way over the top at the film's climax (if it can be said to have one).

The look: The cinematography of this film is competent and occasionally better than that, and the deserted lodge is filmed in an atmospheric manner. But how many empty hallways and how much snow does anyone need to see? Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King these guys are not. Nice try, but sorry.

If you want to see a better film about the Windigo, see "Ravenous." If you want to see a better film about an atmospheric, bleak locale, see "The Legend of Hell House" instead (Paul Zaza's musical score is reminiscent of that film's, too). If you want to see a better film with a low budget, see "Phantasm." This film is not the worst thing ever committed to celluloid, but it does not return much on your investment of time in it.

A wintry chill

[ofumalow · 5/10 · 1 January 2024]

Atmospherics go a long way, if not quite far enough, in this Canadian tax-shelter film that apparently ran out of money mid-production, so they basically had to improvise the remainder of a shootable script without funding. Which does explain how there's more of a premise than a real plot here, with things never quite kicking into high gear in terms of either narrative or action--though there's enough creepiness and death for this to unquestionably qualify as a horror film of sorts.

The three snowmobilers staying at a resort--two obnoxious enough that you can guess they won't likely live to see the final fadeout--go off-trail during heavy snow, ending up at a seemingly abandoned old hunting lodge. But it's not quite abandoned. There's a weird older lady creeping about, and then it turns out some others, more elusive as well as murderous.

The remote winter setting gives the movie a nice visual flavor, and an eerie score is a big help in maintaining some suspense in a progress that otherwise might seem close to rudderless. Despite the sparse writing, the film is well-paced enough to hold interest. But it's more an example of resourceful people making something of very little under difficult circumstances, than it is of those people creating something of real substance. You do have to wonder just how different the movie would have been if the funding hadn't fallen through--was there a more ambitious (or at least better-developed) story in the original script? Maybe we'll never know.

Chilling atmosphere, not much else

[yourmotheratemydog715 · 6/10 · 4 January 2017]

A slow-burn (or should I say slow-freeze) chiller set deep in the snowy mountains of Canada, GHOSTKEEPER is effective at creating an atmosphere and not very effective at doing anything with it.

Three friends snowmobiling around the middle of nowhere for New Year's Eve soon find themselves stranded at a strange hotel, abandoned except for a mysterious old woman who seems to be keeping something from them. It sounds like a solid set-up for a generic '80s slasher, and I've seen the film often categorized as such, but I'd hesitate to call it one.

It's certainly not a "teens in the woods get picked off one by one by a madman" movie. It's instead a "slow descent into madness" type of movie; imagine if THE SHINING had a no-name Canadian cast and wasn't really very good.

That being said, icicles of atmosphere hang all over this thing. I always felt Paul Zaza to be an underrated player in the composer game, and his score here is wonderful. Understated and mysterious, GHOSTKEEPER would be practically nothing without it. It's also decently well-shot and the locations are beautiful.

A solid build-up unfortunately melts away in the second half. Characters who acted very similarly the entire film suddenly act completely different. Other characters show up randomly just to be immediately slaughtered. Everything feels very scattershot and aimless.

I feel like the film is very close to becoming a spot-on representation of a certain kind of Wendigo myth: a Wendigo that does not hunt as a beast, but instead rattles the aching, snow-addled minds around it into a cabin fever psychosis. Unfortunately, GHOSTKEEPER just doesn't quite get it right. Worth a look for fans of atmospheric horror, but by no means a must-see.

Dull, Slow-Moving Horror Flick

[gwnightscream · 3/10 · 25 January 2021]

This 1981 horror film features 3 friends snowboarding to an old Lodge where a mysterious, old woman resides and keeps an evil secret. This is a dull, slow-moving flick and the main characters are annoying except the creepy woman. I like the score as well as the bleak, snowy atmosphere. The film kind of rips off "The Shining," but give it a try if you like supernatural horror.

What could have been?

[acidburn-10 · 7/10 · 28 January 2015]

"Ghostkeeper" remains another entry lost during the slasher cycle during the 1980's. While it was to be more than a typical slasher according to the story, it was set to be a supernatural thriller, but the funding ran out halfway through, which means that the 2nd half of the film is rather dis-jointed and unfocused.

The plot = we have three people stranded in the middle of a snowy mountain and take refuge in an abandoned hotel, where only an old woman and her son lives. Then strange things begin to happen as the legend of windigo surrounds the place in mystery.

