Pay the Ghost-- My take on the movie (with spoilers)

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. If you've rejected her love, she'll hold onto a grudge forever, and if you hurt the ones she loves, she will curse you and your future generations. 

Pay the Ghost is yet another tale comprising of a curse uttered eons ago that haunts the present. In the 1600s, a mob breaks into a woman’s house who is a Celtic worshipper and capture her. She futilely tries to hide and save her children, but they are found out and captured as well. The cruelty of the townsfolk knows no bounds and the poor woman is made to watch her children burn to death right before her eyes. 

When it is her turn, she promises to avenge the death of her children and before she burns, she curses the town and promises to abduct three children on the same day every year so that the people too would know what it would feel like to lose their children. 

Cut to the present and a child is shown being haunted by dark visions. He sees dark figures outside his bedroom window and vultures swooping down from rooftops. As always in every horror movie, his visions are taken lightly by the adults who blame it on childish imagination. 

However, come Halloween night- also the day the woman had been burned alive all those years ago- the child mysteriously disappears and the parents are left broken-hearted. 

If only they had believed the child…..

It seems many movies and TV shows follow the same trite pattern. One of the characters tries to tell the truth, but no one believes them and in the end, when the truth comes out, that character isn't even honoured with an apology! 

Just once I would like to hear the other characters apologising profusely for not believing their friend of family in the first place, just once! 

Anyway, back to the story. The parents are shown estranged after a year passes. Three days before Halloween, both parents are haunted by who they believe to to be their son. They come together once again and learn about the curse. They have a tiny window during which they can save their son, but they have to find the place where their son is kept soon or he would be lost forever. 

What do the children mean when the utter ‘pay the ghost’ before disappearing? Basically they have to feed dolls to the fire as some sort of sacrifice- The dolls’ life for their own. 

In a not so thrilling climax, the father saves the son who apparently has no memory of where he had been for over a year. Of course he would find out when he celebrated his next birthday and finds out he's not only a year older, but two years older!! 

The movie ends with a cliffhanger scene wherein the father’s work associate is seen possessed by the crone. 

In terms of horror, this movie didn't have too many scary scenes and the story was just cliched. The climax was nonsensical and too quickly played out. There was ample room of drama and thrills that could have been added. Instead, the father is pushed off the bridge that connects the two worlds and his son calls upon the other ghosts to save them. 

Here's the thing: if the children’s’ ghosts were indeed that strong, then why didn't they band together against the crone in the first place? All the children could have escaped alive, alas the rule of the place they were in gave them only a year to try and escape. Another thing that didn't make sense. 

The crone’s children were burnt alive and they died instantly. She was indeed gracious allowing the abducted children to live for almost a year before they turned into ghosts. Why have that window and not give parents a clear clue as to what they must do and how they had to pay the ghost? 

Regardless, the movie was an ‘okay’ watch for me. Just a way to pass a lazy afternoon. 

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