Ghost in the Machine Review

Ghost in the Machine (1993)

Ghost in the Machine is a Sci-Fi/ Horror-ish movie that has a below average script, cast and plot. The premise of the film is that there is a serial killer dubbed "Address Book Killer" who is a technician at a local computer shop that steals address books and kills each person in the book one by one.

The film is directed by Rachel Talalay best know for her work on Freddy's Dead. I enjoyed Freddy's Dead and thought this girl just might be able to pull off a sci-fi horror film like this. I was wrong.

Terry Munroe (Karen Allen) and her son Josh go to the computer store to get a gift for one of Terry's friends. While in the store Terry is introduced to a new computerized datebook/address book and her contacts are uploaded into their system. After the demo, Terry buys the software and accidently leaves her address book in the store.

Karl Hochman aka The Address Book Killer, who works at the store, finds the address book and informs the owner he will return it to Terry on his way home. Story seems to be alright up to this point. But here is where I get a bit confused. On his way to case Terry's house, he gets into an automobile accident and the whole time he is flipping over and crashing he is laughing and having a grand time...why, I do not know.

So the ambulance gets to him and takes him to the hospital and given a cat-scan. Unfortunately, there is a huge thunderstorm and lightning strikes the hospital killing Karl, yet sucking his soul into the machine. Hey, has anyone ever seen Shocker, because this sounds familiar.

Being in the machine he is able to move throughout the world via electricity...wait, isn't that how Horace Pinker from Shocker moved from place to place? YES! Anyway, Karl starts picking off the people in Terry's Address book one by one and messing with Terry's finances and life via the internet.

One of the world's greatest computer hackers Bram Walker (Chris Mulkey) works for a company that apparently controls everyone's data in their life. He finds the occurrences strange and personally vows to help Terry find out what is happening. He and Terry become convinced that the Address Book Killer's soul is still alive in the machines and try to track him, yet they are always a step behind.

On a good note, there is a kill scene where a man is microwaved which is very enjoyable. The scene is very unrealistic and campy, but fun.

So blah, blah, blah, Bram, Terry and Josh come up with a plan to load a virus (didn't see that coming) into the main frame and trap the Killer in a local university's magnet room. I like that the movies expects us to believe there is only one mainframe in the world and that every local university has a gigantic magnet for research purposes. Anyway, there is a last fight between the killer, Terry, Bram and Josh and the story completely contradicts itself by allowing the killer to appear outside the machines. The graphics are poor, but I'll give it a pass due to the fact that it was made in 93. The acting is alright, nothing spectacular and the story has huge holes that irritate me.

Ghost in the Machine isn't the worst movie I have ever seen, it still sucks, but it occupied me on a flight from Chicago to Miami. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, unless you don't mind watching an entire movie for one kill scene.