Ten Movies about Souls with Unfinished Business

We all love ghost stories and the film industry never fail to pleasure us by producing movies in such genre. These ghost movies never have to be horror movies. Some belong to comedy, drama or romance genres. A common element in these films is the idea that the ghost is an unrested soul who must settle an unfinished account here on Earth. There are hundreds of such films, and here are ten of them:

The Others

The Others is a 2001 award-winning psychological horror film inspired by the novella “The Turn of the Screw”. Directed by Spanish-Chilean director Alejandro Amenabar, it stars Nicole Kidman and Christopher Eccleston. Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) is a Catholic mother living with her two children in a remote country house in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey during the post-World War II period. Life seems normal for the family until the arrival of three servants, when odd events begin to happen…  “Sometimes, the world of the dead gets mixed up with the world of the living.” In the end, Grace Stewart realizes they were the dead and the “intruders,” dead 50 years ago when she murdered her family. (image source)

The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 drama film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Williams, Joel Osment and Olivia Williams. It tells the story of a child psychologist named Dr. Malcolm Crowe and his interaction with a nine-year-old troubled child named Cole Sear. Cole claims to see dead people which Crowe would not believe at the beginning. The child eventually uses his gift to help out some ghosts. In the end, Crowe realizes that he is also a ghost and that he was killed when he and his wife were attacked by one of his patients (shown earlier in the movie). (See full review) (image source)

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REC 2

 

REC or [·REC]² is a 2009 sequel to the internationally-acclaimed 2007 Spanish horror film REC (see Random Film: REC). Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza still co-wrote and co-directed this second installment. It follows the events immediately after the events of REC, and hence, it still has that shaky camera and claustrophobic effect.

Plot. Dr. Owen, an official from the Ministry of Health, and a special group called GEO team are sent to the quarantined building to control the situation. Inside the building, they encounter the infected victims but Owen uses his rosary and religious mantra to drive them away. It turns out that Owen is actually a priest sent by the Vatican to acquire a blood sample from the Medeiros girl (the carrier of the virus which spread the demonic possession). They eventually reach the penthouse (owned by another priest in charge of her) and found the sample. However, it is set on fire while when they test it to confirm. The only option is to get a sample from the Medeiros girl herself.

Meanwhile, several other characters also surface. Jennifer’s father has come back after buying medicine for his child (the infected girl from REC who was thought to have tonsillitis only) and insists on entering the building. He convinces a firefighter and both go inside. Likewise, three teenagers – Tito, Mire, and Ori – manage to get inside the building via the sewage system. However, the police later seal the exit. Click here to read full review of "REC 2".

REC

 

REC (or ·REC) is a Spanish film co-written and co-directed by Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza. It was released in Spain in November 2007, and instantly became a critical and commercial success.

Plot.  The movie is fully in Spanish language and was filmed using camerawork. It follows a television reporter, Angela Vidal, and her cameraman, Pablo, who cover the night shift of a local fire station in Barcelona.

It begins with shots of Angela and Pablo documenting the activities of local firefighters. Then the fire station receives a call about an old woman who is trapped in her apartment. The group immediately responds and Angela and Pablo go with them. When they arrive at the area, the woman suddenly becomes aggressive and bites a policeman. She escapes and hides in one of the rooms. Meanwhile, the terrified residents in the building gather in the entrance hall as the entire building was sealed off and quarantined.

Later, the old woman bites another firefighter who plummets through the stairway to the lobby floor. The camera crew, police and remaining firefighter search for the old woman. She appears again, still fierce, and when she begins to attack them, she is shot. Afterwards, Angela interviews a little girl who appears to be sick with tonsillitis. Click here to read full review of "REC".

Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in) is a Swedish romantic horror film based on the same of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist who also wrote the screenplay. It is directed by Tomas Alfredson and stars 11-year old and first-time actors Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson.

Plot. The movie tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who develops an extraordinary friendship with a vampire girl. It is set in Blackeberg, a suburb in western Stockholm, in 1982.

Oskar is a shy boy living with his single mother in a cheap apartment. He is frequently bullied by his classmates in school. One night, he meets Eli, a new neighbor who appears to be a pale girl of his age. Eli has recently moved into the next-door apartment with an old man named Hakan. Initially, Eli warns Oskar not to befriend her, but after he lends her his Rubik’s Cube, they become closer and eventually become good friends.

