The Blackwell Ghost Series Part Two

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 5

(2020)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: WOOF

The first major misstep in Turn Clay's mico-budgeted faux documentary series, The Blackwell Ghost 5 makes the faux pas of dragging things out to redundant and unwatchable levels.  Continuing the arc of the previous two installments, (neither of which has anything to do with the Blackwell Ghost of the title), Clay jumps right back into the same Florida haunted summer house and also right back into the same ghostly shenanigans, as well as his way of trying the audience's patience.  What little information arrives could have easily been given to us in the two movies that proceed this one, (let alone the ones that follow), and Clay fails to come up with any interesting new bumps-in-the-night sequences on top of the narrative brick wall.  The phone still rings at 2:47 for nothing decipherable to ever happen on the other end, the banging on the walls is incessant, and the revelation from the last movie leads to nothing but another revelation before we are given a "to be continued..." tag.  Again.  A shower faucet turning on and a hole in a closet is hardly enough to warrant the seventy-two minutes that we spend here, plus Clay keeps piling on more scary music to break verisimilitude with each release, probably because he realized that nothing frightening is happening otherwise.

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 6

(2022)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: MEH

 

A much needed break was taken in Turner Clay's Blackwell Ghost series to drop the arc of the previous three films which even though were left on yet another cliffhanger, are thankfully jettisoned to only partially reference them here.  The Blackwell Ghost 6 takes a bold move by killing off Clay's wife, leaving him with two toddlers to take care of and because ghosts, also gives him a new haunted house angle.  This time it is his own home that starts experiencing unexplained occurrences around his wife's old keyboard which randomly pops back into his life.  Though it is comparatively better than its skippable and immediate predecessor, it still suffers from the usual ailments.  The use of scary music was and is always a problem in found footage, and Clay indulges in it more than most, actually layering it over the naturally captured audio of the supernatural things going down.  Another persistent issue is the monotonous feel and dragged-out randomness of those supernatural things that are dished out maybe one or two a night, disappearing entirely for weeks, and then repeating themselves later while itching to a reveal at a snail's pace.  Clay's ethereal wife, (presumably), sure is taking her sweet time trying to convey whatever it is that she is conveying from the beyond, but at least the emotional hook is more prominent this time, plus it all seems to be heading somewhere that may be interesting if Clay would only trim the fat already.

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 7

(2022)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: MEH

In the mockumentary framework that filmmaker Turner Clay has used throughout his Blackwell Ghost series, he has so far created enough plausibility to warrant each new installment as something that his fictionalized self would offer to the masses.  That all changes with The Blackwell Ghost 7, which takes a hard left turn and ups the ante with few if any supernatural occurrences, but instead has a masked serial killer who toys with our do-good narrator.  Which poses the immediate question; why in the hell would Clay's on-screen persona cinematically edit and then release a finished film about a psychopath harassing him and his kids?  It is a ridiculous pill to swallow and despite some gasp-worthy reveals, (as well as some predictable ones), as well as arguably Clay's best performance on screen to date, the entire thing collapses under its very premise.  The franchise is still keeping its toes wet in the found footage genre, but Clay's penchant for continuous scary music and more shots than ever which scream "Who is filming this?" interrupt the otherwise realistic agenda.  It is as if we are watching a fully-formed, professionally made true crime documentary done by the victim of the person committing the crime, as it is happening.  If one can ignore such an elephant in the room though, it is compelling enough stuff.

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 8

(2024)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: WOOF

Continuing in the about face taken in the previous installment, The Blackwell Ghost 8 pushes plausibility further than ever, which is saying something since this is coming after several entries where ghosts banged doors, made phone calls, and played with balls.  All of the issues that were front and center with 2022's The Blackwell Ghost 7 which ushered in a new serial killer angle are intensified here.  Not only is Turner Clay still making a documentary about the psycho who is sending him clues to where bodies are being delivered while simultaneously terrorizing his house, (which is absurd enough), but he, the killer, and the police all behave like buffoons.  Some could question the choices made by Clay and those whom he interacted with before, but in trying to tingle the spines of the viewer and deepen the lore here, he insults the audience.  Why would a guy put himself in constant danger of an admitted murderer?  Why would the police refuse to have his back at every step of the way with armed guards?  Why would the killer stand right behind the hapless dope in his own house, just counting on him not turning around, (which of course he fails to do)?  In addition to these narrative blunders, Clay bizarrely continues his trajectory of making sure that the viewer is questioning where each of the shots are coming from.  In one sequence, we have drone footage of him driving his truck, getting out of his truck, and walking up to a clue out in the middle of nowhere.  Good thing that he decided, (while terrified), to operate said drone on his investigation just to make sure that we have some cinematic scenery to enjoy.

