The genres of films can be very hard to categorise. Once it was clear if a film was a horror, a thriller, or a drama; now films seem to take elements of all of those and fuse them together to create a fresh narrative.
Genre becomes even more complex as you continue to delve, with some being dubbed as cult viewing or exploitative (not in a bad way – but in a way that feeds off the climate of its release). Even now, the filmography of an actor can be considered a genre itself; we know what to expect from a film starring Vincent Price (spooky madmen) or Liam Neeson (old guy running). The work of Nicolas Cage can even be classified as a genre itself, filled with drama and the greatest performances of over-acting ever seen. With 'Pay The Ghost', Cage himself may be changing what a Nicolas Cage film means.
Nicolas plays Mike, a loving father and husband who works too hard to provide for his family, often missing out on spending time with them. After arriving home late on Halloween, missing trick-or-treating with his family, he makes it up to his son by taking him to a nearby carnival. After cryptically asking if Mike has paid the ghost, Mike’s son vanishes without a trace. A year later, Mike’s son is still missing, but in the lead-up to Halloween he starts seeing signs of him. Mike teams up with his now estranged wife (Sarah Wayne Callies of 'The Walking Dead') to investigate sudden supernatural occurrences in the hopes it will lead them to reuniting with their son.
'Pay The Ghost' comes out in a time filled with action films starring older actors and actresses playing characters out for revenge, i.e. 'Taken'. What this film does differently is replace scenes of explosions with dread and the supernatural. The thought of losing a child can be distressing enough; but the thought of losing them to something not of this plane of existence doubles that fear. Coupled with this, the film maintains an atmosphere of dread throughout, especially with the ghostly children and number of frightening adults who populate this version of New York; the haunted scooter not-so-much, but is quite humorous. 
In a film filled with such strange occurrences, one of the most odd is Nicolas Cage himself. Audiences have been taken aback by Cage’s grating acting method. It is expected of him to steal a scene by either: a) repeatedly screaming nonsense; b) move like a crackling fire, with co-stars trying to avoid the licks of flames that are his limbs, or; c) pull expressions which make special effects look outdated. When paired with other actors, scenes will bear a similarity to a retail assistant calming an irate customer. In 'Pay The Ghost', however, Cage pulls back for the first in a long time. Where once he would express grief through maniacal screams; here, he moves with the heaviness of someone still chained to their loss. There are multiple opportunities for Cage to divulge himself, but he never takes the bait. 'Pay The Ghost' may be the beginning of a new, more human Nicolas Cage, which is a change most welcome.{youtube}FXSo8x0FwuM{/youtube}
Three out of five haunted scooters.
'Pay The Ghost' is available now on DVD, Blu-ray and Digitally.
