We Have a Ghost

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to We Have a Ghost writer Christopher Landon about the upcoming comedy movie.

One of the first movie I saw that you wrote was Disturbia and that movie has really endured over time and is still so beloved. So looking back at that, how do you kind of view the legacy of that movie and how it’s been able to just keep on going all these years later? The way that we, the way that we immediately take something — something even as ridiculous as a ghost — and we immediately are polarized and we’re immediately fighting about it. So just even having that maze was something that was really cool and really special to me. He’s the guy that hangs out after we wrap and is telling jokes and making the whole crew laugh and there’s a warmth to him that was vital. Can you speak to working with Anthony and how he brought that charisma and warmth to the role of the father? So that was something that I was able to do here. in the short story that the film is based on, the character of Frank is a total dick. I think that was what really excited him about the role, ultimately, was that he wouldn’t get to rely on that at all and that he was going to have to really use his face and his heart to really convey what his character is going through. I felt like I was bringing this thing in and forcing him to talk because I was too afraid of the idea of him not talking. But yeah, it’s the kind of movie that I’ve wanted to make for a long time. I love horror films and I was raised on them, but I was also raised on Amblin and other kinds of films and I’ve always loved them.

Christopher Landon is the reigning king of the horror-comedy, having directed time-loop chiller “Happy Death Day” (and its underrated follow-up) and “Freaky ...

The second movie, he said, leaned into more sci-fi: “It was my ‘Weird Science’-y movie in a lot of ways.” But yeah, we were going to change gears again and it was going to be bigger,” said Landon, who admits the size and ambition was a stumbling block. “I have to still keep it in my pocket on the off-chance … There was a whole movie that was ready to go in my brain. “And, obviously ‘Disturbia’ was very me in a lot of ways too, but ‘Happy Death Day’ really seemed to really capture my personality as a person and as a filmmaker. (Landon’s father was Michael Landon, star of “Bonanza,” who passed away from cancer when Christopher was only 16. “It was an accident,” he said. It always looked like we were making porn,” Landon said about the experience. It proved to be an unexpected smash for Blumhouse and Universal, making more than $125 million on a budget of less than $5 million. “I had whiplash with that one, just because I’m so used to the cadence of it always just being an eternity for things to happen, if they happen at all. And, then it worked and I just kept doing them.” Landon is still obsessed the Amblin office, tucked into Universal Studios: “I love it.

The new Netflix horror-comedy We Have a Ghost is all about what would happen if a family discovered a phantasm in their attic and turned him into a social ...

The original story goes through many of the same beats as the film but is far more cynical: The patriarch of the family, Frank, takes advantage of the ghost in both versions of the story, using the haunting to achieve celebrity. Ernest isn’t even the ghost’s real name; it’s just given to him by Frank because he “looks like Ernest Borgnine.” But in the movie, Frank is a well-meaning, albeit cranky, dad played by the charming Anthony Mackie, and his exploitative urges never get much more severe than, say, selling videos of Ernest to Dr. [Ernest by Geoff Manaugh](https://www.vice.com/en/article/vb75wx/ernest), which was first published by Vice in 2017, eventually sparking a bidding war for the film rights. The movie is occasionally very silly, clearly drawing influence from wacky 1980s comedies like Beetlejuice and Splash, as well as family movies like E.T. In this case, it’s a ghost named Ernest, played by David Harbour, sporting a Neil Hamburger-esque combover for some reason.

Spoiler alert: This article contains major spoilers for We Have A Ghost. Article continues below advertisement. Streaming platform Netflix released a ...

This gives the idea that Randy is listening and could make a return. [recently reflected](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1266312-we-have-a-ghost-interview-director-christopher-landon-talks-netflix-movie) on what it took to capture the idea of David Harbour being a ghost. Before Ernest shoots the gun at Kevin, Randy tries to save his life and Kevin's dad Frank pushes Ernest out of the window. It would be daunting for any actor to have to go through that." Here is the explanation of We Have A Ghost's ending. The ghost of the film turns out to be Ernest's brother-in-law Randy. The story centers on a family that moves into a house, only to find out that the house is haunted. While Randy is nice to Kevin and the rest of the family, Ernest is not. Then, he began to disappear and eventually Randy vanishes. But I prefer a challenge more than doing the same thing. Is there a sequel coming? But, there are still a few things about the ending that need to be explained.

In Netflix's family-friendly adventure We Have A Ghost, David Harbour plays a ghost who goes viral. Read our review.

