These days it’s hard to create something that feels different or fresh when it comes to using the found-footage format. In some cases it is only used to give depth to the paranoia and tension inflicted on the audience, but in other cases it is used as the cheapest option to develop a story. For A Town Full of Ghosts, it seems to be used as a solution to everything, but the method doesn’t contribute positively to its greatest weakness: the plot. 

Everything is set in the old-western ghost town of Blackwood Falls, where Mark and Jenna (Andrew C. Fisher and Mandy Lee Rubio), invest their savings to buy rubble and revitalize what appears to have been abandoned since the late 1800s at the risk of failing in turning it into a tourist paradise because they are 3 hours away from civilization. As the days go by, the couple begins to witness a series of paranormal events that, instead of scaring them away, seems to attract them towards the mystery hidden behind the western facade. Nothing seems to be able to make them return to the life they had, not even discovering the truth of the horrendous events that occurred on the ground they walk on.

A Town Full of Ghosts shows a rather run-down plot. It seems to have set its own limits to not give more than what is proposed from the beginning. This is a common thing in recent movies where the writers or directors leave loose ends with purpose and hope of making a sequel later on. But the mistake of doing so is the audience can notice they’re being played and can lose interest as soon as they see they’re being led into a scripted labyrinth where the entrance also works as an exit– it even seems like a metaphor for the maze it shows.

The found-footage clichés are present throughout the experience, it even seems to have visual inspiration from The Amityville Horror, Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project. The techniques of the subgenre are not badly implemented– it takes advantage of its few jumpscare moments, but there’s room to question why it is necessary.

The attention to detail is selective as there are too many modern elements like vinyl signs, illuminated exit signs and drain pipes that could have been hidden to give it a total abandoned vibe instead of leaving it exposed to the eye to make it look like an active tourist attraction in the middle of Texas rented for a week to film– considering the lack of electricity and plumbing in the place is constantly mentioned.

Despite its mistakes, the plot is quite entertaining. The script could’ve been polished to give greater weight to the characters’ motives. This way it would’ve been more understandable what led them to make such an insane decision like owning a torn-down town.

When it comes to A Town Full of Ghosts, what you see is what you get. There is no wow factor that goes beyond what is presented in the official trailer. You can guess the outcome in just 60 seconds of random clips than in 60 minutes of feature film. I wanted to end up stunned by the film since it presents an interesting plot mixed with little of throwbacks to the events that led them to buy a place erased by its own people, but in the end the premise stands on differently than the whole thing, leaving room for ambiguity to rule in a town of bystanders.

4 OUT OF 10 AXES