At the Place of Ghosts

The film At the Place of Ghosts, or Sk+te’kmujue’katik in the Mi’kmaq language spoken by about 11,000 people in Canada, is a ghost story. It is advertised as a thriller, and yet, after watching it, I am more inclined to call this a speculative drama, which brings forward the question: why was I not ‘thrilled,’ or in this case, ‘spooked’?

Director Bretten Hannam paces this story very slowly. With angles shot from afar,
between the trees that make up the primary setting of ‘the Old Forest,’ it makes the viewer feel like a wolf stalking its prey. We are hunched behind bushes, crouched over fields and we follow the ground, as if following a scent, in the opening scenes. The soundtrack, composed by Jemery Dutcher and Devon Bate, is also haunting and eerie, further enhancing this feeling that we are constantly on the threshold of something bad. It’s a feeling similar to the one you get when you look down at a dark pit from the edge of a cliff.

This is as much a story of family coming together, and reconciling differences, as it is a story of a ghost-hunt.

The two protagonists are two siblings who have been apart for a long time. One of the two, the elder, is visited by a ghoul – a spirit that we learn has haunted the two siblings since they were children – and we then follow them as they venture back into the forest to face this demon. This is as much a story of family coming together, and reconciling differences, as it is a story of a ghost-hunt. Drawing from the Mi’kmaq culture, healers, spirits, ancestors and strange creatures appear and colour the setting of the forest: “The forest will provide the rest.”

But was I scared? Thrilled? Not particularly. While the tone is spooky, there are none of the usual jump scares that accompany a modern thriller. The horror of the film is the siblings’ story, which the viewer pieces together slowly throughout. The emotional tone is strong, and I was brought to tears at a point near the end, but strangely, I felt like I could predict what was happening.

Of course, the supernatural elements were varied and unique: but after only a few minutes, the viewer already realises that there will be these strange elements, so while their presence is odd, it is not unexpected. I think the lack of a pacing shift is also what prevents this movie from being a true thriller. The slow pacing remains the same throughout the movie, and emotional climaxes are presented through crescendos in the soundtrack rather than an increase in action. The music without the action creates a strange dissonance which, while heightening the emotion of a scene, does not make it more exciting.

On leaving I felt moved but slightly disappointed – like I had taken a step back from the cliff after staring at the pit for too long. There’s a part of your brain that continues to think, ‘what if I had jumped?’ And while, of course, you would feel relief for not actually having jumped, in the metaphorical sense, the movie would have benefitted from leaping. 

I did truly enjoy the supernatural elements, the general feeling of eeriness, and how Hannam managed to recreate the feeling of lament. There was a strong arc in terms of the two siblings coming together, and it was the first time in a while I had been truly engrossed in a movie; my attention never wavered. However, there are so many unresolved threads that I believe could have been tied: the ending didn’t quite offer the catharsis that the rest of the movie had set it up for. 

Fantasy/Thriller

Director: Bretten Hannam 

Screenwriter: Bretten Hannam

Starring: Blake Alec Miranda, Forrest Goodluck, Glen Gould

Run time: 81 min

Release date: Limited release