Review of Boys in the Trees (2016) by Akira J — 21 Aug 2017

I'm not a fan of Ghost horror/thrillers because of how generic, cliched and not scary it is and because of how the characters are written very basic. This movie starts off with those tropes but even then so the characters are well written. When the movie really starts is when It's the complete opposite of the tropes associated with ghost horrors. Well written characters, characters with generic tropes are rarely in it and are background characters and even then so few of them develop by the end of the film.

I love how the movie focus on the two main leads, how we learn little by little about them, and how they grow. The movie still wasn't scary though, that trope is still kinda generic during the creepy parts but at least in this I found it fun as I do love creepy stuff. Even though I knew what the punchline was gonna be, this was the 1st time since the original Ghostbusters duology and 1995's Casper that a ghost movie made me care for the characters. When the end came I so wanted to be wrong. Both of the characters had things I can relate to, which is more than what I can say about any ghost movies today. Plus there's some awesome skateboarding in it.

The only problem I had with the movie is that the beginning should've been cut down to 10mins, a crucial scene in the beginning should've been cut so that the end wouldn't be obvious to people who wouldn't pick up on what the end was gonna be. There is a romeo and juliet style scene in the middle of the movie that shouldn't be there cuz it stops the film and kinda messes with what was sorta established with one of the leads. There was a post end scene that was not needed and kinda messed with the flow of timeline of this movie. Also for a movie that takes place in 1997, they sure dress a bit too modern.

All in all this is a solid film and if more ghost horrors were like this, the world would be better off.