As The Specials once sang “This town is coming like a ghost town”. Owen Conway’s directorial debut shares a name with the ska bands big hit but is instead an attempt at a horror Western, as opposed to an iconic bop takedown of the Thatcher government.
Conway, as well as writing, takes on the lead role of a drifter who arrives in an Old West town, takes on the role of barman and becomes embroiled in a series of mysterious deaths that may have a more supernatural quality (as you’d expect from a title like Ghost Town).
This is a work that gains much from its locale, an authenticity that elevates proceedings, an ensemble of suitably Western tropes are well-acted here and there are moments where Ghost Town touches on being both a good Western and a good horror. But the balance feels a tad off, the Western genre has been a staid one for many years now, for every Bone Tomahawk there’s a Cowboys vs Aliens. It feels like Conway’s film doesn’t quite find the revisionism needed (not helped by a text that makes the lead actor bizarrely attractive to numerous female characters) to make this all work.
Ghost Town also falls in when it comes to the presentation of the threat. As lived-in as this feels as a Western, as a horror one can see the limitations of an indie budget. But there are compelling aspects here and Conway has potential as a director, even if he needs a narrative that may need to defocus from Conway the actor.
Conway, as well as writing, takes on the lead role of a drifter who arrives in an Old West town, takes on the role of barman and becomes embroiled in a series of mysterious deaths that may have a more supernatural quality (as you’d expect from a title like Ghost Town).
This is a work that gains much from its locale, an authenticity that elevates proceedings, an ensemble of suitably Western tropes are well-acted here and there are moments where Ghost Town touches on being both a good Western and a good horror. But the balance feels a tad off, the Western genre has been a staid one for many years now, for every Bone Tomahawk there’s a Cowboys vs Aliens. It feels like Conway’s film doesn’t quite find the revisionism needed (not helped by a text that makes the lead actor bizarrely attractive to numerous female characters) to make this all work.
Ghost Town also falls in when it comes to the presentation of the threat. As lived-in as this feels as a Western, as a horror one can see the limitations of an indie budget. But there are compelling aspects here and Conway has potential as a director, even if he needs a narrative that may need to defocus from Conway the actor.