Alyssa (Marina Resa) just wants to get away from it all so she can start her life over.  See, Alyssa had this boyfriend who was violent, psychotic and obsessive.  She finally got the courage to leave, and now she's out in the middle of nowhere working as the new housekeeper for an attractive early middle aged Chinese woman named Miss Wu (Shirley To) and her Aunt Chen (Akiko Shima).  Everything seemed great at first.  It was just what she needed.  They had some strict rules about her never having anyone over and her not using the phone for personal calls, but all in all it was a great job and it allowed her to have some peace and quiet and to get away from her troubles.

One night she saw Miss Wu and her Aunt performing some kind of a ritual.  They were chanting and burning fake money.  The next morning when she came out of the house, she stepped in a pile of ashes that had been left there outside the door.  She got her broom and dustpan and started cleaning it, when Miss Wu came out and started going nuts.  She then explained to Alyssa all about Ghost Month, and how it's the one month of the year when the gates of Hell are opened and the spirits are allowed to walk the Earth.  The ritual is to appease their souls so they leave the living alone.  There are rules though.  Never disturb the ashes, never whistle, never turn around if you hear your name being called, etc..., otherwise you'll anger the spirits.

Alyssa, being the utterly nosy person that she was though, kept finding little clues here and there about a previous housekeeper and a brother who was born with defects.  This trail led her to some realizations about what happened to them, and why their ghosts are back, and so pissed off.  It doesn't help that at the end of the movie, her abusive boyfriend finally tracks her down either.  Man, Alyssa's got a pretty messed up life, doesn't she?

Wanna know what wasn't messed up?  This movie, and that's a bad thing.  Horror movies are supposed to be messed up.  That's what makes them horror movies.  This movie is rated R, but only really deserves a light PG-13 rating.  I'm still trying to figure out what the hell was in it that warranted an R rating, because I sure as hell don't see anything.  Drag Me to Hell was a billion times worse than this one in the gross out and gore department and a lot scarier as well, and it only got a PG-13.  This movie was almost like a made for Saturday afternoon TV level of "horror", so it's very lacking in any real scares or gore or genuine horror.  However, that doesn't mean it was a bad movie, because overall it was actually a pretty decent ghost story.  In fact, I'm not even sure it's fair to compare it to a real horror movie since it is a ghost story more than a full on horror movie, but still, it is what it is.  What it isn't however, is scary.

The acting in this film was good all around.  I have absolutely no complaints about the performances, and everyone in it did a great job, even if the dialogue didn't sound all that realistic at times.  The film itself was shot and edited well, and the make-up on the ghosts was really well done.  The look of everything in the film was great, and I don't have any complaints at all about it from a production standpoint.  My only real complaint is...it was kinda boring.  There wasn't really anything in this film to creep you out really bad, which is what a good ghost story should do.  The story was told really well and played out in a slow, methodical manner, which is the best way to do it in order to build tension, but throughout the film I kept waiting for some seriously awesome stuff to start happening, and more often than not I was left disappointed.

I don't usually do this, but once again I find myself having to take exception with the quote on the cover.  The quote is from Stuart Alson from the Independent Film Quarterly, and reads as follows:

"The Grudge meets The Haunting in Connecticut in this terrifying supernatural shocker!"

First off, I haven't actually seen either of those films, so I can't compare them to this one.  The part I take exception with is his description of it as a "terrifying supernatural shocker!"  First of all, there should be a comma between "terrifying" and "supernatural" (I'm an editor!  Woohoo!).  Anyway, my real gripe is that there was nothing terrifying or shocking about this film at all unless you're like five years old and watching it from behind the couch so your parents won't know you're looking.  I really have a problem with reviewers who throw stuff like that in their reviews just to get quoted on DVD covers.  It does a real disservice to the readers and the prospective buyers of the film who read that quote on the cover and then buy the film, expecting to get something they're not really going to get.

What you do get with this film is a really decent ghost story with great production value and a talented cast.  Is that enough to recommend it?  Sure it is, and I definitely recommend checking it out if you're in the mood for a good ghost story.  I just don't want my readers to be misled into thinking it's something it's not.

If you'd like to find out more about this film, you can check out the film's official website at http://www.ghostmonthmovie.com.