A NEW X-File has been opened! Get your attention? I figured it would. Coming this August from Terror Films, The Ghost Lights appears!
After a brief opening in which a stranger takes pictures of various scenes in West Texas, we quickly settle into the back of an uber as Alex (Katreeva Phillips), an investigative journalist, learns that she’s bungled up the dates of her father’s funeral. She’s just arrived in Dallas, but it doesn’t matter. She missed the funeral. Not by hours, but by days. That’s how far removed she’s been from her family.
Thing is, Alex isn’t doing so hot of a job as a journalist either. She’s in hot water with her boss who wants the next story and, now, she’s far away from New York City, learning that her alcoholic father was buried two days ago. Or was it three? She doesn’t know. All she does know is that making amends with her family is going to be a chore.
And now she’s standing in her father’s empty house. All there is a old Smith-Corona typewriter, an 80s-era cassette player, and a cassette labeled “The Ghost Lights”. What was he up to?
It turns out, quite a bit was on Aurthur C. Bennet’s (John Francis McCullagh) mind and Alex - going through the information on the tape - just might have her next story as she listens to her father interview one Mario (Billy Blair) in a West Texas ghost town plagued by glowing orbs on the darkest of nights.
The Ghost Lights is well-shot and proves to be every bit the spine-chilling science fiction thriller it’s being marketed as. Ultimately, the film is about Alex’s search for the truth about extraterrestrial life. In doing so, she finds her own connection to her journalistic instincts in an effort to connect with the memory of her late father.
And then she embarks on a road trip to discover the truth for herself. While moody, The Ghost Lights pulls off a solid mystery and proves to be a worthwhile trip to the edge of what’s weird and what’s coincidence as Alex discovers way more than she bargained for thanks to a government facility just a few miles from where the ghost lights are spotted. Just what is going on here?
This is a deeply fascinating movie which weaves in themes of loss, guilt, and redemption, all encased in a mystery which involves those lights. That’s her excuse for it all, but really Alex’s own deep dive down the rabbit hole is more about connecting with her father as she finds herself on the hunt for this Mario figure and being trailed by a mysterious figure who lurks in the corner of her eyes.
Billy Blair (Jonah Hex), Katreeva Phillips and John Francis McCullagh uncover an X-File this summer. The Ghost Lights is on digital August 26 followed by the Terror Films Channel September 2 and Kings of Horror on Sep 9.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 84 mins
Director: Timothy Stevens
Writer: Timothy Stevens
Cast: Billy Blair; Katreeva Phillips; Timothy Stevens
Genre: Horror | Sci-fi
Tagline: Bad things happen to those who chase lights..
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Terror Films
Official Site: https://www.terrorfilms.net/film/ghost-lights
Release Date: August 26, 2022; Terror Films Channel-September 2, 2022; Kings of Horror-September 9, 2022
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A journalist returns home after the death of her father and discovers a mysterious cassette tape describing strange disappearances and mysterious lights appearing in the skies of West Texas. In an effort to connect with the memory of her late father, she sets out on a cross-state road trip to discover the truth.
