What would you do if you were throwing a party at your (rental) house and suddenly you hear strange noises coming from your closet? Would you look and see what was happening? Is it just a couple who have snuck away for some private time? What if you find… nothing? You hear the sounds once again and still nothing is there? This is the situation faced by roomies/best-friends Sergio and Brad in the new horror/comedy GHOST TEAM ONE. They are both terrified by what is happening in their home but neither one can afford to move out of the house and break their lease with their other, strange roommate Chuck.
GHOST TEAM ONE is the story of Sergio and Brad, long-term best friends who are faced with this untenable situation. Sergio is shy and seemingly terrified of everything so he is naturally the one afflicted with the most creepy hauntings. But the movie takes an even weirder turn when the spirit begins to interact with the guys on a much more basic sexual level, throwing them both into an even more confusing and terrifying situation.
Regardless, both Sergio and Brad are just about ready to bail on the house but when they find out an attractive stranger who came to their party, Fernanda, is into the fact they might be haunted they simply cannot pass up an opportunity to have her at their home as often as possible. So our heroes decide to stay in the house as the hauntings become worse as they taunt the spirit with Fernanda.
GHOST TEAM ONE features the pairing of two unknown actors in a sort-of buddy-comedy while they deal with the horrors occurring around them. It is not a big budget blockbuster so don’t expect a lot of fancy effects and you’ll probably have a good time. The biggest problem, from the viewpoint of someone who enjoys a good scary movie, is that GHOST TEAM ONE is far too full of jump moments and sound cues to generate screams rather than providing solid content and allowing that to gradually become more and more unsettling to the audience (which is far more effective in my opinion).
But with such a small budget you will still probably be surprised by the quality of this picture. Getting to watch movies regularly through my work on this site I’ve seen some really great and some REALLY terrible low budget flicks. GHOST TEAM ONE sits somewhere in the middle of this spectrum but the bar is firmly planted on the positive side. The buddy action between young unknowns Carlos Santos (Sergio) and J.R. Villarreal (Brad) is quite believable and their chemistry is undeniable,. What’s more, Fernanda provides a much needed conflict for our chief characters when she appears on the scene during their house party. Both Brad and Sergio are immediately drawn to her but neither is sure how to best engage this beauty.
The other weak part of the flick is in the character of Chuck, their ‘other’ roommate who is on the wagon and trying to keep from exposing himself to any type of substance (difficult when your roommates are constantly throwing parties). I say the problem is with the character because I’ve seen this actor in a few other things (including a new commercial for a US cell carrier) and he’s really funny… but for some reason the direction or writing seemed to point Chuck’s characterization toward a literal retread of Lochlyn Munro’s Cliff (DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS). Chuck is SO one note, in fact, that by the time his character is ready to have some development later in the film there just isn’t anywhere to take him. We no longer care about his journey.
It’s a problem that plagues a lot of low budget flicks, especially those with casting from a relatively unknown pool. But GHOST TEAM ONE at least does a nice job in one respect (besides having a modestly satisfying plot) – it takes advantage of the low budget to try some things in the real world instead of using the Hollywood crutch of CGI. Figuring out simple camera tricks, set ups, and editing really take some skill and the directors of GHOST TEAM ONE have definitely got me interested in their next venture. The verdict on this one, though, is sketchy. If you really like jump moment horror this is probably a decent movie for you. If you prefer some more tangible and harrowing, however, GHOST TEAM ONE will not meet your needs.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p Widescreen 1.78:1) The video is pretty standard for a low-budget independent film but is not what you would typically expect on a Blu-ray. Nothing special in the presentation of GHOST TEAM ONE that makes it worth your while.
Audio: (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) The audio for GHOST TEAM ONE, on the other hand, is surprisingly well done. This immersive audio track is probably the best thing about this movie.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (13:35) A few unnecessary scenes are presented here, nothing good and nothing that does anything to help GHOST TEAM ONE reach a better final presentation.
Chuck’s Video Diary (07:09) Chuck’s “clean life” video diary (seen in quick moments throughout the movie) is presented in its entirety here. It does little to expand his story though I’m sure it created a few laughs on set.
Bloopers (03:03) A semi-funny reel of outtakes is presented because everyone loves outtakes but on a terrible movie like GHOST TEAM ONE they just don’t do anything for me.
Behind the Scenes (06:23) Chanel the dog (isn’t that funny everyone?) chronicles the making of GHOST TEAM ONE.
The Blu-ray for GHOST TEAM ONE also includes an UltraViolet Digital Copy of the feature for those who might want to have online access to this debacle.
