DVD Review: The Ghost of Goodnight Lane (2014)

I will never be able to explain why I actually liked this movie, least of all to myself, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a pretty good/fun/enjoyable watch none the less. 

Ghost of Goodnight Lane is cheap, cheesy, and not very scary at all... but then again it's (mostly) funny, it boasts some really nice eye candy, and it even had a few scares and some decent gore gags throughout.

Trust me, I'm as confused as you are by the mixed message that I'm sending out right now, but the bottom line is that despite every one of our instincts to the contrary, we liked this one.

Ghost of Goodnight Lane opens up with Buddy Revell exchanging witty banter with his co-worker, who is leaving work for the night. Once alone, Buddy gets locked in a closet, hears some whispers, and assumes that he's just losing his mind. Doors close by themselves, cameras move on their own, and pictures fall off of shelves! Then he finds a music box and he dies.

Why do people always play with cursed music boxes?

The next morning, Billy Zane shows up at the scene wearing a ridiculous hat, where he proceeds to get mean-mugged by an old lady. He meets with his employees, who all start talking about how they have a ghost amongst them, and it quickly becomes clear that no one is sad that Buddy Revell is dead. Also, Lacey Chabert is looking ridiculously hot.

Enough with the hats, Billy Zane.

Before long, the very same mean-mugging old woman who was eyeballing Billy Zane shows up and starts talking all cryptically, and cleaning the bathroom. She's obviously trying to warn them about the ghost which they already seem to know about, so, wasted trip.

Then again, she did have a lot to clean up....

At this point, all sorts of crazy things begin to happen: Lacey Chabert gets sexually harassed by Billy Zane; that damn music box shows up over and over again; a hot chick takes a shower; a bunch of creepy dolls come to life; a rocking horse tries to nip some sluts to death; Danielle Harris tries to seduce some hot chick, to no avail; and everyone starts dying off one by one.... all courtesy of the giggling ghost of a young girl.

Don't act surprised by any of this. You knew exactly what this was.

Lacey Chabert also gets sexually harassed by a dog. Good boy, Scraps!

It's really hard to compliment this movie without sounding backhanded. I mean it's silly, it's cheesy, and it looks as if it were made on a very meager budget, so can we honestly say that it's great, or even good? I don't know. It wasn't perfect, and we could easily tear it to shreds if we were so inclined, but then again we really can't, because we mostly enjoyed it. For what it was.

See? Doesn't that sound backhanded?

Goodnight Lane is more of a Horror Comedy than anything else, as it had some humorous and witty moments throughout, most of them courtesy of Billy Zane. When he said "Why does she do it? Why does she hate these doors?" I actually laughed out loud. Should I have? Probably not, but I did. To be fair, some of the movie's comedic moments fell absolutely flat, but those missteps were equalled by the amount of genuinely humorous moments.

Cheaper movies like this that go Direct-to-Video tend to be tough to sit through, but Ghost of Goodnight Lane ended up being far more enjoyable than we thought it would be.

The twit really hits the fan in this movie. Zing!

There is no shortage of good looking women in this movie. Danielle Harris and Lacey Chabert may be the most recognizable names and faces amongst them, but the lesser known ladies of Goodnight Lane were every bit as hot in their own varied ways.

As for the scares, the scene with the dolls was fairly creepy, but for the most part the Horror of Goodnight Lane was far more fun than it was terrifying. Some of the gore gags were pretty solid in this one too, most notably the nail and fan bits.

The whores were completely unaware of Butternut's presence, and of the fact that they were about to be nipped to death.

We also have to say that it was great seeing Richard Tyson in something again, even if his part was small and fleeting; the guy was great in Three O'Clock High, Two Moon Junction, Kindergarten Cop, and Black Hawk Down, and he's been a fave of ours for years. We will always love Buddy Revell.

Also, sock monkey. Who didn't have one of these when they were a kid?

Ghost of Goodnight Lane is about as much of a Guilty Pleasure as a Horror movie gets for us, and even though we knew better, we just couldn't help but be sucked in by its simple charms. If you're going to rent/buy this one, just do so with the knowledge that it's not an issue-free movie. If you go into Goodnight Lane expecting nothing but 90 minutes of harmless fun, you'll come out of it just fine.

Ghost of Goodnight Lane is available now on DVD.

Here are some random screen grabs from Ghost of Goodnight Lane that capture the crazy vibe of the movie.

As for the pictures of Hotties that usually occupy this area of our reviews, have no fear; we just gave them their own post below! Click HERE to see the Girls of Goodnight Lane!