GHOSTS OF GOLDFIELD

..GHOSTS OF GOLDFIELD DIRECTED by Edwin F. Wilfield..................................

..The film is an 18th Avenue Production project produced in affiliation with Stella Productions, is 82 minutes long and is loosely based on stories and legends surrounding the actual Goldfield hotel, located in Nevada about a three-hour drive from Las Vegas. It was shot on HD in the 16x9 format in December, 2005. This one is a little different when it states {based on a true story}: The actual GOLDFIELD HOTEL still actually exists today as a ghost-town tourist attraction that comes with ghost stories of the actual {owner-builder-gold mine entrepeneur} Edwin F. Witfield, his mistress, and is a story that that Jeff Belanger would run out to cover immediately!

..Goldfield Hotel Ghost Story
..PO Box 225, Goldfield, NV (CLOSED OFF)

..This property is closed off and abandoned with no access to the public. You can walk around the front along sidewalks, look in windows, etc. It has been partially remodeled over the years in a failed casino conversion project. Perhaps someday an investor with enough funds will follow through and restore it properly but so much major work has already been done to alter it for other projects, it would be difficult to restore. This was one of the very first buildings for it's time to have running hot water - revolutionary for the time.

...Built on top of an abandoned gold mine, this 154-room hotel was opened in 1908. The hotel is considered home to several ghosts. In the downstairs employees' area, -Room 109- is a small room with a single bed. The room is said to be haunted by the presence of a pregnant woman. Psychics have seen her ghost chained to a radiator there. Rumors say a pregnant prostitute named Elizabeth was chained in the room by George Winfield, the original owner of the hotel. After giving birth, the woman was left to die in the room and the baby was thrown down the old mine shaft at the northern end of the basement. Elizabeth's ghost even turned up on a photograph taken in the room by a reporter from Las Vegas.

..On the first floor, the George Winfield Room is said to be haunted by his ghost. Untraceable cigar smoke and fresh ashes have been found there. George's presence has also been detected near the Lobby Staircase, where the ghosts of a midget, and two small children have also been seen. The Gold Room is haunted by a ghost that "stabs" people. Acording to some, high psychic energy is been detected in the Theodore Roosevelt Room and a southwest room on the third floor. The depression, having touched everywhere throughout the states, with the addition of the gold mines running dry basicly turned the area into a true ghost town - driving out people in droves.. Some psychics say that the Goldfield Hotel is one of only seven portals to the Other Side that exist in the modern world. SOURCE: {http://www.allstays.com/Haunted/nv_goldfield_goldfield.htm}

..What starts off as a homage, or maybe a ripoff of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT combined with an episode of PARANORMAL STATE, then turning again, as they almost all do, into and following the basic formula of each of the five friends being separated and being picked off one by one with a woman, once again - I guess us guys just can't get it right, taking on the antagonist by herself {ALIEN... again!}. Typical characters here once again: The blond female lead, a shy, cute guy trying to get her attention, a loud mouth boyfriend who will, of course, cheat on his girlfriend in the hotel with the bad girl. And let's not forget the nerd trying to look like Harry Potter setting out to to a pseudo-paranormal investigation / documentary of this allegedly haunted hotel.

..The cast is the usual unknowns, and based on their performances will probably remain unknowns... Julie (Marnett Paterson) and Mike (Richie Chance) and Dean (Scott Whyte) and Kerri (Mandy Amano), join Chad (Kellan Lutz). Their SUV mysteriously dies, all of their cell phones fail in the middle of the Nevada desert. Of course - leave the SUV & start those feet a walking to town!! Coming upon an abandoned graveyard, they start video shooting, have some hijincks amongst themselves, and then Julie starts seeing things. This kills about 15 minutes. Wandering into town, finding the hotel, the crew steps into a bar with (Roddy Piper) servin' up the shots, with attitude! Must have been all of those pile-drives into the mat, but actually.. he wasn't toooooo bad in his duel role here.

