Ghoul's Night In

What an enjoyable film! Quite possibly my favourite of the competition so far :)
Really well shot, good acting, good story and casting a Trump-a-like as the devil was an inspired move.
Great work!!

In the boring neighbourhood of West Melton, a fiendish ghoul needs to do one final decent haunting before they can progress to the afterlife. Except a child with a SIXTH SENSE proves to be easier to bond with than terrify.

Very much a supernatural film, but hey I found it to be a romp, a veritable rollercoaster of set pieces as rather than frightening the little girl the unlikely duo decide to target her parents with floating knives and bleeding eye possession, whilst the family dog should probably watch out for crossfire...

After a terrific original song, ice cream and the threat of demon bees or being stuck with distorted pink fingers proves the making or breaking of the impossible situation.

Trust me, as weird as that sounds it very much all made sense. 2 very strong lead performances, technically sound and extremely original.

Story: 3.5/5
Technical: 3.5/5
Elements: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Some strong compositions and great editing make for a really entertaining film with some fun ideas all over.

Such a great film! Your two lead actors were very endearing - the relationship between the ghoul and the little girl was played perfectly. The story was great, with some good laughs but also real stakes involved. I can definitely see this making it to the finals.

Love this film! Hats off to the lead actress who killed it. She has a great future in acting! The song was great too - just all round well done and I think the audience at the city final will love it. Well deserved

A pretty typical CRAB CRAB entry with outrageously B-grade make-up and costuming, original catchy music and fun performances. Borrows somewhat from imaginary buddy-buddy films like JOJO RABBIT and DROP DEAD FRED, and throws in a few references to other horror/supernatural films as well.

Things move along nicely, there's a clear story arc and there's some genuine heart in places as well, as the impossibility of the situation is explored by our goulish lead.

I wasn't totally sold on the ending which while funny and well-delivered raised questions for me. Did they bury her? Was it supposed to be hidden? If so, why did it have a grave marker? I know it's just an absurd comedy.

Audiences at the screening really enjoyed this and I imagine it will be a bit hit at the CHCH final given how many desirable 48HR boxes it ticks. Nice work as always, CRAB CRAB CACTUS?

Seeing Thomas Davidson lose it and give an epic enraged speech as a Demon-Lord just trying to keep his staff on the job really made me smile. Good performances from the leads and always lovely to see two Christchurch legends bleeding from the eyes and hypnotically swaying in front of the tv. This felt like the love child between Crab Crab and Jagbog. Crab Crab are an absolute staple of this competition for me and I can't wait to see what they get up to next year! Very solid short film with a fun ending.

It's always a fun little wrinkle in the competition watching two teams combine into one team - and thankfully in this case I think Crab Crab Crab and Cactus? manage to build on each other rather than diluting either flavour.

GHOUL'S NIGHT IN is a very fun little horror comedy with some engaging performances and fun effects. I absolutely adore the central premise of a ghost who can only communicate with a little girl, and the bureaucracy of haunting following this is very much an organic place to take that story.

The hero segment of the film really is that montage which cracks out several different horror clichés in a fun and new way. I'm not sure I fully built the image in my head of the puking-out-legs monstrosity, but it still works.

Structurally, we're looking at a very strong entry too with a clear beginning middle and end - some others have pointed out some issues with the ending's implications, but hey, its 48Hours. I feel like some of the best films in the competition have these kind of hidden plot holes. The fact is we have some wonderfully high stakes here and actual genuine character development. Hell yeah.

The main criticism I would have for the film, beyond a couple technical glitches (the girl shouting "WHAT WAS THAT?!" seemed to peak the mics and was never re-recorded), would be that final scene looks so good in the dark with the moonlit subjects - and I kind of missed this yummy cinematography in the rest of the film, confined to a white-walled West Melton home. I'm calling out every film this year who shot in one of these modern homes in hopes that next year everyone will be shooting out in the port hills or wherever Sons of the Broad Meadow went.

I loved the performances from everyone, and they all flowed together into the kinda magic that clearly indicates effective directing - another area I think could have used some improvement here would be certain parts of the art direction - Jack's pink demon hands looked a little cheap, you can see the wire holding the floating knife and, while maybe just a taste thing, I think the Make-up on Jack looked a bit A&P Show and not as convincing as it could have been. Maybe adding some kind of haunting aura around the character in post would have sold the supernatural element a little more, but hey, it's 48Hours.

Challenge for next year: Do you stay a combined team? I don't see why not. I'd encourage you to take the same sharp storytelling and take us somewhere a little more exotic.