Ghost Keeper, Snow Bunnies in Peril

Filmed entirely on location at Lake Louise, in Banff, Alberta. This film and "Doctor Zhivago" share that distinction. Sadly, Omar Sharif and Julie Christie are not in our film today. But wait! We do have babes! Yep, perhaps not household names, but Riva Spier and Sheri McFadden look simply sultry in their slightly tight ski suites. I guess the important question is will they stay sultry? Today we look at a really creepy horror film from 1981, "Ghost Keeper" (aka "Ghostkeeper"), directed by Jim Makichuk.

A trio of snow-mobilers are exploring the woods near Lake Louise one New Year's day. Jenny (Spier) in a shiny gray ski suit, her boyfriend Marty (Murray Ord), and the flirtatious blonde Chrissy (McFadden) in red. A storm comes in fast and the trio find an abandoned resort, Deer Lodge.  They go in to get out of the elements and find it heated. Jenny is sad because her beau pays more attention to Chrissy, the flirt. Jenny is also sad because madness runs in her family...I guess we all can claim that. Uh oh...a creepy old lady (Georgie Collins) emerges. She does not like Marty or Chrissy, but the feelings are mutual. She admires Jenny. Uh oh, she lives there with her sons.  Her sons? One is locked in the icehouse because he is an uncontrollable cannibalistic mutant.  The other son is a homicidal killer.

Okay, Jenny and Marty bicker.  Marty wants to explore other women, specifically Chrissy.  Chrissy takes a hot bath, with candles.  The old lady lets her kids out and now they converge on the trio of unwanted guests. Guess who gets it first. You ever notice what happens to nude babes in slasher films when they take baths? Now Danny (Bill Grove) grabs a chainsaw and chases Jenny through the halls. Marty goes crazy himself. The lunatic locked in the ice cellar...stays locked in the ice cellar. Huh? Then some neat twists.

Is there a catfight brewing between snow bunny Chrissy and snow bunny Jenny? Is the lunatic cannibal guy in the ice cellar going to figure in this plot, at all? Will Jenny survive the inattentive boyfriend who is going crazy, the flirtatious Chrissy, the crazy old woman, the psycho son, and the cannibal son? This is a good one and fans of early 1980s slasher films will want to give it a view. See "Ghost Keeper" and enjoy some babes in snowsuits in great peril.  

Archive, Rhona Mitra is in it!

Okay, before you get on this film for being non realistic, I urge you to look up Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. They had to be the inspiration for this film. Yep, a science fiction one set in the future where people don't have to stop conversing with the dearly departed. Nope. Your wife dies? Keep yapping!  Why not? She'll even call you on the telephone from the other side...or some AI data center. Do we really want the dead to hang around, though? Let us look at a film Rhona Mitra is in, 2020's "Archive," directed by Gavin Rothery.  Again...Rhona Mitra is in this film!

Awful car wreck and brilliant scientist George (Theo James) survives, but his loving wife Jules (Stacy Martin) dies. He's sad. But wait!  Lucky him...not so lucky her. He signed her up with Archive International! Yep, through analog technology, AI, and fiber optics, her consciousness has been preserved in a data center. To think you are fighting data centers in your communities! Yep, by a special phone, she calls him intermittently and they get to chat. He misses her.  She misses him. Touching. Oh, the mad scientist George? He builds robots. Now he combines Archive's technology with his robots and he aims to create a robot, very human like, and put his wife's consciousness inside. How will this go? Do you have to ask? I know, why not put his wife's consciousness in Rhona Mitra's frame.  Her...er...smile would be bigger.

His first attempts are interesting but boxy and clumsy. I'm not making this up. The first one has her consciousness of when she was five years old.  The next one has Jules' consciousness for when she was 16 years old. Still in the statutory rape category, he now aims for the 25 year old wife. Rhona Mitra is around occasionally to yell at him, but mostly the two existing robots complain that he is ignoring them and they feel as if they will be replaced when he creates the sex-bot...I mean robot of his wife. Rhona Mitra continues to yell at him...don't ask, but she is in this movie. Oh, the heavies at Archive are upset that he's infringing their copyright by putting their technology in his inventions. George loves his wife, and here's the sad part. He's running against the clock. He can only chat with his wife for a total of 200 hours, then the consciousness does die out. His final call is scheduled. Now he must complete his wife-robot quickly and assuage his two existing whiny robots, and put up with Rhona Mitra yelling at him.

Why is Rhona Mitra yelling at George?  Will Rhona Mitra and the wife sex-bot get into a muddy catfight?  With Rhona Mitra right there, why bring a dead wife back? I, perhaps, am not taking this film seriously, and that is unfair.  Twists will unfold and many of you will have seen them coming. With George and his two existing bots trying to create another bot, "Archive" would be a great episode for Joel and the 'bots in a MST3K episode.  See "Archive," and enjoy Rhona Mitra as a grouchy dame. 

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