Unknown to Oskar, Eli is secretly a vampire. She has already killed a local resident for blood. However, it is the old man Hakan who regularly kills people to obtain blood for Eli. One night, when he attempts to trap a student in a changing room after school, he is discovered by the authorities. Before they could catch him, he splashes concentrated hydrochloric acid onto his face so that they could not identify him and trace Eli. He is taken to the hospital and placed in a restricted room. That night, Eli visits him. Hakan then offers his neck to Eli for feeding, and after Eli has drained his blood, Hakan falls out the windows and dies. After which, Eli goes to Oskar’s apartment and the two agree to “go steady.” Click here to read full review of "Let the Right One In".

Passengers

Passengers is a 2008 thriller film starring Anne Hathaway and Patrick Wilson. It is directed by Rodrigo Garcia and released by TriStar Pictures.

Plot. The movie begins when psychotherapist Claire Summers (played by Anne Hathaway) is called upon to treat a group of five survivors of a recent plane crash. From them, Claire becomes more intrigued with Eric (played by Eric Wilson) for he shows symptoms that suggest he is disguising his true feelings about the crush by making major life changes. Eventually, Claire becomes attached with him. However, her other patients begin to mysteriously disappear. She forms a theory that the airline is targeting them to prevent fears about a mechanical failure from spreading. She then instigates a secret investigation about the crash.

 

Upon Eric’s suggestion, Claire visits her estranged sister’s house to make peace with her. But her sister is not around the house; instead, she is greeted by an official from the airline who has been advising her not to investigate the crash. He reveals to her that all of the passengers of the plane died in the crash. He leaves behind a suitcase that contains a ledger of passenger’s names. In the list, Claire discovers that she too was on the flight. In a huge wave of realization, she remembers everything that happened. Claire goes to the docks to meet Eric on his boat.

She realizes that everyone she came into contact with over the last few weeks was actually dead; "ghosts" of friends and family who were trying to help her come to terms that she, and the other passengers, have died. As the movie ends, Claire's sister, Emma, and her husband are let into her now-abandoned apartment by the landlord, where she discovers a note Claire was planning to send to make peace with her.

Commentary. The movie tells about the ghost who remains in the earth to settle her unfinished business. She is unaware of it and only with her association with the other ghosts that she realizes her own death.

Passengers is one of Anne Hathaway’s less popular movies. Its failure to be well-received may be due to its plainness and ordinariness. The movie has a simple story and the plot did not successfully build a heart-breaking or a thrilling climax. It is painfully dull all throughout, even at the reveal of the twist in the end.

Reception. The film generally received negative reviews. Metacritic gave it a score of 40 out of 100, while Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 21%.

Rating. I will give the film one and a half stars out of five. The movie is overall uninteresting though it has a good twist at the end. There’s nothing unique in it. Each scene feels sleepy and events are forgettable. Only the end will make you appreciate it. Even Hathaway’s and Wilson’s acting prowess did not save it. So the movie is far from being brilliant at all.

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Five Essential Movies about the Power of Imagination

Some movies defy imagination. Breathe-taking places. Never before seen monsters.  Heart-pumping adventures. These are some of the things that such movies bring. But more than exploring the power of the imagination, a few leaves us wonderful message and great lessons. That after watching the film, we are not only awed by its creativity and grandeur, but also overwhelmed with its story and message. Here are five essential imaginative movies.

Pan’s Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish: El laberinto del fauno, “The Faun’s Labyrinth”) is a beautiful epic masterpiece by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro, one of the best movie directors in the recent age. The movie is in Mexican and Spanish language and though opened in 2006, it was only widely released in 2007.

The movie wonderfully intertwined reality and imagination in a child’s mind as she braves a trying time. It is set in Spain in May-June 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil war. Ofelia, a lonely girl, travels with her pregnant mother and arrives at the post of her new stepfather, an officer of the post-Civil War Spain. The place is near the mountains where Spanish guerillas were also living. Unknown to the officer’s knowledge, several guerillas disguise and work inside the post. One day, Ofelia discovers an abandoned labyrinth, and inside, she meets a Faun who tells the fairy tale of Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm who escapes to the Earth, forgets her past and dies.Both Ofelia and the Faun believe she is the reincarnated Princess and before she can come back to the underworld, she must pass several missions. As Ofelia accomplishes the challenges, the war in the mountains builds up, her mother becomes more ill with her pregnancy, and sooner, Ofelia is suspected as one of the guerillas as she does things in secret. In the end, Ofelia, despite her heart-breaking death, becomes the hero for both worlds.

