WE HAVE A GHOST

Christopher Landon makes wonderfully quirky horror films that defy the typical cynicism of the genre nowadays. He avoids the pretension of “elevated horror” by expressing contagious joy through his filmmaking in movies like “Happy Death Day,” "Happy Death Day 2U," and “Freaky.” Say what you will about their execution or quality overall; I don’t think anyone can argue against Landon having a damn blast while making them. His latest, “We Have a Ghost,” is at its best when Landon is allowed to be goofy in a way that just makes the viewer smile. Sadly, his writing isn’t as sharp as his directing, as the movie goes on way too long and through multiple endings, even as it seems content to repeat themes and images instead of building on the film’s interesting ideas. In the end, it’s a solid distraction, which is all most people are looking for on Netflix, but I’m hoping he makes “Happy Death Day 3” before revisiting this world.

We Have a Ghost is 2023 American supernatural horror comedy film written and directed by Christopher Landon, based on the 2017 short story "Ernest" by Geoff ManaughPlot

One year after the last owners fled in terror, the Presleys are shown a house. Suspicious of the low price, the estate agent insists that recently prices have been low.

On the first night Kevin, the youngest, investigates a sound in the attic. Using his mobile phone light, a ghost appears. When he fails to scare Kevin but instead gets met with a laugh, he vanishes.

Kevin returns to the attic and sits down to talk with the ghost. He can't talk and doesn't remember anything about his life. Kevin calls him Ernest as that is the name on his bowling shirt. Suddenly Kevin's big brother Fulton barges in. As he's bullying Kevin for his phone, Ernest helps him.

Fulton finds a video Kevin had recorded of Ernest when he first saw him and soon shows their father Frank that their new home is haunted by a ghost. Frank creates a YouTube channel, gets more video of him and, after convincing the mother Mel they could profit from him, makes the ghost and his family Internet-famous.

In high school Kevin meets Joy, the neighbor. She refers to his home as the house of death. Once the video of Ernest goes viral, they cross paths in the library and Joy quickly finds that the house's owner Ernest S. lived there from '65 to '71 and is now residing elsewhere.

The West Bay cable TV medium Judy Romano comes to film meeting Ernest. Kevin shows him various horror clips to help him be scarier. It doesn't take long for Ernest to scare her crew, but even Judy reacts in terror, jumping out the window. The post of the madam's reaction goes record-breaking viral.

Joy convinces Kevin that they need to take Ernest out to a bar once belonging to the house's past owner to try and jog his memory. They start to uncover the truth about Ernest's past, first a photo of him with the previous house owner, then he becomes fixated on a little blonde girl in the park.

However, Dr. Leslie Monroe visits Frank and Mel, telling them about an old program she ran with the CIA. Called Wizard Clip, it's goal was to catch a ghost. When cost of the program was made known to the public they scrapped it, making her the scapegoat. When she tries to convince them Ernest is dangerous, Frank throws her out.

A viral video of Ernest with the girl in the park sets the CIA in motion. They break into the Presley home, but Kevin, Joy and Ernest have already left for Oklahoma to find the past house owner. The next morning the Presley's are coersed into doing an appeal to apprehend the trio. The broadcast comes on a convenience store TV and they outrun the many police cruisers chasing them.

Arriving at the house in Oklahoma, the man tells the story of Randy (our Ernest), who he says became a drunk not able to cope with his wife's death from giving birth. He left his four year daughter with them and disappeared. Ernest makes himself visible, and the CIA swoops in.

Back home, Kevin is depressed. Frank apologises to him, recognising he's been selfish at the family's expense. He also tells Kevin he's a much better man than he is.

In the CIA facility, an aggressive agent is wearing a pin which triggers his memory. His old friend's wife carried June away while he killed him with a blow to the head. Ernest is being acted upon for not complying, but Dr. Monroe helps him as they had had a positive interaction earlier and she senses his goodness. Ernest S. shows up at the house to kill Kevin, believing he's helping ghost Ernest get revenge. He chases him to the attic, where Ernest and Frank tackle him out of the window.

The CIA interrogate Kevin, seeking Ernest the ghost. He doesn't divulge anything, but a flashback reveals that Kevin and Frank reunited him with his now 50+ y.o. daughter June. Happy at last, Ernest finally is at peace and goes.

The Presleys have a new moving day, but this time only a few miles away. Kevin and Joy are now a couple.

Based on a short story called Ernest by Geoff Manaugh, “We Have a Ghost” opens with the Presley family moving to a fixer-upper in Chicago. Father Frank (Anthony Mackie) is struggling to make ends meet and to maintain a healthy relationship with his increasingly-distant son Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston, so good in “Charm City Kings” and on “Everything Sucks!”). Almost immediately after their arrival, Kevin is exploring the attic when he encounters a trapped soul named Ernest (David Harbour, giving a silent performance). Ernest can’t talk but has been scaring away inhabitants since the ‘70s when he died. Kevin doesn’t get scared. He films Ernest with his phone, and there’s suddenly a viral ghost.

Imagine if there was an actual ghost all over TikTok and YouTube. What would happen? Landon doesn’t do nearly enough with this rich concept and just has people screaming outside the Presley home, including a guy dressed like Jesus. It’s interesting to watch Frank try to use Ernest’s existence as a cash infusion, becoming a cultural agent of sorts. He even brings in a local medium for an encounter with Ernest, a scene that allows for one of the film’s more impressive effects and potential memes from a Jennifer Coolidge cameo. But there’s not enough done with the idea of what proof of the afterlife would mean. It doesn’t have to be deeply philosophical, but even a little shallow exploration might have filled this concept out a bit.

Instead, “We Have a Ghost” shifts too much focus to a paranormal scientist named Dr. Leslie Monroe (Tig Notaro) and her CIA boss Arnold Schipley (Steve Coulter). Landon’s film becomes something of a chase/road movie in its midsection as Ernest, Kevin, and their scene-stealing neighbor Joy (Isabella Russo) try to escape the armed guards and get to the bottom of why this poor guy hasn’t fully moved to the next plane of existence. Of course, “We Have a Ghost” becomes a bit of a whodunit too as Ernest learns about what really happened to him, including the identity of his killer.FOR MOVIE (3/5).WITH LOVE:ENBHA