I Am a Ghost is a singular ghost story about a young woman who has haunted her Victorian home since her death a century ago. First she ambles about the house, repeating the most ordinary chores – sweeping the hall, frying eggs and the like. Then she communicates with a medium hired to rid the house of the ghost; neither can see the other. The medium is having a tough time because, in her life, the young woman suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder (so there are multiple personalities to guide to the Other Side). The movie climaxes with some jolting scares.
It’s a change of pace for writer H.P. Mendoza, whose previous films have been contemporary musical comedies, including the hilarious Colma: The Musical (available on Netflix streaming). At the screening I attended, Mendoza said that I Am a Ghost is neither low-budget, very low-budget or micro-budget – he directed it on no budget (financed on his credit cards). Yet it looks better than some Hollywood films and is a whole lot smarter.
Besides the creepiness and the frights, the story is about memory. The ghost thinks she is having new experiences, but she is merely reliving her past experiences, most of which are banal. Mendoza doesn’t explain this until the audience has endured about 35 minutes of repetitive household tasks.
I Am a Ghost is only 74 minutes long. If you go with the memory idea, it works. If you don’t have the patience, you’ll find the first half of the film to be very tedious.
The dialogue between ghost and medium evokes a session between patient and therapist, with both becoming increasingly frustrated. This interchange is funny and is the highlight of the film. I Am a Ghost is a good choice for ghost story aficionados who are open to a genre-bender.