FilmQuest Review: ‘Ghosts of the Ozarks’ is an Uneven But Beautiful, Well-Acted Horror Western
Ghosts of the Ozarks is a beautifully designed film horror western. When director Jordan Wayne Long spoke to the audience about having to build this town within the confines of the movie’s budget—a budget that we had to swear to never repeat—it drove home just what an artistic feat the design team pulled off. The set is still in Arkansas, where they built it, and I would grab my credit card and be one of the first people in line if they opened it up to visitors.
The movie also has a pretty magnificent cast that includes Tim Blake Nelson, David Arquette, Phil Morris, Angela Bettis, and has Thomas Hobson as a lead. As someone who was complaining about the majority of westerns never casting Black actors in lead roles not even two days before this movie made its premiere, I very happily settled into my seat to see what this movie would bring. I do think a huge draw is seeing quite a bit of the cast do something more serious than what we have come to expect from them. However, the characters are not written in a way that earns the arcs they are given, which at times leads to their dramatic, or heroic, moments being unintentionally funny. Even the major confrontation at the end, and the ensuing fights, are done in a way that feels over the top, and a little out of the blue, for the world that it seems we are supposed to be in.
Hobson plays James ‘Doc’ McCune, a young doctor joining his uncle, Matthew McCune (played by Morris), in a remote town who quickly finds out that this utopia is not what it seems. Another thing I like about the movie is that it is set in Arkansas circa 1866, but there is no racial trauma. I spend a lot of time writing and ranting about how we need to let those tropes go as movies and TV shows continuously push more of them out. It would have been way too easy to fall into those traps in western horror, and I applaud the team for not doing that.
The movie is predictable and is the slowest burn of the festival. It feels much longer than it is, and there are so many scenes, a montage, and what feels like an unnecessary prologue that could easily be cut without missing anything central to the story.
Perry and Long mentioned that this feature grew out of a short film, which is loosely based on the history of where Long grew up. After hearing them both talk about it, I kind of wish that I could see the original version that this came out of instead of what was entered into this year’s festival. Although, it is nice to see people still passionate about a project they started pre-COVID and managed to produce despite the pandemic.
Ghosts of the Ozarks had its regional premiere at FilmQuest 2021.
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Ghosts of the Ozarks
Summary
Although it’s a rather uneven film, Ghosts of the Ozarks‘ outstanding set design and cast do a mostly good job making up for it.
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