Is “There’s No Such Thing As Ghosts?” Worth Renting?

The film divides its time between several haunted places, including the Knickerbocker Hotel in Linesville, Pennsylvania, and the Hinsdale House, a.k.a. the Dandy House, in Hinsdale, New York.

But a couple of private homes are also examined. One they only show the outside of, but don’t go in because the current owner didn’t agree to that. However, they talk to a woman who grew up in the home and then moved in again after she got married. She described all kinds of activity, but was perhaps the most interesting to me because she changed her mind about it all when she went back to school. I’ll get to that in a second.

The other private residence was owned by a man who believed a demonic force once haunted his home. I believe it was referred to as the Demon House of Brownsville, Pennsylvania.

The People

Anyone who has any interest in the paranormal knows there are as many kinds of people and beliefs about paranormal activity as there are types of it.

Skeptics, believers, psychics, atheists, religions of all variety, those who live with unexplained phenomena and those who wish to investigate it…we all bring different biases, cultural differences and presumptions about what is or is not actually happening.

Just like the name says, the film interviews people from all disciplines, including scientists and psychology professors.

The places were interesting, but the people who lived in them and/or operated them were just as interesting. Is there something about them that stirs up activity in their places?

But, like I said about the woman who moved back into the home she grew up in, after going back to college and getting more education, she changed her mind about what she may –or may have not– experienced after all. It was very interesting to hear her side of the story.

The Flow

The film jumps back and forth between the haunted places and the people associated with them. It seems that the Knickerbocker Hotel is sort of the central focus, but I don’t know that it was meant to be that way. You can tell the folks who made this film became quite close with Peg Knickerbocker from the hotel and Daniel Klaes from the Hinsdale House.

Also, when I say “jumps,” I don’t mean There’s No Such Thing as Ghosts? is scattered and hard to follow. It’s easy to keep up with where you’re being led and which concept is being presented next. It has a very nice rhythm to its presentation, and at just about an hour, it’s a nice length too.

Another thing to note, there’s a little bit of investigating covered in the movie, but that’s not the central focus of it. There’s No Such Thing as Ghosts? is not a ghost hunting documentary. It’s an exploration into what ghosts may or may not be.

The Ending

No spoilers here, except to say the way they end this film is super sweet. As in touching, not like in Valley Girl, “Rad man!” sweet.

It involves a dream one of the crew, Matt, had about the Knickerbocker Hotel while they were staying there. He feels compelled to share it with everyone, then Peg has him look through a lineup on her phone of potential people he may have dreamed of. He picks her dad. He’s not 100 percent sure that’s the gentleman that communicated with him during his dream, but of all the people she shows him, that’s the one he says comes closest.

What happens during that moment made me cry. I wanted to reach through the screen and give both Peg Knickerbocker and Matt a hug.

Also, that question mark in the title is crucial. No one knows if there are ghosts or not. This documentary doesn’t pretend to answer that question either, but it does present both sides of the argument. The ending definitely personifies the title’s question mark.

Rating

You may not trust me after I gave The House in Between five skulls. A lot of people ended up not enjoying that documentary as much as I did.

And maybe some won’t find There’s No Such Thing as Ghosts? as good as I did either, but I thought it was incredibly well done, thoughtful, thought-provoking and fair. A definite five skull movie for me.