..Bartender (Piper) warns them {cliche'} to stay outta ROOM 109: {sounds like THE SHINING - RM 237 and the film 1408: 2 Steven King films} and locks the five documentaries into the hotel to investigate & wait for the tow truck to arrive in the morning.. no Triple A out there, I guess. Julie recounts the haunting's true tale {somehow amongst food and booze that have remained in the hotel for many, many years} of how hotel owner George Winfield (Chuck Zito), betrayed by his beautiful, enslaved concubine-wife Elizabeth (Ashly Rae), seduces the barman in Winfield's very own hotel, becoming pregnant to the bartender - shaming Winfield {remember, this was the 30's depression era}. Winfield murders mother and child - throwing the child's ccorpse into the abandoned gold mine below the hotel, the bartender curses the chambermaid informant {who told Winfield about the affair / baby} forever. There's some other stuff mentioned about the hotel being a portal between the worlds of the living and the dead, but nothing much ever comes of this.

..Elizabeth ’s spirit possesses Kerri. The make up EFX are beyond horrible, as is the dim lighting. Direction is minimal at best, and acting skills are not required for this project, I would assume. The visual ghost EFX look like a film students first try. Elizabeth's now evil spirit is hell bent on taking revenge on everyone in the hotel while looking for her dead child. She starts seducing Mike in a {audio-out-of sync frenzy}, beheads Kerri with a shovel {again, very poor EFX}, and causes Dean to a fatally fall down a hotel staircase, and believe me, heads do roll, although very poorly again. Julie {becoming possessed and at the same time clairvoyant} realizes her grandmother was the treacherous, nosey chambermaid, whose locket is key to breaking the curse and releasing the evil. Wow... a blond with instant psychic abilities and a plan - BRILLIANT!! Chad and Julie - now with the others dead will have the opportunity to work on their own puppy love, find Dean’s corpse at the bottom of the stairs, but there’s still no escape - LOCKED FRONT DOORS AGAIN... DAMN!!!. CAN'T BREAK THOSE WINDOWS EITHER... OH HELL!!

..Elizabeth's spirit slaughters Chad {terrible EFX}. Julie confronts Elizabeth's evil spirit and surrenders the antique locket - given to her by the bartender before her death, supposedly freeing Elizabeth ’s ghost. The twist at the end was just a little pinch of a surprise, but poorly executed. A few of the sepia toned flashbacks were only just marginally ok. They probably had only about a hundred bucks for the EFX budget, and still were able to save some change out of it. IF THIS ACTUAL STORY WAS PROFESSIONALLY INVESTIGATED AND DOCUMENTED, OR IF IT WAS TOLD WITH A MUCH MORE HISTORICALLY ACURATE SERIES OF EVENTS AND THE REAL PEOPLE, DRAMATICALY TOLD, THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD SOMETHING. THE USE OF A GOOD GHOST STORY WRAPPED IN A TEEN SURVIVAL STORY. NOT Recommended.

DIRECT FILM SITE: REVIEW OF A SCREENER / WILL UPDATE UPON RELEASE

DIRECT MYSPACE FANSITE: http://www.myspace.com/goldfieldhotel

GOLDFIELD LINK: http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/goldfield.html

..OUR ADVICE TO THE FILMMAKERS would be to burn the original camera negative asap so no further contamination to the viewing public will occur. If your eyesight and hearing is impaired, you won't be adversely affected as the rest of us.

..GOOD ATTEMPT, and maybe - possibly entertaining to some, but not most. I got through it without gouging my eyes out, yet have a sense of dizziness due to the film's stupidity level.

..RECOMMENDED. Sat through it with no feelings of nausea and dare I say it, I was entertained!

..VERY RECOMMENDED. Finally we have what can be called an actual film. Both entertaining and accurate in detail. Recommended HIGHLY by Visionsmagazineonline.com

..FILMMAKING PERFECTION. Worthy of the archival process. Own it in your own film library. No questions asked.

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