JP Nunez
I love supernatural horror. If a movie gives me a malevolent spirit terrorizing a group of innocent (or maybe not so innocent) victims, I’ll be a happy man, so when I saw the trailer for Brooklyn 45, I was immediately hooked. This film looked like an awesome ghost story that was right up my alley, so I knew I had to check it out as soon as I could. I jumped at the chance to review it, and after finally getting a chance to watch it, I’m happy to say that while it’s very different from what I was expecting, it’s just as good as I hoped it would be.
Brooklyn 45 was written and directed by Ted Geoghegan, and it stars Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Larry Fessenden, Jeremy Holm, Ezra Buzzington, Kristina Klebe, and Lucy Karapetyan. As the name suggests, it’s set in Brooklyn in 1945, and it’s about a group of five World War II veterans who’ve been friends since childhood. One of them, a man named Clive Hockstatter, recently lost his wife, so one day, he invites the others to his house to help him get through his grief.
At first, Clive’s guests think it’s just a normal, run-of-the-mill get together, but soon enough, the widower reveals his true intentions. He wants to hold a seance and contact his dead wife, and at first, his friends balk at the idea. They think the idea is ridiculous, but Clive eventually convinces them. They sit around a table, hold hands, and try to reach out to the spirit world, and as you can probably guess, the ghosts of their past come back to haunt them in some big ways.
Right from the get-go, Brooklyn 45 had me absolutely hooked. The dialogue and the performances in this film are excellent, so I loved every single one of these characters from the very first moment I met them. They feel like real, fleshed-out individuals, not just throwaway ghost fodder, so I loved seeing them on screen even when there wasn’t anything particularly scary going on.
And for a movie like this, that’s really important. See, Brooklyn 45 is set pretty much entirely in one room of Clive’s house, and it’s basically just these characters talking to each other and trying to deal with the supernatural phenomena going on around them. It’s a very contained and character-driven story, so it stands or falls to a large extent on the strength of these characters.
And since they’re all fantastic, the film absolutely shines. In fact, I had so much fun watching these people talk and reminisce about old times that I probably would’ve enjoyed this movie even if nothing horrific had happened. It’s just that good, and when the horror kicks into gear, it gets even better.
Unlike a lot of genre films, Brooklyn 45 doesn’t rely much on gore or jump scares (although there is one great gore scene involving Larry Fessenden’s face!). Instead, it’s mainly about tension and suspense, and it’s really effective. In fact, in that regard, it reminded me a bit of the 1960 classic The Haunting. That film managed to be super scary without showing us any ghosts, and while Brooklyn 45 does put a few spooks on screen, it also features some very similar (and similarly scary!) moments when the spirits make themselves felt and heard rather than seen.
That being said, don’t go into this movie expecting a Paranormal Activity-style spookfest. While it’s definitely a supernatural horror film with some excellent supernatural scares, it’s very different from what most viewers (including me!) will probably be expecting. I can’t go into any specifics without spoiling the movie, but suffice it to say that there’s a lot more to this film than just the ghostly element.
Last but not least, I want to talk a bit about the message of Brookly 45. It has a couple of different themes running through it, like the evil of war and the way war can make otherwise good people do terrible things, but for me, what stood out the most was its commentary on nationalism, patriotism, and xenophobia.
When the movie begins, Clive and his crew talk a lot about how they hate Germans, and they toss around the word “kraut” pretty freely. The emphasis on that sentiment made me think it would become more important later on, and sure enough, that’s exactly what happens. The story ends up being a spot-on denunciation of the kind of blind, xenophobic nationalism that often passes for patriotism these days (although, to be sure, true patriotism is very different), and I absolutely loved it.
All that being said, I do have to acknowledge that Brooklyn 45 isn’t quite perfect. I don’t have any big problems with it, but there is one minor issue that I think is worth mentioning. The CGI is pretty noticeable at times, and I found that a bit distracting.
But in the grand scheme of things, that’s really more of a nitpick than anything else, so on the whole, I had an excellent time watching Brooklyn 45. It features excellent characters fueled by amazing performances, the scares and the tension are masterfully executed, and the movie’s message and themes really resonated with me. This is simply a great film all around, so it’s hands down one of the best I’ve seen all year.
Brooklyn 45 is set to hit Shudder on June 9.
