We Have A Ghost (Netflix, 2023)
We Have A Ghost is an amusing mix of family movie and horror comedy, starring David Harbour as a friendly ghost looking for closure.
It’s one of those Netflix movies that feels like a solid studio programmer. Which means it could have easily been a theatrical production. That’s not a complaint, just stating the obvious.
We Have A Ghost is based on a short story by Geoff Manaugh. The movie is written and directed by Christopher Landon, who is known for Freaky, Happy Death Day and his work on the Paranormal Activity franchise.
It’s about the Presley family, who consist of Frank (Anthony Mackie), his wife Melanie (Erica Ash), and sons Fulton (Niles Fitch) and Kevin (Jahi Winston), who move to a fixer-upper in Chicago looking for a fresh start.
However, Kevin soon finds they have a ghost in the attic named Ernest (David Harbour). Ernest, who looks like a hologram, tries to scare Kevin away, but the teenager just laughs, films Ernest on his mobile phone and says that his own private life is a thousand times scarier.
Kevin and Ernest become friends and he promises to find out what happened to the ghost who can’t speak.
Unfortunately, Frank puts Kevin’s video online and soon Ernest is a social media sensation. Soon, the haunted Presley home is surrounded by media and at the behest of paranormal scientist Leslie (Tig Notaro) the CIA even restarts a program aimed at catching a ghost.
Meanwhile, Kevin and his friendly neighbor Joy (Isabella Russo) try to get Ernest out of the house, discover what cost his amnesia and bring him the closure that he has been longing for.
The good thing about the movie is that director Landon definitely knows what he is doing. He lives and loves (horror) movies and you can see that in every set-up, every shot, the production design, musical choices and the witty dialogue.
As long as Landon keeps the story intimate, the movie works really wel. Ernest and Kevin are both lonely old souls we can relate to. Frank may be an opportunist looking for a win - he wants to use Ernest to help his family become the Black Kardashians - but it’s borne out of the genuine motivation to provide for his struggling family.
I think We Have A Ghost could have been a terrific ninety minute movie, but as the movie progresses it becomes bigger in scale, and even though it is still has enough entertainment value to get by, the second half of this two hour movie feels less personal than the first half.
This involves an extended car chase, a Ghostbusting sequence and a backstory that provides an emotional character arc that doesn’t feel completely satisfying.
I will admit that some of it is mostly a matter of personal taste, and not necessarily a dealbreaker, but this could have been a classic case of Goethe’s ‘only in moderation the master is revealed.’
If this is getting too picky, fine, it’s still a fun family movie, that will probably do well on Netflix.