When you see that a film of barely seventy minutes had a combination of five writers, it’s clear that a film is in trouble. This is exactly the fate that befell Arrow Video FrightFest selection, The Ghosts of Monday. Whilst Francesco Cinquemani directs the piece alone, there are five voices in the script. With each writer potentially brought on to tighten certain aspects, the result is a film that lacks a clear identity.
Set in Cyprus, the core story sees a documentary crew arrive at the Grand Hotel Gula. Their work is to document the strange story of the happenings on New Year’s Eve 1990. On what was the 53rd Monday of the year (a freak and apparently sinister occurrence), one hundred party revellers were poisoned, and died. As the plot continues, the crew find themselves accosted by all manner of strange occurrences making it unlikely any will last the course.
As documentary director Eric (Mark Huberman) and girlfriend Sofia (Marianna Rosset) journey from airport to hotel, they are filled in on Cyprus’ rich history of supernatural elements. What is meant as a passing comment to key the viewer into the spooky things that might happen, actually reads as a list of what is to come. The Ghosts on Monday tries to throw too many creatures and phenomena into the story. Over the course of the very short run-time the film has the viewer continuously trying to figure out what to be wary of. There are slasher type murders, ghostly apparitions, a slimy slug monster, and a murder cult all thrown into the mix. The Ghosts of Monday covers off almost every facet of the horror genre. With so much going on everything becomes white noise and the film becomes dull. A sensory overload shuts down the viewers’ receptors and the film plays with little investment from the majority.
Strongest when attempting to be a modern spin on The Haunting, The Ghosts of Monday fails to reach its potential. Much of the film is trying to emulate the work of Mike Flanagan. One only has to check out the poster to see his influence on the piece, however the insistence to make it unique by stuffing in a confusingly numerous amount of potential threats loses all atmosphere. The end result is a film riddled with ideas, but lacking in focus; one for die-hard FrightFest completists only.
The Ghosts of Mondays
Summary
A busy and muddled voice hampers the film from being anything other than background noise, a massive shame for all involved.
The Ghosts of Monday was reviewed at Arrow Video FrightFest 2022.
