This Horror Movie With 100% on Rotten Tomatoes Is an Unflinching Psychological Terror (2024)

Much of the appeal of a home invasion horror flick is the scorching terror wreaked upon the home's residents, as the intruders don't only invade their homes, but also their minds. Alongside this abysmal fear are the relationships that either crack or strengthen under the pressure, delivering us either terrifyingly heartfelt moments or just plain drama. Boasting a coveted 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, Ghosts of the Void is still an overlooked addition to the home invasion genre that also explores the fragility of the human mind and human relationships. Except here, the protagonists don't live in a home and the invaders are less tangible than we initially believe. The premise itself is relatively straightforward, as director Jason Miller pushes us into the throes of cheap genre thrills and nail-biting tension. But it is enriched by a tight thematic exploration, as the film investigates how stress, relationships and the illusory American Dream interweave with each other, ultimately creating an unflinchingly haunting atmosphere that leaves us vulnerable to the finale.

Ghosts of the Void (2023)

Horror

Thriller

Drama

In this psychological horror series, a newly homeless couple, Jen and Tyler, spend a night in their car, facing exhaustion, a crumbling marriage, and masked strangers. The show delves into themes of mental health and societal anxieties, emphasizing the terror of their deteriorating circ*mstances and the looming external threats.

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Release Date

October 13, 2023

Director

Jason Miller

Cast

Michael Reagan , Tedra Millan , Carter Shimp , Nancy Wagner , Matt Bowdren , Chris Amos , Samuel Taylor , Eli Hamilton

Runtime

91 Minutes

Main Genre

Horror

Writers

Jason Miller

'Ghosts of the Void' Subverts the Home Invasion Genre

Ghosts of the Void opens up with Tyler (Michael Reagan) and Jen (Tedra Millan) being evicted from their home and searching for a place to park their lived-in car for the night. The couple comes off as supportive and endearing, as they both empathize with each other and quickly snip arguments borne out of hunger at the bud. Despite the desolate circ*mstances, it is quite a cozy set up as we bask in the couple's love, which is enhanced when the film's timeline is split between the present and the past. The scenes in the past are filmed with more warm hues, a stark contrast to the present chilly night. But, of course, this is a home invasion thriller and the comfort cannot last forever.

Miller covers all the genre thrills that create the taut and riveting tension expected of a home invasion horror flick. The couple's night starts going awry, as a mysterious clamp is attached to their car tire and a drone hovers around them in an antagonizing way. While Jen wants to call the police straight away, Tyler reminds her that they are parked illegally, and figures it was just a bunch of teenagers playing pranks. But like every home invasion, these "bumps in the night" gradually twist into something more sinister – strangers in blood-curdling masks. We are met with familiar nauseating sequences that compound the already churning moment, from attacking with makeshift weapons to stumbling blindly in the woods. One of the more memorable scenes involves the couple locked in the car with blankets covering the windows, and the camera positioned in the car right beside them, making for a dizzying and claustrophobic shot.

As Ghosts of the Void goes through the motions of a home invasion thriller, its vibrant and provoking commentary on stress and how it can fracture the self and relationships is littered throughout. So even as the film borders on cliché, it is given a fresh and refined feel, as it deliberately keeps the couple's reactions in vignette focus. This moves expertly into the jaw-dropping revelation in the finale, which completes the film’s confronting and twisted portrayal of stress and anxiety. Miller masterfully adheres to and subverts our expectations of the genre, giving life to its commentary on a subject that may be over-saturated in horror, but is mesmerizing in Ghosts of the Void.

