Ghostumentary (2015)

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Flack
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Ghostumentary (2015)

Post by Flack »



Ghostumentary is an independent film/documentary that follows two couples hoping to catch a ghost on camera. One of the couples believes in the paranormal and the other does not. The two couples travel around the country meeting people and visiting haunted locations.

On each trip the group brings various electronic gadgets in tow in hopes of finding spirit activity. The believers use an EMP box that supposedly picks up communications from the dead, while the other couple point out that by slightly adjusting the frequency dial on the device, it can pick up radio stations. The believers talk about feeling cold spots and seeing ghostly orbs and hearing voices while the other two shrug their shoulders and don't see, feel, or experience anything.

There's some talk with both paranormal investigators and debunkers, and that stuff is interesting, but somewhere between a third and a fourth of the movie is of the couples hanging out in hotel rooms, driving around in cars, and just hanging out. There's a lot of padding during the first half of the film. There's also some dopey stuff like camera batteries running out too quickly or people going into dusty attics and feeling things touching them, but filming ends without any ghosts showing up to give their side of the story.

In the third act, the group meets with Loyd Auerbach, a "legendary" paranormal investigator who also has a PhD in Parapsychology. Auerbach seems like a pretty level-headed guy who says most paranormal reality shows are faked, looking for ghosts in the dark using night cams is dumb, and that people watching ghost hunting shows shouldn't consider themselves qualified to hunt for ghosts, no more than people should feel qualified to repair a house after watching one of those house flipping shows.

Based on Loyd's advice, the four visit more haunted locations, this time with a "sensor" tagging along. The group hears footsteps and that's a big mystery. The guide uses a flashlight and the "spirit" seems able to turn the flashing off and on on cue. After the experience, the two believers feel emotionally drained and exhausted as if the ghosts have drained their energy, while the other two shrug and don't feel anything.

In the end, the art of ghosthunting seems a lot like politics, vaccinations, and everything else. Everybody involved in the film essentially felt the same way at the end as they did at the beginning. Viewers most likely will, too.
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RealNC
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Re: Ghostumentary (2015)

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Flack wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:16 pm a PhD in Parapsychology
A fucking what now?

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Jizaboz
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Re: Ghostumentary (2015)

Post by Jizaboz »

RealNC wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 12:00 am
Flack wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:16 pm a PhD in Parapsychology
A fucking what now?
It is indeed a real field. Even the esteemed Duke University has been having classes about it since the early 1990s.. I would argue they are more useful than other fields such as art majors lol. Basically, people in this field first off believe that Houdini and others almost completely proved the "spiritualists" WRONG as far as Quija boards, ectoplasm, crystal balls, and seances. However, there are strange occurrences that do occur and have been recorded that some people want to have further scientific proof of wtf it actually is. We still do no understand "ball lightning" for example, yet it has been observed by many non-quacks for many years. I also think that the newest phone camera tools which are meant for doing things like motion capturing will actually aid in proving sometimes weird things happen. If for example you have an app which traces animation points in a room in order to help build animation cycles for a game or movie.. if the app picks up something that is not there waving at you, tea-baggin you, whatever.. then WTF is going on? Is it a glitch in the capture algorithm or something else? Either way, I'd be interesting in tinkering with it especially now that I'm learning more about cell phone sensors.

Anyway, that rant out of the way.. back to Flack's review of this I also tire of the "My battery just got drained!" thing. My own mother had some awesome paranormal stories, but every time she mentioned how she was in the middle of nowhere and her phone kept dying I knew that:

1. She gave me her Qbasic and Turbo C books from learning "computers and electronics" via college in the late 1980s, but didn't really understand how cell phones work. Especially how when they are starving for a signal in the middle of nowhere they drain batteries.
2. She didn't know how to put her phone into airplane mode or turn it off when not needed (see #1)
3. EMP metering is a debated topic as far as what the actual metrics are. There is actual tech behind it.. such as using it to effect dogs. Basically it uses frequency algorithms to match with words and emotions/feelings. An "EVP session" is where you use this device to ask questions with or without EMP on and see if you get a response asking questions.
5. The radio frequency thing is different from EMP from a non-analog device. This actually does sweep multiple AM and other frequencies at random to pick up random words blasting across the world to answer your questions. This is also called the "Spirit Box" and is probably the closest to a Quija experience.
6. I know who Lloyd is and glad you considered him "level-headed".
7. Totally cool that they show 2 people didn't feel anything. It's my belief that some just are insensitive.. but even those will change their mind when the shit really hits the fan (or the Earnest Goes to Camp VHS tape against the wall)

Thanks for this review, Flack! I think I'll have to actually watch this while I get some more stuff done tomorrow..
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Flack
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Re: Ghostumentary (2015)

Post by Flack »

The Loyd guy introduced an interesting concept of a reverse hallucination. Where a hallucination is seeing something that isn't there, he refers to a reverse hallucination as not seeing something that is there. The example he gives is when your keys are sitting on your table, you're looking at the table, but just can't find them. His point is that a ghost could pop up in front of a person and if they don't believe in spirits, they simply won't see it.

I didn't think the documentary was very good, but in the end I think it made a good point that people looking for paranormal explanations to things will find them, and nonbelievers won't.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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The Happiness Engine
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Re: Ghostumentary (2015)

Post by The Happiness Engine »

"John Dies At The End" does something pretty close to reverse hallucination.


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RealNC
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Re: Ghostumentary (2015)

Post by RealNC »

Where can I get a Cryptozoology PhD?

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Flack
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Re: Ghostumentary (2015)

Post by Flack »

Most schools offer a "make your own PhD" program for those with an interest in creating a degree program that's not currently offered. Here's a link to Harvard's: https://gsas.harvard.edu/academic-progr ... e-programs

Essentially you come up with your program and goals, pay the school a ton of money, and walk away with an official PhD in the topic.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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