Half Charming/Half Over the Top

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2016)

From "Topper" to "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" to present day, we have had movies where ghosts occupy space with humans and even are in discourse with them (usually, only one of them). In this film, a couple of newlyweds purchase and old house and everything is fine until they are both killed in a car accident. In the afterlife, they continue to occupy the place, but, of course, the house is sold, and another couple moves in. This is disheartening as they now realize they are actually dead. We have a lot of potential here. They decide to drive the new owners out of the house, but they don't know what they can do, so they enlist an evil spirit, played by Michael Keaton, to do their dirty work. The problem is that he is totally uncontrollable and soon they are paying a bigger price than the new occupants. Of course, it's Tim Burton, so it's dark and oddly funny, but Keaton wears on one after a while, and the film slide into all sorts of gimmicky special effects. He is not the least likable, and that works against the charm of the story.