Well firstly it would have been nice to see what could have been, if the funding didn't run out, but it does make it hard to judge the movie for as it stands. It's definitely an interesting concept and the director has created an eerie and unsettling horror film with a cool Gothic atmosphere, especially the hotel itself which looks stunning covered in snow in it's wintery setting. Another standout moment is the chase scene with Jenny, which was one of the only highlights of this movie, which kept me on the edge of my seat, and the final twist at the end was rather interesting but didn't make a whole lot of sense.

But the movie itself is very much underwhelming, for one thing the pacing drags in several places and the main villain windigo is just totally wasted, gone is the myth and what we do get is some hairy fat guy surrounded by blocks of ice, plus the 3 main characters aren't very experienced and it shows, like the female lead just sleepwalks through the 2nd half of the movie, and the male lead starts to go insane for some reason, which never explains why, but the old woman caretaker is the only saving grace, she was truly terrifying. But the supernatural element was almost abandoned halfway through and we just end up with a slasher with a low body count.

So all in all, it's a shame that we'll never see the intended vision as this had so much potential but still an interesting entry in the 80's horror cycle.

A whole lot of nothing

[andybob-2 · 4/10 · 1 February 2000]

This whole film is a long build up to nothing, just plain boring. I'm still not entirely sure what was suppose to be happening in this movie and what was suppose to be the motives of the bad guys, even though I think I paid pretty good attention to it. Next time they should throw in a plot, some suspense and maybe even have a point to be made in the end. Just leaves you yawning and scratching your head, skip it.

Snowy Plotless Creepfest

[josephbrando · 8/10 · 30 March 2015]

The wintery Canadian mountains which provide the desolate setting are only slightly snowier than the plot, which finds withdrawn, teetering-on-the-edge-of-crazy Jenny, her rotten boyfriend and their slutty blonde chic friend stranded at a shuttered snowbound inn. Seemingly abandoned, it isn't long before they realize they aren't the only ones there. "Ghostkeeper" is a textbook example of how much a movie can be made or broken by its soundtrack. Many long, inactive treks through this abandoned ski lodge would be unbearable if not for the sinister score - which will ring familiar to most horror-nerds as nearly identical to the one from fellow 1981 Canadian horror film, Prom Night - both done by the same guy. If you need a movie with a cohesive plot, you certainly should look elsewhere. But if you can enjoy a spooky, hazy film which is heavy on dreadful atmosphere and creepy music while remaining non-existent on gore and nudity - you've met your match. It certainly is an odd duck, especially for the time period in which it was made. It's reputation as a hidden gem is well-deserved and it will come as a nice surprise to jaded horror fans who think they've seen it all.

You there! Stop calling this movie "good"!

[kb-62551 · 2/10 · 26 March 2020]

It isn't! The 3 dimwits are unlikable characters, the old lady caretaker has gone nuts from years of isolation and her sons are literal monsters. I hate these characters, I hate this movie. No budget 1981 trash and wasted potential.

Worth watching at least twice.

[amesmonde · 4 July 2019]

Snowmobilers find themselves stranded in the Canadian Rockies and find shelter in a seemingly abandoned hotel where an old woman is hiding something in the basement.

Directed by Jim Makichuk Ghostkeeper touches on the Bigfoot myth and haunted house genre but it turns out to be a Friday the 13th type slasher. Ghostkeeper is uneven, but the cast are good including striking Riva Spier, Georgie Collins and Sheri McFadden but it's Makichuk's snowy, secluded, eerie atmosphere is the real star.

Even though an independent film the first act of the movie when they are establishing the characters is strong, there's a few interesting kills but as the mystery unfolds dropping its mythical creature for a something more earthly it looses its finesse.

This obscure 1981 gem is crying out for what would be in my book a welcomed remake set in the year it was originally made.

