Review: The Ghosts of Monday

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

The Ghosts of Monday
Directed by Francesco Cinquemani
Altadium Group; Jingi; Cleopatra Entertainment; MVD Visual
78 minutes, 2022 / 2023
https://altadium.com/
www.cleopathra-entertainment.com
www.mvdvisual.com

The proliferation of cable “documentary” shows focused on Ghost Hunters has led to a subgenre in that field. Often they are found footage style like Alone in the Ghost House (2015), Ouija Death Trap (2014), and Beyond the Shadows (2020), just to name a trio. Of course, there have been some mainstream “Ghost Hunter” films for decades, such as The Haunting (1962), The Legend of Hell House (1973), and Poltergeist (1982).

So here we are, with a new Ghost Hunter tale that never goes well for the participants, with some relatively strong star power in the form of Julian Sands, who starred in some A-listed films in the 1980s and ‘90s, and has been in cinematic decline in the 2000s as he refocused his career to the stage. But he is enough of a name to grab some attention, especially for genre fans who loved him in Warlock (1989).

Ghost Hunter films tend to follow a basic premise: the group goes to investigate a legendary haunted locale, and find more than they bargained for. In this case, it is the Grand Hotel Gula, located in Cyprus (the country in which this is filmed; in fact, this is the first home-grown horror released out of that island country). Planning on shooting the pilot episode of the documentary series “Ghosts of the Old World,”, the group, led by the show’s host and narrator, Bruce (Sands), are on their way to find the spirits, and not the kind that come out a liquor bottle, which Bruce imbibes.

I am looking forward to seeing this. Ironically, I am not a fan of Ghost Hunter reality television shows, but often enjoy Ghost Hunter films, generally. Go figure! For this one, the title refers to a Monday night in 1990 when 100 people in the dining room were killed by rat poison, though no one knows how, and people have been dying in that location for hundreds of years. The locals avoid the area and the hotel has been abandoned for more than 20 years, but has been recently bought and is being renovated by weird couple Frank (Anthony Skordi) and his wife, Rosemary (Maria Ioannou).

Mark Huberman, Julian Sands

If I have this right, Bruce has been hosting shows for a while, and is a skirt-chasing lothario who it seems most of the women are onto and give him the brushoff. The hot-headed director of the show-to-be, who does not seem happy to be there, is Eric (Mark Huberman). He is with his ex-, the mysterious Sofia (Marianna Rosset), who is from Cyprus and has a history with the hotel; she is also the adopted daughter of Bruce. The crew include cameraperson Jennifer (Flavia Watson) and sound tech Christine (Elva Trill). The liaison between crew and the Hotel is Anna (Kristina Godunova). And where are they all staying? At the Gula, of course. Keep the body count close.

The early tone of the film reminds me a bit of The Sentinel (1977) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), as people keep feeding Sofia tea with “local herbs,” including the financiers of the Ghost Hunter show, Dom (Loris Curci) and Pat (Joanna Fyllidou). Something wicked this way comes, me thinks. Meanwhile, recurrent shaky POV shots show that everyone from the prospective program is being watched.

Marianna Rosset

Early on, there is the mention of the Cult of Teshub, who was the Hurrian god of sky, thunder, and storms in part, with the Iron Age Luwian and Hittite cultures during the early 13th century BCE (thank you, Wikipedia). Here, it dealt with human sacrifice. There is no subtly that this will be an important plot point going forward into the Second and Third Act, as it is stated more than once. Same with Sofia’s dreams, telegraphing that, in the words of Prof. Pretorious in From Beyond (1986), “Something is coming, Crawford!”

Eva Trill

When the killin’ finally starts, what it nice is that there is a multi-pronged and genre jumping storylines, such as slasher, monster, and cult. Of course, they all tie in together, but it made me happy that it was not just one or the others. When someone gets to meet their maker (colloquially, of course), there is a nice variety. Besides, if you cannot figure out who the bad guys are early on, and probably what is their motivation, well, you just have not seen enough genre films (is it possible to see too many? I say no). There is also a nice reference to the 1953 short story, “The Nine Billion Names of God,” by Arthur C. Clarke.

Flavia Watson

The killing effects look great and had me cheering. I did not really notice any digi-SFX, most of it being practical and very bloody. My one question is, as they all had cell phones, why at some point did anyone not call the police at any point?

With quite the international and attractive cast (including a nice and gratuitous shower scene), the action is first rate, mostly. Sands, generally a good actor, is both wooden and over-emoting at the same time, often acting with his eyes, eyebrows and a forward tilt of his head. He seems to forget he is not on the stage, but in front of the more intimate camera. However, there are some beautiful shots of the hotel lobby atrium, which is almost another character in the story.

Cyprus did good here. There is just enough of an arty tone to give this some oomph, but not enough to make it opaque or distracting. The few scenes we see outside of the hotel of the city are beautiful; visiting Cyprus is on my bucket list.

This film did not disappoint, and I look forward to more output from the island Republic of Cyprus.

IMDB listing HERE