River of Ghosts – Movie Review
First Reaction – River of Ghosts is a great small-town haunting story.
Director: Jules East
Writer: Jules East (Screenplay)
Cast
- Conner Floyd (The Young and the Restless)
- Scott Cooper (Maze Runner The Death Cure)
- Robert Fleet (J Edgar)
- Judy Cerda
- Mimi Bommarito
Plot: A psychiatry student returns to his hometown as a hypnotherapist. Treating townspeople’s issues, he becomes popular but faces self-doubt until a challenging case arises, forcing him to confront his own demons for personal growth.
Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: River of Ghosts starts when a psychiatry student Dr Halton (Floyd) specialising in hypnotherapy returns home to help the residents. First, Kathy (Bommarito) has been struggling with back pains, leading Halton to want to discover more about her life. Meanwhile, traumatised Brian (Cooper) believes his wife’s sudden disappearance is haunting him.
As Dr Halton treats the two patients, he makes disturbing revelations about them. However, he gets caught up in being visited by Professor Trex (Fleet), who suggests different ideas to solve his problems.
Verdict on River of Ghosts
Recap
The movie follows a hypnotherapist who returns home to help the residents deal with their problems. However, he makes a disturbing discovery which leaves him in an impossible position that could help two people deal with their problems.
Best Parts
The story presents us with a big mystery about what happened to Brian’s wife. This shows the stigma he faces with his time in the town with the unknown about his wife, rumours spreading, and stories people create. It reflects a lot on how people try to piece together mysteries in real life. The performances are good throughout, with plenty of themes of trauma, guilt and unhappiness. It also does something unexpected with the truth, which does stand out.
Worst Parts
There is a suggestion of haunting behavior occurring, and it doesn’t hit as hard as you would imagine. However, there is a reason that will be revealed, just don’t expect a ghost story.
Final Thoughts – River of Ghosts creates a great mystery with a disturbing truth.