Rubbish, incoherent horror nonsense

[anxietyresister · 2/10 · 11 January 2004]

I must have missed something in this flick, because half the time you don't know what the hells going on. We have a young couple on holiday in some snowy mountain region of Canada, accompanied by a sluttish friend of theirs who has the hots for the man. One day they are out on their jet-skis when suddenly their machines pack out!! Oh no!! Luckily for them, there's a long abandoned old hotel nearby, presided over by a mad old bat with two sons.. one a creepy David-Blaine look-alike, the other a flesh eating monster. Despite the place being creepier than the Bates motel, they end up spending the night there and the blood really starts to ooze.. at least that's what the back of the video says because I can't for the life of me figure out where the ugly chap as depicted on the front cover is supposed to be, the so-called terrifying freak in this is a rubbish actor who walks with a stoop and is only ever sighted in total darkness so to hide the poor make-up job. And as for the promise of gore, don't make me laugh!! There is less than half-a-dozen killings in the film, all achieved with the minimum of exposure and some you don't see at all. The acting is universally diabolical, But special mention must go to the old witch whose crackly voice is so over-the-top and irritating you'll be reaching for the mute button in minutes. On a side note, I know in a film this bad some geek-boys will be after a bit of nudity to liven things up, and there is one bath scene that seems initially promising. But when our heroine leans back in the tub (After supposedly stripping totally naked) there is a large white strip of material covering her front!! Doh!! Not only is this a total let-down, but also a glaring continuity error. So put it together, and what have we got? No thrills, spills or indeed chills of any description, an awful screenplay, laughable performances and a copious lack of flesh = a sorry piece of trash that should be avoided at all costs. Don't expect this one to get a DVD release anytime soon. Oh and one last thing.. The ending is one giant UH?!

Quite possibly the worst film I've ever seen.

[itsbaylis · 1/10 · 9 September 2006]

This film is poor. VERY poor.

My brother and I got this film going cheap and decided we like Z movies, so why not give it a shot? There's a few very good reasons.

Firstly, the cast cannot act. They can't do surprise, fear, love, hate, or any other expression except the one of a pleading animal in pain that wants to die. They clearly didn't enjoy doing the movie, and the acting is so poor Chuck Norris would have improved this film tremendously, and I'm not a fan of his.

To say the plot was flimsy would be an understatement, and frankly an insult to other flimsily plotted films. It's barely existent, let alone flimsy. There doesn't seem to BE one. Some people who are characterised so little that to call them 2D would be an insult to drawings arrive at an abandoned lodge deep in somewhere with lots of snow for no apparent reason. Some ski holiday or something, because as everyone knows the best ski holidays are in the middle of nowhere so no help can come if you get injured.

What then follows is a shoddily hammered together monstrosity that's only spine tingling in the sense you won't believe someone put money up for this god-awful mess. Then again, all the money seems to have been spent on locations, and the props. These are two elements where the film actually did fairly well. I'd better stop the praise before someone thinks this film might be redeemable and not burn every copy they find.

The people die in exceptionally stupid ways. The worst of which is the woman who dies twice. Yes, that's right, TWICE. Shes drowned in the bath and dragged away, then has her throat cut. She's still alive for the throat cutting of course, because otherwise there'd be no point. Much like the making of this movie....

The Wendigo, which is in fact a not very tall man in one of the worst monster suits I've ever seen (and I watch Doctor Who) is in the film for around thirty seconds, meaning the time spent on his inclusion was oh so worth it, because it wouldn't have made sense to have made this a serial killer film instead.

The ending. Ah, the ending, one might think that when this came I jumped for joy. I didn't. What ACTUALLY happened is I rewound the tape because it ended so suddenly and pointlessly that I couldn't believe my eyes. The very short credits had indeed rolled up as the last survivor sat in a chair sipping a drink. Apparently she became the keeper of the beast, because thats EXACTLY what you would do after all your friends, a mad old woman and her son, and some bloke who owned a shop nearby (this was the only other building shown, there wasn't even any outside his shop)were killed by each other, or in one case apparently going mad and being covered in engine oil.

This film isn't good in any way. It's not so bad it's good. It's not even so bad it's funny. It causes actual physical pain to watch.

Incidentally I have an alternate cover for this film, which shows a South American jungle (it clearly is in South America, what with the ziggurat) and piles of skulls and such, with a large picture of a bad monster (although far better than the one in the movie) that had nothing to do with the film whatsoever. It wasn't even like the film monster was a poor attempt at the box one. It was totally different, as was the setting, seeing as how I know of no jungles of pine trees covered in snow. Maybe I just haven't looked?

