Whenever you want a fresh perspective, the easiest way to find it is to look outside North America. Seeing how other cultures prefer to do things can provide valuable insight into the methods commonly used at home. Afterward, you can apply this newly gained knowledge to your own set of circumstances, usually improving upon them significantly. At the very least, it presents you with an excellent opportunity to do some much-needed self-reflecting. This is one of the main reasons why travel is so emphatically encouraged by those who have the luxury to do it. It offers a nice change of pace – something a little different to help pull you out of whatever stagnant funk you happen to be in.  

Now, the same thing that is said for travel can also be said for cinema. As of late, I have been watching a lot of movies that were made in East Asia. Titles like 964 Pinocchio, Evil Dead Trap, The Untold Story, and Noroi: The Curse now stand as some of my absolute favorites, where I had once never even heard of them. While there are many reasons to appreciate these projects, I would say that the thing that appeals to me the most is that they are just such a wild departure from what I’ve gotten used to. They have their own signature flavor, one that you can’t really find anywhere else – case in point, today’s film, Ghost Master. 

While the title may be a little deceiving at first glance, Ghost Master is not your typical supernatural tale of things that go bump in the night. Instead, it is more in line with what you’d expect from the Evil Dead series, both in spirit and concept. Following a film crew on the last day of shooting an adaptation of a popular romance manga, Ghost Master quickly and drastically takes a hard left turn into the gruesome and absurd. With demonic possessions, a sentient screenplay, and a ton of slapstick comedy, the film feels like an unofficial continuation of Sam Raimi’s beloved 1981 horror classic. 

When all is said and done, there is a lot to like about Ghost Master. Quirky, with a sick sense of humor and off-the-wall gore, the film makes for an incredibly entertaining watch. I strongly recommend that you give it a shot. You really can’t go wrong. 

8 out of 10