The Ghoul (2016 film)

Summary

"I know its name: The Ghoul!" A homicide detective goes undercover as a patient to investigate a psychotherapist he believes is linked to a strange double murder. As his therapy sessions continue the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur.

Details

Packaging for The Ghoul (2016 film)...

• Release Date: 2016
• Country/Language: UK, English
• Genres/Technical: Horror (psychological horror), Thriller
• Setting: Modern UK
• Runtime: 1 hr 25 min
• Starring: Tom Meeten, Alice Lowe, Rufus Jones
• Director: Gareth Tunley
• Writer: Gareth Tunley
• Producer/Production Co: Jack Healy Guttmann, Gareth Tunley, Ben Wheatley, Tom Meeten, Dhiraj Mahey;
• View Trailer: (link)
• IMDB Page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: not rated (maybe equivalent to a PG-13 for Violence and Profanity)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• SS___ (Two Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; vaguely similar in tone, could be a very loose adaptation)

The vaguely Lovecraftian treatment of the titular Ghouls as undying sorcerers surviving via thought-transference, as well as themes of paranoia and distorted identity come close in theme to Lovecraft's work.

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Anton Bitel at Projected Figures (link) -
• Joe Bendel at J.B. Spins (link) -
• Laura Clifford at Reeling Reviews (Link) (B+) -
• Aime Cranswick at Flickering Myth (link) -
• Alexa Dalby at Britflicks (link) (3/5 Stars) -
• Richard Scheib at The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review (link) (3/5 Stars) -

Synopsis (SPOILERS)

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

A man identifying himself as a homicide detective apparently goes undercover as a patient to investigate a psychotherapist he believes is linked to a strange double murder. As his therapy sessions continue the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur, and it becomes uncertain whether the man really is a detective undercover as a mental patient, or a mental patient pretending to be a detective. When the man meets another patient suffering the delusion that his doctor's unorthodox psychological methods are actually a black magic ritual used by aging sorcerers to steal human bodies, and the man's own therapist transfers her patients to the suspected sorcerer, the entire story descends into a bizarre paranoid haze of delusion, and the viewers are left to their own devices to decide what is truth and what is fantasy.

Notes

Comments, Trivia, Dedication

• The film references the Möbius Strip and its three-dimensional equivalent, the Klein Bottle, as psychological models, philosophical constructs, or magical devices, as well as the use of Sigil Magic for wish fulfillment.

Associated Mythos Elements

• race: Witches
• race: Ghouls (referenced obliquely; the film's Ghouls are psychological/philosophical in nature, rather than carnal, consuming the intellect of their victims and stealing their bodies)