A team of paranormal investigators led by Henry (Stephen Manley) head to a house where his wife, daughter and several others were brutally murdered by a serial killer known as ‘The Night Stalker’. Their aim is to capture the energy of a spirit and turn its energy into ectoplasm so they can find out what the spirits final thoughts were.
They do this by using a sophisticated contraption which looks like it was put together from finds at the local scrapyard. Upon capturing at least one spirit they use their machine to decode what the spirit is saying. With proof that they can do what they set out to do they go in search of the spirits of Henry’s wife and daughter. One member of their team goes missing halfway through the film after Henry has a knife thrown at him by a spirit but they don’t seem that worried about her disappearance. While Henry recovers from his attack the rest go in search of more evidence of ghostly encounters. Amy the journalist of the team starts to experience flashes of what happened in the house and the spirits tell her who the real killer is and it is someone they would least expect. Not to be confused with the investigative paranormal reality show of the same name, ‘GHOSTHUNTERS‘ has a creepy atmosphere about it. This could be described as part ghost story part torture movie as the kills seen throughout are heading towards ‘HOSTEL‘ territory, especially an inventive way to kill someone in a rocking chair. Sure it has ideas straight out of a certain 1984 movie starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd but it works in this ghostly tale of murder and deceit. For a movie from ‘The Asylum’ known well for their mockbusters this is an odd one as it is played straight throughout with only a couple of lines from Stephen Manley’s character being corny. If you want something different from the usual vengeful ghosts in an abandoned hospital film check out ‘GHOSTHUNTERS‘.
Review by Peter ‘Witchfinder‘ Hopkins