Pan’s Labyrinth became an instant classic the moment it was opened. The movie effortlessly weaved great fantasy with a distressful and troubled world. The fantasy was all so real that after watching the film, audiences would wonder if everything has been real despite certain small clues in the movie. Expectedly, the movie is very well received. It gathered a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 98% on Metacritic, becoming the fourth highest rated movie of all time in Metacritic. In box office, it also performed brilliantly as it places itself as one of the highest-grossing foreign films of all time. Pan’s Labyrinth also appeared on several critics’ top ten lists of the best movies in 2006, particularly in TIME Magazine (#1), and New York Post. Lastly, the movie received nomination as Best Foreign Language Film in both Academy and Golden Globe Awards in 2007.

The world inside the labyrinth is very magical. Each of Ofelia’s adventures is exciting and sometimes scary. The monster “Pale Man” and the Faun itself are some of the best creatures in the movie. Pan’s Labyrinth is undoubtedly one of the most creative, most original and freshest movies of all time. (See full review)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Andrew Garfield, Tom Waits and Lily Cole. Ledger’s sudden death temporarily suspended the shooting, but his role was later recast with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell.

The movie follows the wandering of a theater troupe whose leader, Doctor Parnassus, has previously made a bet with the Devil which he wins and is awarded immortality. The troupe now travels around, taking audiences through a magical mirror to explore their imagination. They are then presented with a choice between self-fulfilling enlightenment or gratifying ignorance. Later, the Devil appears to Doctor Parnassus and reminds him of their earlier agreement – that the soul of her daughter Valentina will be his when she turns 16, which is due in three days. However, Parnassus manages a wager with the Devil and both agree that whoever wins five souls first, Valentina will stay with him. The troupe suddenly makes extensive shows every night, now with a stranger named Tony. Near the end, Parnassus, Tony, and Valentina enters the mirror and faces the imaginations brought alive by their secrets, lies, dreams, frustrations and failure. Valentina is eventually freed from the bargain, Tony “dies”, and Parnassus succumbs to a miserable life.

Filming of the movie has really become challenging as Ledger dies along the way and as the film is shot through several locations like London and Vancouver. Production began in December 2007 and was finished only by late 2008. All the hassle was compensated by the huge success of the movie. It debuted #3 on its first weekend at the UK box office and #2 in both France and Italy. It already did break even, even before its opening in North America. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a rating of 66%, and 63% for Metacritic, which are highly positive. The movie also received several nominations, including two for Academy Awards.

The worlds inside the Doctors Parnassus’ mirror are the best parts in the movie. The imageries are all vivid, colorful, alive and mesmerizing. How enlightenment and ignorance are represented inside the mirror, like the beautiful motels, gondolas, and endless desert, are very creative and inspiring. Truly, it is a mind-boggling and partly sad movie.

Spirited Away

Spirited Away is one of the best films produced by Japan. It is an animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 2001.

The movie begins with a family getting lost when moving to a new town and then discovering an abandoned amusement park. They explored the park and when the parents tasted some delicious food, they are turned into pigs. Chihiro Ogino, the only child in the family, becomes desperate to save her parents. When nightfall comes, a “ghost” boat emerges on a river and only then Chihiro realizes that her family has entered the world of the spirits. With the advice of a friend she meets, Chihiro asks for a job in the bathhouse so she can stay and rescue her parents. Chihiro, whose name is now changed to Sen, undergoes several trials and misadventures. But Chihiro must pursue and pass the tests. And along this journey, Chihiro moves from a child to a young adult, capable of love and wisdom.

Spirited Away is a very huge success, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan. It also received a high rating of 97% at Rotten Tomatoes, ranking as the thirteenth-best animated film in the site. In 2002, it bagged the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film. In 2010, Empire Magazine ranked it as #10 on its “The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.”

The movie is very imaginative that it gave us a splendid bathhouse with fanciful funny creatures inside. The more original creations in the film are “No Face” and Haku, the river spirit.

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 fantasy drama film based on the novel of the same name by Katherine Paterson. It is produced by Walt Disney and stars child wonders Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb.

The movie is about two ten-year old neighbors, Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke, and the world they invented called Terabithia. The world they discover is inside the woods which they can only visit when they swing across a creek on a rope (the bridge). In Terabithia, they race and play and fight against unknown creatures like the talking trees and the troll. Here, anything they imagine comes to life. But it is not only pure adventure for Jesse, for eventually, he learns to come to terms with his distraught family and his frustrations in school. And just when things seem so beautiful, he must learn to face a tragic and sad ending – Leslie’s death.