Landon, who directed the Vince Vaughn slasher Freaky and the Happy Death Day films, is a competent director, but We Have A Ghost is a mess. Nothing in the film feels original, We Have A Ghost can’t escape the heavy weight of its influences. in We Have A Ghost and Ernest is a likeable supernatural being. There are also some similarities between We Have a Ghost and Harbour is clearly having the time of his life and most of the film’s best gags involve him. Harbour plays Ernest, a ghost haunting the house that Anthony Mackie’s Frank and his family have just purchased.

Christopher Landon makes wonderfully quirky horror films that defy the typical cynicism of the genre nowadays. He avoids the pretension of “elevated horror” ...

Leslie Monroe [Jennifer Coolidge ](/cast-and-crew/jennifer-coolidge)as Judy Romano, the West Bay Medium [Erica Ash ](/cast-and-crew/erica-ash)as Melanie Presley [Isabella Russo ](/cast-and-crew/isabella-russo)as Joy Yoshino [Niles Fitch ](/cast-and-crew/niles-fitch)as Fulton Presley [Faith Ford ](/cast-and-crew/faith-ford)as Realtor Even as “We Have a Ghost” sags in places, it never completely fades into the dull background of Netflix originals of late. Father Frank ( [Anthony Mackie](/cast-and-crew/anthony-mackie)) is struggling to make ends meet and to maintain a healthy relationship with his increasingly-distant son Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston, so good in “ [Charm City Kings](/reviews/charm-city-kings-movie-review-2020)” and on “Everything Sucks!”). Of course, “We Have a Ghost” becomes a bit of a whodunit too as Ernest learns about what really happened to him, including the identity of his killer. [Tig Notaro](/cast-and-crew/tig-notaro)) and her CIA boss Arnold Schipley ( [Steve Coulter](/cast-and-crew/steve-coulter)). [Geoff Manaugh](/cast-and-crew/geoff-manaugh), “We Have a Ghost” opens with the Presley family moving to a fixer-upper in Chicago.

However, as youngest son Kevin and his neighbour Joy begin to uncover the truth about Ernest's path, and his death, they swiftly become targets of a paranormal ...

The capture ghost-Ernest/Randy is being tortured/experimented on when a memory surfaces of the truth — ghost-Ernest/Randy dropped his daughter June off only for real-Ernest to murder him so that they could keep ghost-Ernest/Randy's daughter for themselves. In the attic, Kevin asks Joy if she thinks ghost-Ernest/Randy can still see them from wherever he is, and she says maybe. This allows Monroe to get a warrant to get into the Presley home, but Melanie warns her son the fuzz is on his trail. It only makes them more famous, attracting the attention of ghost hunter Leslie Monroe (Tig Notaro) and the CIA who come to the house to try and capture Ernest. With the help of his neighbour and equal social misfit Joy (Isabella Russo) the two begin to hunt down Ernest's past. Their ghost is the seemingly friendly Ernest, who helps turn the Presley family into a social-media sensation.

Kevin Presley (Jahi Winston) has just moved to a new home in the Chicago suburbs and isn't very happy about it. Not only is the Victorian-era house in ...

That said, for the most part, the short story’s scenarios have been updated to the characters’ betterment—softening Frank from a one-dimensional, self-centered guy to a flawed father working through his troubles, and swapping the brothers’ personalities and arcs. Closure is inevitably attained, of course, but at a cheapened cost that dramatically lessens the impact of its main characters’ journeys. Kevin Presley (Jahi Winston) has just moved to a new home in the Chicago suburbs and isn’t very happy about it. This has also left Kevin’s older brother Fulton (Niles Fitch) and mom Melanie (Erica Ash) approaching the family’s fresh start with a great deal of apprehension and worry. [Freaky](https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/freaky-2020) and [Happy Death Day 2U](https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/happy-death-day-2u-2019) cleverly function as Trojan Horses: breezy horror-comedies used to subtly smuggle in palpable amounts of poignancy dealing with familial anxieties. Monroe and the CIA, in favor of our core characters’ motivations could’ve helped tighten the pace and energetic rhythms.

Netflix's new movie "We Have a Ghost" features filming locations in Louisiana. The Chicago home is portrayed by two homes in New Orleans.

A convention center in New Orleans was transformed into the CIA office. The mountain background was shot in Bozeman, Montana, and added to the setting through visual effects. Naturally, the Presley family’s new house is one of the movie’s standout stars. “We shot the movie in the dead ass of summer in New Orleans, which anyone will tell you is crazy.” The soaring attic where the ghost, Ernest, likes to hang out was filmed on a soundstage. Ahead, dive into everything else we know about the filming locations in the movie.

