Found Footage Fandom: The Blackwell Ghost (Vol. 1-8)

 Written By: Danny Albers 

If you have the time to plow through 8 short movies, I highly recommend checking out the Blackwell Ghost. It’s probably one of the most well done, low budget, mocked ghost hunting film series that I’ve seen. Turner Clay created the film series back in 2017. The thing that makes the Blackwell Ghost series so good is that it has a respectable balance of reality and faked material. When I say reality, I don’t mean that he makes you think these hauntings are real. But he doesn’t insult the viewers intelligence by throwing a bunch of special effect jump scares at you all at once. A lot of the creepy moments in this film are subtle, and he really took time in building this story that almost blends into a true crime documentary. I’m going to try and recap all 8 films into one recap so I can try to break down my thoughts on the series as a whole. Let’s get into it. 

Recap

The first film begins with a pretty standard found footage film troupe. A former film student who has been making zombie films wants to step into the world of documentaries. And so, he decided to try and prove if ghosts are real. He finds a house called the Blackwell House, where it is rumored that a woman went crazy inside the home, and killed a bunch of kids, dumping them into the well in the basement. He looks to uncover the secrets of the house before it is sold off to discover if Mrs. Blackwell really did commit the murders she’s accused of. He tracks down and interview an elderly woman who knew Mrs. Blackwell, as well as researching historic papers from the town. He connects with this ghost while at her home, capturing some wild paranormal evidence. When the haunting gets too intense, he takes a step back. On the final visit, while digging in the yard, he comes across a box that contains human teeth. This pretty much proves that Mrs. Blackwell committed the murders, and he moved his attention to a house near the swamps in Florida. This apparently was the home of a serial killer who murdered many young women who grew up around the area back in the 70’s and 80’s. The first couple of films is him analyzing both the paranormal evidence captured from which he thinks are the murdered girls trying to send him a message of where their bodies are. He’s also investigated old riddles left behind from the killer. After solving the puzzle and locating the remains of all the girls that were murdered, he becomes a sort of celebrity in the area and an informant for the police. Until eventually a girl goes missing, and he finds himself the victim of being stalked and toyed with by a psycho. This masked psycho reveals himself to be the son of the serial killer who lived in the home. He admits that the murders were done by him, and that now he’s found someone else to play with. A cat and mouse game has quickly arisen, with messages from the grave of “danger’ being sent by Clay’s deceased wife, Clay is working to bring justice to this killer once and for all. 

Thoughts 

It’s much easier to think of this film as a television series instead of as 8 separate movies. Since they all tie into each other, it feels like a show when you’re watching them, and the films are only about 60 minutes long. This series is unlike anything that I’ve seen before. At first glance, this film feels like just another ghost hunting parody film. But he uses that as a basis to transition this film into what it really is, which is a true crime thriller. It’s like The Bone Collector with a paranormal twist to it. I really love the work that he does in the middle of the series when he’s in the Florida swamp house investigating the missing girls. The content is absolutely terrifying and creepy, and it’s really well shot and written. The story goes off the rails a little bit when his wife dies, and she’s coming back to haunt him, and there’s this nutcase after him now. It becomes a really complicated psychological horror trying to follow all these clues left by the killer. But if you’re someone who really enjoys the horror genre, and true crime, this is a perfect blend for you as it kills two birds with one stone. I expect that a 9th installment should be dropping on Amazon Prime soon which should show Clay ending the story of catching the killer. 

Danny’s Star Rating (1-10) (of all 8 films): ★★★★★★★ 7