All work and no play make Wendigo a dull beast

[Coventry · 3/10 · 6 September 2009]

"Ghostkeeper" could be promoted as "The Shining for dummies", actually. For all those who didn't understand or didn't care for the psychological horror aspect of "The Shining", this is pretty much the exact same film, except that there's an actual monster in the basement of the remote snowy forest resort and you don't have to bother about any psychological mumbo-jumbo. I heard and read from several people, whose opinions are always highly valued, that "Ghostkeeper" was more or less a hidden gem of early 80's horror; a film with a reasonably solid plot and a continuously sinister atmosphere. It's one of the few times that I really don't agree with them, because all I saw was a dull, derivative, unmemorable, dark and even slightly pretentious film that nearly bored me to sleep. This Canadian low-budgeter shamelessly imitates the secluded setting and mysterious ambiance building of Stanley Kubrick's previous year's blockbuster, but attempts to interweave with the famous Indian myth of the Wendigo – a cannibalistic spirit constantly craving for flesh – and a sub plot about an estranged elderly woman living, with her sons, far away from civilization. A young couple and their luscious blond friend, three insufferably annoying people that clearly deserve painful deaths from as soon as they open their mouths to talk, are surprised by an upcoming winter storm during the snow-scooter trip on new year's eve. They seek shelter in a seemingly abandoned hotel, only to discover the place is inhabited by a crazy old woman, her maniacal son and a "thing" in the basement that turns out to be Wendigo in chains. The blond bimbo is the first to fall victim, which is logical after her extended monologue story about how she lured her 10th grade teacher into sex for money, but the hotel seems to have other plans for the quiet introvert girl Jenny. Seeing there are only three protagonists in this film, it takes an unbearably long time before something significant happens in "Ghostkeeper". The locations and scenery are very nice, and I definitely do appreciate a film that attempts to build up suspense, but this film is just plain boring. Apart from the insufferable characters (Jenny is exaggeratedly frigid and the other two are stereotypical horror lambs to the slaughter), the film completely lacks gore and excitement and it's often too damn dark to determine what's going on. The Wendigo myth is poorly elaborated. The soundtrack and atmosphere are okay, as said, but these minor positive aspects hardly make the film a hidden gem. The film is obscure enough for you to never come across it. Don't look for it, either.

Hmmm?

[SayMyNameBitches · 3/10 · 16 July 2009]

I simply don't know what this movie is about because there is hardly any story in this film, even at the very end of it you don't have a single clue what was going on there.

the little that What i found out that its about three three teenagers on a trip on a mountain they get stranded right in front of an abandoned hotel (what are the odds?) that turns out that there's an old woman who lives there with her son, and they learn that there's some mysterious secret hidden in basement, and after we see whats hidden in the basement the movie starts to make no sense whats so ever.

maybe there are some people out there who can understand the plot but i don't and i really don't wanna find out what its about.

Awful Film

[DanielSelby · 1/10 · 30 August 2007]

This has to be one of the worst "acted" films I have ever seen. The scenery is beautiful and the abandoned hotel spooky, but most of the cast leaves a lot to be desired in terms of acting ability. The female lead "Jenny" at one point screams about finding a gun. "Marty, I found a gun in the closet!" That is where this film should be sent to and never seen again. The crazy woman in the film whispers most of her lines and that tends to get on my nerves. The one good thing is the handsome bearded actor who plays a lunatic and chases Jenny around. The actress and I use that term lightly who plays Jenny should think about taking a refresher course in acting. Bad, bad, bad! F-

Sadly unknown, spooky little gem.

[larsenjanda · 10/10 · 24 March 2007]

I saw this film at a rather young age when I rented it from a video store, and it really, really scared me. "Ghostkeeper" is about three friends (two women and one man) who are snowmobiling during the holidays up in the mountains. Despite a storekeepers warning, they head up the slopes, only to have one of the women crash her snowmobile. With only one snowmobile left for transportation, and a snowstorm coming in, the three decide to stay in an old abandoned hotel lodge looming in front of them. They meet an old lady (played by Georgie Collins, who actually gives a really scary performance) who is living there with her unseen son, but she is hiding a ghostly secret.

