RW313 - Bonus - Ghostkeeper

In this special New Years episode of The Rewatch Podcast, Cory and Nathan take a chilling trip into the mountains as they discuss "Ghostkeeper."

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Ghostkeeper was filmed on location in Lake Louise at the Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Filming began on November 30, 1980, and finished on December 23, 1980. The film was photographed by cinematographer John Holbrook. Producer Harry Cole commented during the shoot: "It's a producer's dream— it has one location in a controlled environment." Cole also described film as more a "suspense movie" along the lines of Psycho (1960).

Ghostkeeper was produced via a tax shelter on a budget of around CA$750,000 dollars. Its tax shelter funding made the production's financial situation rather unstable; according to Jim Makichuk the film's money started to run out when the movie was only half shot, so rather than cancel the production altogether, he decided to abandon the remaining script and make things up as he went along, hoping to at least retain the film's creepy atmosphere. He said this explains the released film's rather uneven, incoherent second half and sparse use of the plot's monster. His original intention was to film a much longer ending, including an extended chase sequence with Spier and the Wendigo creature on the rooftop of the Deer Lodge hotel.

The film's score was composed by Paul Zaza, who also composed music for fellow Canadian slasher film productions Prom Night (1980), My Bloody Valentine (1981), and Curtains (1983). Zaza got on board due to the involvement of film editor Stan Cole. In fact, some of the musical themes featured in Ghostkeeper were also used in Prom Night.

In May 1981, it was reported that the film was to be screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film was released in Canada and the United States in December 1981, and was distributed by New World Pictures. It did not receive a home video release until September 1986. The film was released on VHS in September 1986 through New World Pictures' home video branch. Director Jim Makichuk stated in an interview that he was trying to get a DVD released through Netflix with a quality print of the film.

In April 2012, Ghostkeeper was released for the first time on DVD through Code Red Releasing. The DVD included a commentary with Jim Makichuck, Riva Spier and Murray Ord, an interview with director of photography John Holbrook as well as an interview with actress Georgie Collins. The film is presented in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen for the first time on video and has been restored from the only known existing film elements. On August 18, 2017, Code Red issued a Blu-ray edition of the film featuring a new 2K scan of the original film elements.

An alternate opening to the film was shot by distributors two years after the initial production. In the opening, a young man fleeing from the hotel at sunlight and running into the woods until backing up against a tree. While pinned, he is killed (presumably by Danny) and stabbed from a sharp wood stake. This opening was not featured in the 1986 VHS.

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Next up, we'll be spending quite a bit of time discussing every single James Bond film! We hope you'll join us.

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