Michael Reagan and Tedra Millan Portray Stress Masterfully in 'Ghosts in the Void'

Anxiety is explored in two distinct ways in Ghosts in the Void, as Tyler and Jen cannot be more different in the way they tackle the situation at hand. The flashbacks are also strategically placed to unveil various aspects of each character's personality, slowly creating a holistic representation of them by the end. Tyler is revealed to be a struggling writer. After reaching the peak of his writing career at university, he was never able to write anything of the same caliber again (or he just believed that), which often led him to nurse a bruised ego and a flask. He flails under the immense pressure he puts upon himself, encapsulated sordidly in Reagan's performance during a self-destructive flashback where Tyler drunkenly lies in bed and languidly announces he deleted the book he had spent months working on. We see hints of him over-compensating for his dismal self-esteem in the stressful present timeline, as he rebukes Jen's logical solutions and belligerently attempts to resolve everything himself.

Meanwhile, Jen is an aspiring photographer whose anxiety is driven by external circ*mstances, unlike Tyler, who is influenced by his internal environment. Trying to support her creative husband, Jen takes on the financial and emotional burdens of the relationship, as she struggles to discern ways to repay debts and mitigate Tyler's outbursts. Millan masters the unsettling combination of exhausted slumped shoulder and weary eyes, with a more alert and rigid stance that embodies the complexity of Jen's emotions. While Tyler's anxiety manifests in self-destructive behavior and alcoholism, Jen's appears as exhaustion, insomnia and panic attacks. This is hauntingly depicted in a disorienting panic attack scene, scored with a resounding and rich heartbeat, and topped off with Jen systematically grounding herself in a daze. The stark performances each give a harrowing gravitas to the film, but it is particularly damning when their representations of stress collide.

'Ghosts of the Void' Delivers Slow-Burn Horror That Increases Anxiety

In terms of horror, Ghosts of the Void is definitely slow-burn, steadily building up the terror at a pitiless and deliberate pace. But each dread-laden beat of the film still captivates us, as the horror may be slow to unfold to truly insane heights, but the exploration into the cracks in the couple's relationship is rapid and heartless. The way they resolved arguments in the beginning of the film seemed fairly healthy, albeit slightly passive-aggressive. Tension lurked beneath their comfort with each other, but it was easy to attribute this to their impoverished circ*mstances. However, the reality of their relationship is quickly unearthed, as Tyler often withdraws into his self-destruction spiral in the past timeline, leaving a harried Jen to pick up the shards in the aftermath of a paroxysm, hastily trying to restore the appearance of a relationship between her family and herself.

The film dissects the relationship, leaving its flaws wide open for us to study and seeing how stress corrupted each aspect of their lives. Jen clings onto what their relationship was like at university, hoping that a breakthrough in Tyler's writing career will restore their lives. Meanwhile, Tyler leans on Jen to manage his emotional well-being – both co-dependently putting pressure on each other and themselves. It’s almost as if the way they individually handle stress isn’t compatible, heightened in the present timeline where this incompatibility turns deadly. The revelation in the finale also becomes mind-numbing as we wonder how such a tiny mishap managed to set off a series of devastating events, simply because stress was injected into the situation and organically compounded on itself. Ghosts of the Void becomes a dramatized version of how anxiety can lace its tendrils into a relationship and one's psyche, fracturing it until it becomes a ghostly remnant of what it was before.

Stress Is Linked to the American Dream in 'Ghosts of the Void'

“The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.” The film opens up with this quote that dismantles the idea of the American Dream, expressly linking it to its investigation of mental health. With two aspiring creatives that try everything to stay afloat but end up succumbing to the darker side of the American Nightmare, it is fairly clear where the concept comes into play. However, the film's closing credits delivers a far more chilling and numbing consequence of the dream. Once the events of the stomach-curdling night come to a close, we are met with a brightly lit day when a stranger comes across the morbid scene. After investigating, the car is towed away and the debris is cleared, and the camera lazily pans to a picturesque golf course where a bunch of wealthy men are happily swinging away. As such, Jen and Tyler become insignificant ghosts in the void of the American Dream, as their struggles and the ruthless ordeal of the night are simply blemishes the dream is content to remain ignorant of. By both indulging and subverting the home invasion genre, Ghosts of the Void depicts the merciless reality of the American Dream and its brutal consequences on a person’s mental health and relationships.

Ghosts of the Void is currently available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.

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