Definitely one of the better '80s horror films, this unknown little chiller should be a familiar entry in the genre, but sadly is seen by hardly anybody. It didn't receive a big release and got little attention, which is really too bad because of how good the film is. The storyline actually original, and the setting is, in one word - CREEPY! The isolated lodge and the snowy mountain backdrop are a nice accent to the film and really add to it's scariness, and are a little reminiscent of "The Shining". The acting is mediocre, but so what? It's an '80s horror flick, you can't expect Oscar-worthy performances. The strange ending will leave you creeped out but also satisfied. I love this film because of it's simple set-up and foreboding spookiness. Surely an underrated little horror gem. If you can get a hold of it (since it's now pretty hard to find, only being available on a long out-of-print video tape), definitely do. It's one of the better (and overlooked) early '80s horrors. 10/10.

Why was Marty breathing and blinking whilst dead?!

[thediva-89114 · 3/10 · 28 November 2020]

Not a bad old film. Bit long and drawn out but ok Marty however, seems to be able to breath and blink whilst apparently frozen to death!!!

Atmospheric chiller from the Great White North is overlooked and underappreciated

[EyeAskance · 15 July 2003]

Poorly distributed during a period when the horror-film market was predominantly angled toward the slasher element, this low-key B effort is actually not bad at all, and should probably be reevaluated by genre fans.

A trio of young snowmobilers face mechanical problems deep in the forest, and chance upon upon a neglected and very isolated hunting lodge. Initially they believe the place to be abandoned, but latterly find it inhabited by a strange old lady and her son...as well as their "pet" Wendigo(a spirit of Native American lore, ever hungry for human flesh).

While there's not a lot of meat on the bones of this story, the subtle atmosphere of eerie desolation makes up heartily for that fact. And while the production values might be a peck below the par, GHOSTKEEPER maintains the methodical, slow and steady momentum of a dying heartbeat, a quality further punctuated by its lonely and foreboding deep-forest setting, wraithlike in its icy-white veil of winter snow. All in all, a forgivably flawed slow-burner which probably won't appeal to gorehounds or fast-action thrill seekers, but it should satisfy a low-pressure, caffeine-free type of viewership.

5.5/10

Boring...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 25 March 2024]

I had never even heard about this 1981 movie "Ghostkeeper" from writers Jim Makichuk and Doug MacLeod prior to sitting down to watch it here in 2024. But stumbling upon the movie by random luck and it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen before, of course I opted to sit down and watch the movie.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress in this 1981 movie. And having a cast of entirely unfamiliar faces and talents is actually something I enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. The acting performances in the movie were fair enough, though hardly anything noteworthy or outstanding.

Director Jim Makichuk uses a large portion of the movie to set the mood and atmosphere. About 40 minutes is spent doing so, before anything thrilling happened. And that was almost half of the movie, so that was somewhat of a struggle to sit through.

For a horror movie, then "Ghostkeeper" was a pretty weak movie. Way too much time was squandered to establish the mood, and when things do start to happen, it just simply wasn't sufficiently interesting.

My rating of director Jim Makichuk's 1981 movie "Ghostkeeper" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Decent movie that had potential but.....

[willandcharlenebrown · 5/10 · 25 October 2020]

Boyfriend was a horrible actor Crazy lady's son was a horrible actor Could have used more people getting murdered

Main protagonist and Antagonist were Will casted

All snow and no plot makes BA_Harrison a bored boy.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 7 May 2018]

As The Shining (1980) proved, an empty, snowbound mountainside hotel can be a very effective setting for a horror film. Unfortunately, writer and director of Ghostkeeper Jim Makichuk is no Kubrick, nor is he Stephen King. Any attempts at creating atmospheric chills are negated by a dreary script, annoying characters, and a plodding pace that makes 89 minutes seem a lot, lot longer (the last half an hour took me ninety minutes to complete).

The film starts as three friends, couple Jenny and Marty (Riva Spier and Murray Ord) and blonde Chrissy (Sheri McFadden), make their way to a lodge in the mountains for New Year. Their winter break takes a sinister turn when they decide to skidoo past a 'Keep Out' sign, winding up at a seemingly abandoned hotel. With one of the skidoos suffering from mechanical trouble, and the weather taking a turn for the worse, the trio take shelter in the hotel, where they encounter a strange old woman who shares the building with her two sons, one of which happens to be a flesh-eating creature called a Windigo.

With lots of wandering through deep snow and around the hotel's gloomy corridors, but little in the way of plot progression, scares or gore, there isn't much to recommend this movie. According to IMDB's trivia, money started to run out halfway through production, which helps explain why the latter part of the film is so incoherent; it doesn't explain why the entire movie is so bloody boring.