'Ghosthunter' is a real-life mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a bunch of thick Aussie accents and then tied up in another mystery.
The documentary centres around Jason King, an Aussie security guard who runs a night-time operation evicting unwanted ghosts from Sydney homes. Jason doesn’t charge for his ghost hunting services, he’s just happy to butt heads with the supernatural and help people find peace. While bogans with ghosts is top-notch documentary fodder in and of itself, this film packs way bigger punches than that.
There’s something about the childhood Jason doesn’t remember and the strange scars on his face that suggest he may have ghosts of his own. The film plunges you into an increasingly dark spiral of revelations as the crew embark on an investigation of Jason’s mystery-shrouded past. You travel will him as his ghosts are uncovered, each one more startling than the last.
The filmmaker, Ben Lawrence, does a brilliant job of building suspense as the story unfolds. If you love a good old-fashioned mystery, you will be in puzzle-solving heaven. There are so many behavioural patterns to watch, clues to piece together and twists to try to figure out before they’re revealed.
I’m not going to give away any of the plot because that defeats the whole purpose of the mystery genre. But, if you enjoyed documentaries like 'Catfish', or podcasts like 'Trace' or 'S Town', then 'Ghosthunter' is right up your proverbial dark alley.