The film deals with imagination and death in such subtle ways that audience root for each character and each event. With the movie, viewers will see a beautiful and serene world where lovely creatures dwell. The monsters are portrayed with good heart and their violence is only driven by certain loneliness and lack. Bridge to Terabithia was very much welcomed by audiences and critics that it got a positive rating of 85% at Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 74 at Metacritic.

The Neverending Story

The NeverEnding Story (German: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a 1984 movie adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michael Ende and is co-produced by German and American companies. It stars Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway and Tami Stronach.

The movie tells about the boy who discovers a magical book. Bastian Bux, a quiet boy who loves to read, stumbles about a book entitled “The NeverEnding Story” while he hides in a bookstore to escape from the school bullies. He manages to “borrow” the book from the grumpy bookseller despite his warning that it is “not safe’. He then hides in the school attic and began reading the book. The book describes the magical world of Fantasia which is being threatened by a force called “The Nothing”. The Childlike Empress of Fantasia summons the warrior Atreyu and gives him a magical medallion called the Auryn to help him defeat The Nothing. Atreyu goes through several adventures and finds out that the only way to stop The Nothing is for the Empress to be given a new name by a human child. Only when the kingdom is placed in a desperate situation that Bastian realizes that the book calls for his help. He shouts the name “Moonchild” and he suddenly finds himself inside the story, face to face with the Empress. With his imagination and wishes, Bastian saves the world of Fantasia from the evil forces.

The NeverEnding Story is one of the most imaginative films in the 80s. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film produced outside of the USA. The film opened to mostly positive reviews, garnering a rating of 85% at Rotten Tomatoes but only a score of 46 out of 100 on Metacritic. The movie is greatly praised for its stunning special effects and creativity. Despite this, the film underperformed in the box office.

The fantasy world of Fantasia is beautifully created and very breathe-taking. Audiences would truly love the characters Atreyu and the luck dragon Falkor. The movie was then followed by two sequels: The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter and The NeverEnding Story III: Escape From Fantasia.

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The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a drama film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan who later directed great films like Signs. It stars Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette and Olivia WIliiams. It was released and distributed by Spyglass Entertainment and Hollywood Pictures.

Plot.  The film opens with the murder scene of child psychologist named Dr. Malcolm Crowe (played by Bruce Willis). He is returning home with his wife Anna (Olivia Williams) when a young man attacks them. Crowe recognizes the attacker as Vincent Grey, one of his former patients whom he treated as a child for hallucination. Crowe is shot in the lower abdomen, and later, Grey commits suicide.

The next fall, Crowe begins working with a new patient, nine-year-old Cole Sear who is also suffering from the conditions similar to Grey. Meanwhile, Crowe notices that her relationship with his wife is slowly falling apart.

Cole soon trusts Crowe and confides in him that he “sees dead people that walk around like regular people.” Crowe does not believe him at first but urges Cole to communicate with the ghosts to help them with their unfinished business on Earth. Cole eventually uses his gift and helps out some ghosts.

 

In the end, Crowe has a sudden realization when he comes home. As her wife sleeps, she releases his wedding ring. Only then Crowe observes that he is not wearing the ring and the stark truth dawns on him. Crowe was actually killed by Vincent Grey and unknowingly dead all the time he was working with Cole. With the kid’s help, Crowe finally fulfills the answers to his unfinished business. 

 

Review. For me, The Sixth Sense, is one of the best horror films of all time. The movie had not only succeeded in giving audience a great chill but also a very heart-warming drama.

The movie is not a typical horror flick which scares audience with vicious monsters and gross scenes. It is somewhat subtle and the horror is more on silence. It relates to anybody’s feeling of being watched or not being alone. This is common to everyone and this aspect of believability is what sets the film from the rest. The slow appearances of ghosts and the sudden shocking apparitions can really raise the hairs of audience. The movie gives a good and not-over-the-top scare.

There is also drama in the film as the kid sets out to help the ghosts. In every story, there is a strong and sad force that made them stay on Earth. As Cole struggles to help them, he also learns lessons of love, loss and acceptance.

Unforgettable Scenes. The tent scene where Cole encounters a female ghost is really the scariest part. On the other hand, the end part where Crowe was hit with the realization that he was dead was the most heart-breaking.

Reception. The Sixth Sense is a very huge success. It gathered an 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 64 rating on Metacritic. It grossed more than $672 million with its budget of only $40 million. In 2007, it was named the 89^th Best Film of all time by the American Film Institute.

Rating. Undoubtedly, The Sixth Sense is an unforgettable classic. For this, I would have to give it five stars out of five.