Incident in a Ghostland (2018)

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Posted By: brian@brianschell.com November 8, 2023

Spoilery Synopsis

Beth reads some H.P. Lovecraft to the others in the car. No, it’s her writing; it just compares to Lovecraft. Younger sister Vera is not supportive. They are passed by an insane-looking ice cream truck. Credits roll.

Beth tells the shopkeeper that her mother has inherited a local house from her aunt. She watches the weird ice cream truck drive past the store. She reads the newspaper about the “Family Killer” who has now offed five families in the area.

Beth, Vera, and their mother, Pauline, get to the house and turn on the electricity. It’s a smelly old lady’s house. The girls soon get an ugly-doll jump scare. Vera whines about how Beth is afraid of everything. Vera is convinced that Pauline loves Beth more. None of them notice the ice cream truck parked on the street.

A big bald man attacks Pauline out in the hallway since they all left the front door open. The big man sniffs both of them and then drags away Vera. Pauline attacks the strange woman and tells Beth to run away before the big guy comes back. Pauline then stabs the big guy about a hundred times.

Years later, Beth still has nightmares about all that. She’s married with a son now and is a best-selling famous horror writer. She’s recently written a book called, “Incident in a Ghostland.” It’s a partially autobiographical book about what happened all those years ago. She gets a panicked call from Vera, screaming and begging Beth to come back. Vera still lives in that house, and she’s mostly insane now, so Beth leaves her husband at home to go check on her mental sister.

Pauline is there, and she says Vera is still troubled. Vera locks herself in the basement now; she’s really unhinged. In the morning, Beth halfway sees the ice cream truck in the yard outside, but it might have driven off. Later, she finds Vera made up to look like a doll and chained to her bed. She looks and acts as if she’s possessed; “We broke your sister, and now it’s your turn,” we hear the voice of the ice cream truck driver all those years ago.

By morning, Beth is also looking pretty rough around the edges. She confronts Vera, who says it’s her turn now. She sees that her memories aren’t what she thought they were; Pauline was killed in the attack. It hasn’t been sixteen years, and Beth’s still actually there that same night in a vivid fantasy, escaping from reality. She’s not a bestselling author, she’s not married, and she doesn’t have a kid.

Beth finds herself tied up and having doll makeup applied to her face by the ice cream truck worker. She’s warned to not move no matter what happens as she’s posed among the many dolls in the room. The bald man comes in and sniffs her all over before spanking her like a doll. He’s about to burn her with a blowtorch when he gets distracted.

Beth and Vera run outside in the dark and make for the woods. They see the sheriff’s car pass by on the road, and they scream for help. The police call it in, and it seems like the whole ordeal has only been a few days. Suddenly, the ice cream worker comes out of the field and shoots both cops. Both girls are soon back in the ice cream truck in chains.

Beth retreats into her made-up world, where her mother comes to a fancy party with her. Her husband and son are there, and suddenly, H. P. Lovecraft shows up. He says her novel is a masterpiece. “Call me Howard.” Beth sees sister Beth screaming at the window outside, and Pauline says there’s nothing left for Beth there. But Beth reluctantly accepts that she needs to go help her sister.

Back in the real world, the bald man attacks and chokes Beth until the creepy doll-in-the-wall gets his attention. She then runs into the next room and repeatedly bites the ice cream woman. During all this, more cops arrive and shoot both the tormentors.

Both girls are wheeled out by the paramedics; there are dozens of cops at the house now.

Commentary

It’s all over the place. It starts out as a stalker/home invasion story, then progresses into a weird family drama, into a possession thing, and then goes back full circle into the home invasion thing again with a side order of kidnapping and brainwashing.

There are lots and lots of loud jump scares in this, so beware. It’s a very surreal, atmospheric, weird game of reality versus what’s worse than reality.