Saturday, 4 October 2025

Pay The Ghost

31 Days Of Horror 2025

I wasn’t particularly planning on a Nicolas Cage hit, but here we are.

4: Pay The Ghost (2015)

Trailer that spoils the most effective moment which is ten minutes from the end.

Watching this because it’s based on a short story by Tim Lebbon, one of the writers I met at a talk a few days back. I want to read it to see how close it is.

Cage, playing a grounded character operating about 20% full Cage capacity, plays a man whose son disappears without a trace on Hallowe’en, but unfortunately for the monster responsible he’s a professor teaching horror and mythology!

Some nice spooky imagery, in a very Insidious way, often signposted by LOUD NOISES in the soundtrack.

Also good on the shock and grief something like this would cause realistically, though that does feel a bit too grounded for the rest of the film.

Content note for child endangerment, as well as self harm.

The medium: YouTube, free with ads

Gameability: A modern take on going into the underworld to bring someone back.

Spoilers:
The monster is pretty vague, and does something that always turns me off - victim blaming a witch trial.

The title comes up several times, and I expected it to reference a bargain or pact but it doesn’t.

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