About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

A solid supernatural mystery for a quiet night at home.

Pros

• Good lead actress
• Twisty plot

Cons

• Low budget
• Not scary

Description

• Starring Elisabeth Rohm, Stacey Dash, Waylon Payne, Roma Maffia, Matthew Del Negro, David E. Webb, Griff Furst, Lily Rains
• Directed by Jack Snyder
• Rated PG-13
• DVD Release Date: August 25, 2009

Guide Review - 'Ghost Image' DVD Review

Jennifer is young, pretty and popular, but she's haunted -- figuratively and literally -- by the death of her family in a car accident when she was 12.

She feels responsible, and ever since, she's seen visions of her dead sister, pale and bloody, tormenting her. In recent years, though, she's taken medication to block the visions.

However, just when she seems to have her life under control, her boyfriend Wade dies in a -- yup -- car crash. Soon, not only does Jen begin seeing her dead sister again, but Wade shows up in the video he shot of her party the night before he died. When she plays the video, he pops up saying things like, "Jen, what's happening to me?" Doubting her sanity, she goes back on the meds, but the ghosts remain, and her attention turns to investigating Wade's death, which increasingly looks like murder.

There's no shortage of suspects: a shadowy figure who seems to be stalking her, a couple of friends who'd benefit from Wade's death and even the unbalanced Jen herself. Working with clues from her dead boyfriend, Jen slowly uncovers the truth.

Ghost Image has a quiet, classy feel -- bordering on sterility -- and modest budget that lends the air of a Lifetime movie, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Despite some ambiguity, the story is well constructed, and with red herrings aplenty, the mystery truly remains up in the air until the closing moments. Elisabeth Rohm shines as Jen, displaying both vulnerability and feistiness, her all-out effort making up for her sleepwalking co-stars.

Ghost Image plays much like Ghost meets White Noise, and although its romantic elements don't work as well as the former nor the horror elements as well as the latter, it's still an involving mystery, a cut above typical direct-to-video fare.

The DVD

Special features include commentary, featurette, deletes scenes and outtakes.

Movie: C+
DVD: B