Sightings – Heartland Ghost

Sightings: Heartland Ghost is based, apparently, on a true story. One is reminded of that other “true story” haunted house movie, The Amityville Horror. But both films have the same hokey quality in common. (no blood in the toilet in Sightings, however). Sightings starts with the “new couple moving to the neighborhood”. They slowly learn that there is something “not quite right” about their new house. Enter paranormal debunker (Beau Bridges) and his T.V crew. Bridges’ character host… a quasi-reality show about ghosts and other worldly behavior. Like the couple, Bridges comes face to face with the history of sin and murder that took place in this house. He is forced to deal with his cynicism about the paranormal and becomes changed by the whole experience. Sounds good, huh. It’s not.

Beau Bridges is a fine actor. Why is he in such a cheesy movie? Times must be tough. Beau, like his brother Jeff, always brings a sense of humanity to his roles. The case is still true here. The movie is laughably bad at times (see spoiler notes). But Bridges grounds the movie and gives it a depth it doesn’t deserve.

SPOILER NOTES: Okay…the floating stuffed duck scene…is totally ridiculous. How is your audience supposed to take your movie seriously?? And the ghost knows Beau’s cell number?? C’mon.

Video

Pretty good 1.33:1 fullscreen transfer here. The look of the film has a kind of low budget T.V blandness; color palette is somewhat dull. But some of the colors really come alive during the “ghostly vision” sequences. There are some grainy night time shots, but thankfully the Edge enhancement and halos are minimal.

Audio

You gotta have good sound for a ghost movie, no “bones” about it. Sound and music can be used to great effect on rear speakers: moaning, footsteps, breaking glass, a sweep of noise from right to left, for example. Does Sightings utilize the potential for audio? A resounding yes. The best part about the disc is the 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Despite some hokey scenes, there are, in fact, a few effective ghost sequences, and they are effective because of the directionality of the rear and front, left and right speakers. Well done.

Special Features

None. A real “ghost town” of a disc.

Final Thoughts

A low key, low budget ghost movie. It’s not good. If someone has a good script, please send it to Beau Bridges. There is some nudity in the film though…but it’s female upper body ghost nudity…so if that turns your crank…give it a rental. The video is better than average and the sound is excellent. But if the movie walks like a duck and talks like a duck… it’s still a duck… a floating one… in Sightings: Heartland Ghost’s case (see spoiler notes to get the joke).

Special Features List

• None