We Have a Ghost begins with the Presley family exploring their probable new house after a clever setup scene depicts the previous inhabitants running away in horror one year earlier. The low price tag disturbs them despite the fact that the house needs work, but they sign the contract nevertheless because they lack the money to ask too many questions. The less outgoing of the two sons, Kevin (Jahi Winston), learns shortly after that their new house is haunted, which is the cause for the discount.

The teenager is in the attic when the ghost, a middle-aged white man named Ernest (David Harbour), performs his standard boo performance on him. Kevin records it on his phone while giggling. His father Frank (Anthony Mackie), who is trying to comprehend his zombie roommate, views Kevin's footage as his upcoming get-rich-quick plan (but for real this time). When he posts it to YouTube, Ernest eventually becomes viral and attracts much more attention than the Presleys would like.

We Have a Ghost's tone is what stands out most right away. With an online sense of humour and a Black protagonist who feels solidly anchored in this generation of teenagers, Landon's movie speaks to today in several ways. In other areas, it is so obviously a throwback to an 80s and 90s vibe, with echoes of films like Casper, Gremlins, Beetlejuice, and E.T., that viewers could find themselves wondering when this takes place even after they've seen references to TikTok.

This dual sense of being in time and out of time works in its advantage. If the directors had taken the whole nostalgic path and, for example, set We Have a Ghost in the 1980s, it would have fallen into the pitfall of constantly being compared to the films they obviously adore. The undercurrent of contemporary dialogues about gender and masculinity, in particular, lend juice to the well-worn parent-and-child-can't-relate issue, and audiences are instead encouraged to perceive this movie as in conversation with that history.

Still a good option for family movie night, We Have a Ghost. But it does imply that Landon, who will soon helm the Arachnophobia remake, is still figuring out how to best use this specific narrative vein. This movie might wind up seeming in retrospect like a stepping stone to creating even more precisely tailored enjoyment the next time around, if the journey from Happy Death Day to Freaky is any indicator.
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G GOWTHAM

05/03/2023 12:47 PM