Charlie's Ghost Story (1994)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Theatrical Trailer-1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (1:35)
Rating
Year Of Production	1994
Running Time	84:46 (Case: 93)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Anthony Edwards
Studio Distributor	Crystal Sky Comms Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Cheech Marin Anthony Edwards Linda Fiorentino Trenton Knight Charles Rocket J.T. Walsh Daphne Zuniga
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	Jim Kremens

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Okay, I am still working out why I volunteered to review this particular DVD. Yes, I am a fan of Cheech Marin, but he rarely gets decent material to work with, so his presence alone would not be enough to persuade me to choose to review the DVD. Yes, I am a fan of the chronically under-used Linda Fiorentino, but her presence alone would not be enough to persuade me to choose to review the DVD. Really and truly, I am at a complete loss to understand why I did stick my hand up for this DVD. So why I am going on about this? Well, in some ways the lack of understanding as to why I am reviewing the DVD mirrors the lack of understanding the people who made the film clearly had as to what it was they were producing here. Comedy? Adventure? Family? I am about as perplexed now as I was when I actually watched the DVD. I really have no idea what the film makers were trying to make, and unfortunately it shows in a completely bland film full of stereotypical clichéd characters pulled from various genres of film and then tossed together in some sort of film stockpot. The end result is something that might be palatable, or equally might be inedible. I am tending towards the inedible end of the scale at the moment.

    Charlie's Ghost, or as the credit has it Charlie's Ghost Story, is centred around one Charlie McCammon (Trenton Knight), whose father Dave (Anthony Edwards) happens to be an archaeologist searching for the remains of the legendary Coronado, a famed Spanish conquistador. As such, he is away from home a lot, and has no great relationship with Charlie. It would seem that most think Dave a crackpot, whose efforts to find the conquistador have thus far been less than spectacularly successful. On his latest dig, with his assistant Ronda (Daphne Zuniga) in tow, he finally happens upon the remains and his life changes. Charlie's life, too, in as much as with the bones now on display in the University Museum, under the watchful eye of security guard Van Leer (Charles Rocket), he is haunted by the ghost of Coronado (Cheech Marin) who urges Charlie to bury his bones on hallowed ground, so that he may leave the limbo existence he currently has.

    Actually, it is beginning to sound as dire as I really believe the film is, as well as about as predictable as a two bob watch. You can probably guess what happens, but if you cannot - well, just check out the blurb on the DVD, as it tells you everything you need to know.

    At which level this is supposed to work as a film, I have no idea. The acting is pretty woeful across the board. The direction lacks direction. The cinematography is pretty average (I almost got motion sickness during the camera movement between 7:30 and 8:30), editing is pretty average and the music is rubbish. Not much else to say really, although special mention for atrocious acting must be made of Charles Rocket. Tossing up a cringe-inducing performance that would have sucked in Police Academy 7, his effort drags an otherwise unfunny and unexciting film down the gurgler faster than you can say Charles Rocket. I suppose special mention too ought to be given to the obvious continuity problem in the background of the picture around 59:25!

    Okay, it is not the worst film I have ever seen but if I were confronted with any selection of 250 DVDs to rent or buy in a store, I would almost be able to guarantee that there would have to be DVDs far better than this that would warrant investigation. This really does not. If the film makers knew what they were trying to achieve, it might have helped the film but on the face of it no one knew what was being produced and every one had a different slant on the film as a result. Lousy comedy, lousy adventure, I am just left grasping for words to describe the sheer blandness of this film. As an indication of just how perplexing the film is, I am battling to understand why two characters playing Aussie removalists (one complete with a Hawthorn jumper on) are present here. They seem completely incongruous to the film.

Video

    The film itself may be pretty bland so I guess that it is entirely apt that the transfer afforded it is pretty much on the bland side. The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    Well, this is going to be short and not so sweet (a rarity for me I know!). The blandness extends to a slightly soft looking transfer, with no real sharpness to it. It is a slightly softish transfer as far as detail is concerned, which actually serves to highlight in a perverse way the lack of high production qualities. Did I fail to mention the Coronado costume looks like it came out of an $8 show bag? There is a consistent, albeit slightly grainy appearance to the transfer, so clarity is not great. Shadow detail is average and there is just the odd hint of some low level noise in some of the darker scenes (which may be source material inherent).

    The colours are rather bland, lacking any substantial saturation in tone. The result is something that is somewhat less than vibrant in appearance, although over saturation is naturally avoided. There are some slight bleed problems at times, notably in facial shots such as at 50:28.

    The only problem with MPEG artefacts is some loss of resolution in pan shots such as at 4:32, but this of course may be inherent in the low budget source material. However, those problems are soon forgotten when you start to notice the film-to-video artefacts. Aliasing and shimmer are rife in the transfer, and the striped shirt that Charlie wears is especially bad for this. In fact, it gets so bad that moiré artefacting breaks out at times, and becoming rather gross at times (11:14). Indeed, the section of the film between 9:37 and 11:37 demonstrates in two minutes just about every problem afflicting the transfer. Film artefacts are present throughout the transfer, mainly in nice little white specks that flash into view every so often.

    This is a single sided, single layer DVD, so we have no layer change to contend with.

    Just to round of the bland effort, there are no subtitle options on the DVD. Considering some of the rather atrocious dialogue featured in the film, our hearing impaired friends might for once be blessed by the omission.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 effort.

    The dialogue comes up well enough in the transfer and you should have no difficulty in understanding the ropey dialogue. There is no issue with audio sync in the transfer.

    The original music is by Jim Kremens and it generally fits the bland nature of the whole package very well indeed. Clichéd in the extreme, there is nothing at all memorable about it.

    Just like the video transfer, the audio transfer is pretty bland and lifeless. Oh, was that a pun? Funniest thing the whole review session has given me... Sorry, back to the task at hand. Nothing much to say about the sound really - it lacks any surround activity, the LFE channel is on vacation and there are no really obvious glitches to make smart comments about.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A pretty bland package overall too.

Menu

    Modest audio overplays some animation footage derived from the opening of the tomb scene from the film.

Theatrical Trailer (1:35)

    Let's see: slightly grainy throughout, darkish in tone and lacking contrast, with an overall diffuse look to it. Sounds a lot like the main feature only slightly worse. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (presumably Pan and Scan), it is not 16x9 enhanced and it comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Thoroughly unexciting stuff that fits the overall bland feel very well.

    As far as I can ascertain, the film has not been released in Region 1. Lucky b******s.

    Charlie's Ghost is a thoroughly bland film in every way, low lighted by some woeful acting, some dubious cinematography, no direction and just about everything adds to a desultory piece of film making that should never have seen the light of day on VHS let alone DVD. Eminently avoidable. You will not miss much if you choose something else from the video shelf tonight.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall