Ghost Riders

This was a very strange movie and I'm not sure if the genre horror can accurately describe it. It is a mix between horror, action, western, romance, and drama. That mix doesn't work. It's not scary, there isn't much action, it's barely a western, the romance is very slight, and the drama isn't very dramatic. The plot of the movie is that an outlaw and his gang who were executed in the late 1800's rise from the dead 100 years later. They want to kill the current generation of the preacher who had them executed. The VHS cover made it seem like the outlaws would be skeleton ghosts on horses when they rise from the dead, but they weren't. They looked the same way they did before they died and they never say anything as ghosts. They were silent and non-scary. I'm not surprised that this movie never made it to DVD or Blu-ray.

I'd like to tell you you'd be entertained, but I can't promise anything. I watched not knowing what to expect, and I finished not knowing what I just watched. I was entertained at points in the film, but not necessarily by the plot or action. The concept was worthwhile, but I wouldn't say the same for the execution.

I was disappointed in this movie.I found this movie on a discount shelf and bought it looking for a good "bad" movie. what I found was a bad "bad" movie. The plot was your basic "ghost seeks revenge on family of man who killed him",but it was never quite clear then,why the family wasn't wiped out years ago. Many of the scenes really had nothing to do with the plot and several of the final scenes appeared to be influenced by Night of the Living Dead though not as well executed.The outlaws were not very convincing and Bill Shaw, in the roles of the preacher and his grandson, was not very effective. The sound quality was bad in spots,but that could just have been on my tape.In any case it meant I didn't have to listen to the poor delivery of some really bad dialog. I can't recommend this film.I gave it a 2 only because it wasn't as bad as Kazaam.

A band of old west outlaws rise from the grave to exact vengeance against the descendants of those responsible for lynching their top-dog 100 years earlier. While there is little to complain about as far as technical aptitude is concerned, GHOSTRIDERS is far from a rewarding or memorable film-watching experience. There is a smidgen of suspense buildup within the final fifteen minutes, but that certainly doesn't make this otiose Hee-Haw of Horror the slightest bit recommendable. Give me just a wee bit of bloodshed...maybe some *. Hell, give me ONE boob, just something, ANYTHING to make this all seem like more than just a goddamn waste of time. There was a fairly workable idea here, but somehow it took the form of this nothing-flavored mephitis of a motion picture...no scares, no gratuitous ANYTHING...not even an unintentional chuckle(besides the one that comes after you've finished watching it). 3.5/10

What is it with these micro budget regional horrors that makes 'em so indefinably compelling? To me at least, the territories located a few left turns and a lot of country road away from standard issue teen slaughter fare can be remarkably interesting places, or at least a good deal of fun and Ghost Riders is no exception. It has one of those "sins of the father shall be visited upon the son" type set ups, here the sin in question is a vigilante hanging perpetrated by a priest on evil wild west era scuzzball Frank Clement, who naturally returns to life a hundred years later for a bit of the ole gun blazing vengeance, along with a few cronies. In the firing line are Jim and Hampton Sutton, descendants of the earlier hanging priest, a couple of Hampton's buddies and of course a pretty and easily led young lass researching Texan history. Now before you start to wonder, this one doesn't go down the zombie cowboys or even ghost cowboys route, these baddies are pretty much just flesh and blood types, they don't even have period garb. They do fire guns and act capably menacing though, and so the second half of the film is somewhat exciting in a low rent kind of way, as our protagonists are hunted by impassively deadly foes. What the film never attains though is fear or wonderment, it is in fact barely a horror film at all, whilst despite its western theme this one could just as well have say, drug dealers as the baddies and aside from the clumsy final moments it would make little difference. So you might wonder who this is aimed at, and outside of those who will watch anything, it's a little hard to tell. I had a pretty fun time though, it's a film that scores by its very mundanity. The central characters are all relatable types, well maybe not Hampton, him being a slightly troubled Vietnam veteran, but he is still likable. Meanwhile Ricky Long does typical early twenties type OK and even looks to be around that age, while Arland Bishop plays the token idiot of the piece without being too irritating. The ordinariness, the way the characters get along, it ends up being a fair amount more sympathetic than a lot of 80's junk and hence the more fun in the second half when the action really gets going. The film may open with a fun cheap western shootout but the first half is pretty typical scene setting "suspense" building stuff. Cool shots of a spider snacking, I could have done with more like that. More walking around, stock footage padding and whatnot, though the scenery is nice I would have liked something a bit more off key. This probably just stems from having watched The Prey too many times though… Anyhoo, I don't exactly recommend this one, but if you have a lot of time on your hands you could do far worse. Worth around a 5.5 for 80's junk-hounds, rounded up to a 6 for IMDb.

To keep it short just avoid this movie. The premise of an old west killer putting a curse on the preacher of a lynch mob that subsequently haunts the family for generations may sound promising but in delivery it simply fails. After moving from 1886 Texas we join a Professor of Texan history in 1986, who happens to be the great-great grandson of the hangin' preacher. His son(a Vietnam vet and stunt pilot) is coming for a visit with his two mechanic buddies and a young lass who is smitten with him in about as much time as it takes to say "this movie sucks". Now the idea of old outlaw ghosts seeking bloody revenge should have been good for a few chills but the majority of this no budget affair takes place on a sunny blue skied day, which certainly takes away much of the fear of not knowing where the spectres are coming from! Add to this lame mix bland to just plain bad acting, generally annoying characters, a simplistic, non suspenseful and amateurish script, horrible sound quality and a limp pay off and you have a text book example of a time waster. Avoid this movie. It had potential but simply blew it!

I'd like to tell you you'd be entertained, but I can't promise anything. I watched not knowing what to expect, and I finished not knowing what I just watched. I was entertained at points in the film, but not necessarily by the plot or action. The concept was worthwhile, but I wouldn't say the same for the execution.