The Blackwell Ghost Series Part One

THE BLACKWELL GHOST

(2017)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: MEH

 

The first in the mockumentary series The Blackwell Ghost sets up the framework that would be adhered to from here on out, introducing us to our frustrated indie filmmaker who decides to take a break from making low-budget zombie movies and instead becomes a paranormal documentarian.  Writer/director/everythinger Turner Clay is just such a filmmaker, and he has a smug yet acceptable level of charm as the guy who we are primarily stuck with throughout the proceedings, narrating his escapades into a Pennsylvania property that experiences unexplained things like lights turning on, footsteps going up the stairs, a blurry white shape floating past the camera, and, (in the "thrilling" finale), water faucets running and a toy ball showing up somewhere creepy.  The problem with a movie like this is not so much in its execution which is presented as any documentary would be, (conventional editing, some scary musical ambiance, etc), but in the material itself.  Simply put, nothing that happens here is remotely frightening.  Since ghosts are not real, a film examining such a phenomenon in a manner that would fool dummies into thinking that this was not all smoke and mirrors, (i.e. actually being "found footage"), faces an uphill battle to begin with.  In this case, it only generates mediocre results.

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 2

(2018)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: MEH

The plot only thickens by an incremental margin in Turner Clay's The Blackwell Ghost 2; an apply titled follow-up to his previous year's The Blackwell Ghost that features Clay visiting the same house with the same outcome.  As far as deepening the lore of the title spectre, this is gotten out of the way in the first half when he uncovers some clues that give him an excuse to venture back to the haunted abode, but all of these narrative tidbits prove inconsequential, coming off more like fail-safes to be elaborated on in future installments.  Clay rides solo more here since his wife only makes a small appearance, the owner of the Pennsylvanian home is nowhere to be seen, and a distant sort-of relative of the sinister Ruth Blackwell is mentioned yet only shown in photographs.  This is agreeable considering that we are talking about a micro-budgeted found footage movie, and the less speaking parts that you have, the cheaper the end result will be to produce.  The bump-in-the-night stuff gets underway eventually and is yet another series of doors, chairs, and electronic appliances doing things via invisible influence, and they are once again more scary in theory than in execution.  Even with its tacked-on coda that extends the movie to a longer length than is necessary, (plus some footage of Clay's own Racoon Valley feature that was released the same year), it is still an adequately and cheaply made bit of would-be spookiness for those that are looking to kill an evening.

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 3

(2019)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: MEH

 

Switching gears narrativly, Turner Clay's The Blackwell Ghost 3 in fact only briefly touches upon such an otherworldly entity, instead introducing a new paranormal mystery about a haunted Florida vacation house where a serial killer once murdered eighteen women there decades earlier.  The story has more of a true crime angle to it than the one explored in the first two installments, and it is more interesting by comparison.  Still, the plot barely moves as the bulk of the running time is spent watching Turner Clay say the same things and do the same things that we have already seen him do before.  Granted there is a method to such ghost hunter's shtick, even ones that are unconventional as Clay jokingly points out by getting drunk on the job, smirking his way through his anxiety-ridden narration, and half-assing his approach to uncovering a mystery by simply waiting long enough for stuff to happen.  Some of this is amusing, but Clay loses us with a monotonous structure where a phone ringing at 2:47 AM that has no one saying anything on the other line, (of course), and banging noises coming from the backdoor that no one is ever at, (also of course), are the extent of the spooky bits.  Things end on a cliff-hanger to be picked up in the following year's inevitable sequel, but this particular detour would have been better suited in a condensed form instead of stretched out as long as it is.

THE BLACKWELL GHOST 4

(2020)

Dir - Turner Clay

Overall: MEH

Another mixed bag effort from indie filmmaker Turner Clay, The Blackwell Ghost 4 picks up right where the previous year's installment left off and even ends with another "to be continued..." tag, signifying that the current mystery that has nothing to do with the mystery of the title has yet to be wrapped up.  A difference right out of the gate is how increasingly cinematic the franchise is getting, presumably due to the series turning enough of a profit to get more fancy with its presentation.  Shots and editing maneuvers that have nothing to do with found footage are given noticeable mileage here, and Clay throws more scary music into the proceedings than ever before, which is always shame as it destroys verisimilitude when we are watching the spooky stuff caught on camera.  As far as said moments go, they are relentless and monotonous instead of frightening, even if Clay's portrayal sufficiently conveys a man who is struggling with his own questionable life choices and frustrations in not being able to help the spirits that he is justifying such a project on.  This segment works better as an examination into the psyche of its host than it does as a proper spookshow, but the mystery itself is gradually picking up steam and would make for a compelling true crime documentary if any of it was real.  This is far from a flaw, in fact it is the opposite since it means that the story is hitting the right level of intrigue while the supernatural elements are unfortunately grinding things down.