Episode 50 Is Hardly a Milestone: A Movie Review

*spoiler alert.

Directors: Tess and Joe Smalley.

Writer: Ian Holt.

Cast: Josh Folan, Chris Perry, Natalie Wetta, Keithen Hergott, Eleanor Wilson.

Released to DVD: Sept 19, 2011

Episode 50 continues with the long tradition of inventing more paranormal reality television shows where private investigators meet an untimely end. This film even includes a short episode of a fake television show, "Paranormal Inspectors (PI)," at the beginning just to show how this group functions in front of a camera. Jack Kelley (Josh Folan) and Damon Brown (Chris Parry), the founders, explain that ghosts are not real. They’re manufactured by natural causes, like the noxious fumes of improperly sealed cans of solvent, which play with a person’s imagination.

After the end credits roll for this short episode of "Paranormal Investigators," the real film kicks into high gear. The group is contacted by Andrew Worthington Jr. to investigate the West Virginia Insane Asylum. This investigation will become PI’s milestone. It'll be episode number 50, and as they like to see it, their way into the "big leagues."

Unfortunately, they have to team up with another group, the Academia Spirit Searcher’s Club (ASSC), led by Dylan Miller (Keithen Hergott). Miller’s group firmly believes in the spirit realm and they utilize the power of Jesus Christ to deal with purging a site of evil entities.

When the two meet, either the teams have to play nice or tear each other apart. The rivalry may have started with Miller, accusing all paranormal television shows not firmly accepting in matters of spirituality. If that’s ever a statement with real life programs like "Ghost Adventures" who don’t utilize mysticism in their investigations, maybe there is some promise in this movie after all. "Ghost Hunters" sometimes consults, but they are also in the game of debunking too.

Very little support in the belief of a supernatural world exists unless individuals are devout churchgoers, occultists or demonologists. Only die-hard scientific data is acceptable. But with a character like Miller, who behaves like a used car salesman on screen, even these evangelists have to accept and deal with criticism as well.

In this film, the conflict between the two camps makes for a great plot device. Quite often, these movies do little with character conflict and rely on encounters with the undead to move the tale along. This film is interesting to watch when the PI and ASSC teams have to put aside creative differences. Too bad the acting can not be any better. The interludes with so-called experts in the sciences is the most painful.

The only one character that shines is Kieron (Kieron Elliott) the Scot. He is the most underutilized character and he simply wants to get out of the haunted asylum.

When the ghosts come crawling out of their graves and contact is made, only one member Andi (Natalie Wetta) wants to discover why the asylum is haunted. In what is learned, Miller leaves the scene in a vain attempt to stop the haunting. Jack chases after him and the two have their final confrontation.

Apparently Jack has a secret, but this revelation comes too late and one can hardly digest its importance as he is going to meet his maker. The biggest problem with how the final moments play out is that the cameraman most likely survived. Someone had to have left the scene to tell the world about what had happened.

Even in those supernatural moments where the cameraman has filmed something lurking in the background or grasping at the edges, this film does not innovate. The entire movie has that “been there, done that” feel. Other than making a bit of commentary about how some paranormal investigation groups works, there is nothing new that this subgenre of films can offer. After a dozen similarly constructed films, viewers have to ask: what’s next?. There isn’t much until the camera gets tossed into the Other Side and filmmakers undertake a recovery mission to retrieve it. Maybe a film about that can do better when the evil spirits don’t want their story told.

Overall: 6.5 out of 10.

More on this title at Bleiberg Ent.

Episode 50 at Bleiberg Ent.

*disclaimer: advertising and screeners do not influence reviews.

Available only in the UK in PAL format:

Episode 50 at Amazon


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