Ghost Train
2013 · 16m · Ireland
Directed by Lee Cronin
Genres: drama, fantasy, horror
Tones: dark, melancholic, surreal
Two estranged brothers make an annual pilgrimage to a derelict fairground where their childhood friend vanished into a ghost train ride thirty years ago; on one such visit, a long-kept secret surfaces and reframes everything they thought they knew.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Lee Cronin's pre-Evil-Dead-Rise calling card — dual-timeline brothers and a derelict ghost-train haunting. Solid genre craft from 2013, not particularly distinctive in his catalog now.
Cronin (later director of Evil Dead Rise) deploys a dual-timeline derelict fairground with practical and digital effects — early evidence of the genre instincts he would later scale up. The Méliès d'Argent is appropriate.
Lee Cronin's pre-Evil Dead Rise origin film at 16:15 with a dual-timeline structure and the fairground itself as the menacing character — Melies d'Argent winner says the practical-plus-digital blend works. Genuine craft pedigree.
Reviews
A sense of dread running through Ghost Train from its opening sequence. Cronin quickly establishes the scenario, showcases some imposing craft, and has his audience tense with the promise of the horror yet to unfold.
The funhouse is the most interesting character — nightmare evoking. Beautifully shot while managing to deliver a compelling horror story with an even better back story.
Festivals
- Galway Film Fleadh 2013
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2014
- Palm Springs International Shortfest 2014
- Tampere Film Festival 2014
- Molins de Rei Horror Film Festival 2014, Méliès d'Argent — Best European Fantastic Short Film; Best Visual Effects; Jury 2nd Prize
- San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival 2014, Best Film, Youth Jury
- Court Métrange Fantastic Film Festival 2014, Youth Audience Award for Best Film
- Ithaca International Fantastic Film Festival 2014, Audience Award for Best Short Film
- Festival Fantasia 2014
- Telluride Horror Show 2014