Review: David Harbour is one lovable dead guy in 'We Have a Ghost'; plus the artful 'Bruiser'. A ghostly figure hangs its head out a ...

His Oscar-nominated latest is the mostly dialogue-free story of a donkey that gets passed from owner to owner and predicament to predicament in vignettes that Skolimowski captures with wit, humanity and astonishing visual flair. “The Outwaters” begins with lots of loose footage of young folks hanging out. “God’s Time” has an endearingly scrappy vibe and a talented cast filled with unfamiliar faces. The real star of “Ambush” is Connor Paolo, playing Cpl. [Billy Bob Thornton](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-ca-billy-bob-thornton-20180607-htmlstory.html) — educates his crew by sharing colorful anecdotes from his misspent youth, filled with rich details about both the fun and the responsibilities of being a bad guy. The artful indie drama “Bruiser” starts out as an engaging but perhaps too typical coming-of-age story about a middle-class kid cracking under the pressure of having to be a diligent and well-behaved student all the time. “We Have a Ghost” is unnecessarily long, padded with tangential comic characters — including Jennifer Coolidge as a phony TV spiritualist and Tig Notaro as a bitter ex-CIA agent — who don’t do a lot to advance the story or make it funnier. It’d be hard for anyone to compete with Thornton, but “Devil’s Peak” isn’t helped much by the bland performance of its lead, Hopper Penn, who plays Charlie’s softhearted son Jacob. Dubbed “Ernest” because of the name stitched on his shirt, the ghost — who can make noise but can’t talk, and can touch people but can’t be touched — tries to chase away the home’s new family by howling and making scary faces. Jalyn Hall plays Darious, a teenager whose parents have saved and sacrificed to send him to a nice boarding school, providing the kind of comfortable upbringing they didn’t have. In this case, most of the heart-tugging comes via Kevin, from his strained relationship with Frank and his attempt to help Ernest figure out who he really is. [David Harbour](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-12-02/david-harbour-violent-night-santa-claus-action-christmas) as a spirit haunting a fixer-upper house in the Chicago area.

A so-so attempt to recall kids films of the 80s struggles to find its own personality amidst its many influences.

The bigger it all gets, the further we feel pushed away and it starts to recall the scrappy disaster of Happy Death Day 2U, which squandered the simple joys of the original by needlessly extending the canvas. There is some mildly interesting familial tension at play between Mackie’s opportunist father and Winston’s disappointed son (a speech about being unable to hide one’s faults when a child gets old enough to see them is effective) but Landon struggles to bring emotional heft to the central friendship. In Landon’s simpler, sweeter low-stakes opening act, the film works best, a charming melange of Casper, Beetlejuice and the aforementioned Amblin classics, gently taking us through familiar motions. “We have a ghost!” is then exclaimed with the words meaning something different to each family member. It makes sense that he would then parlay that into the world of family films and so his Landon has always been transparent about his influences – Happy Death Day recalling Groundhog Day, Disturbia recalling Rear Window (to the extent that Hitchcock’s estate tried to sue) – but here, he’s too busy trying to conjure the vibe of a certain type of film to focus on crafting something of his own.

When the Presley family encounters a friendly ghost at their new house, their lives completely change. "We have a Ghost" begins with the Presley family ...

Kevin wondered if Rudy was still watching, and the blinking bulb confirmed that wherever Rudy was, he still cared about Kevin and was perhaps watching him with a smile on his face. They decided to contact Ernest Scheller because he used to own the house, and they hoped to find him in the dive bar he used to own. The CIA entered the house in the middle of the night to catch the ghost, but to their surprise, Kevin and Ernest were missing from the house. He mentioned that the ghost they thought was Ernest was actually Rudy. Just as he was about to attack Kevin, Rudy got hold of him and punched him in the face. The deputy director did not believe him, but he had no other option but to let go of the case. He was afraid that Rudy had told him about the past and that he would be punished for murdering Rudy now that the truth was out. He went to the attic and tried reaching out to Ernest, but the ghost was nowhere to be found. Even though the house was not what they wanted it to be, the Presleys were on a budget, and this was the best they could get. Frank needed to prove to the audience that the ghost was real so that they could trust him. But after Ernest’s video got popular, the CIA decided to restart the project and find the ghost with Monroe’s help. Kevin, the youngest Presley, was mostly distant from his family; he decided to explore the house on his own.

In addition, thriller film 12 Desperate Hours, comedic thriller series The Consultant, docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive and the 2023 SAG Awards will also ...

[Presenters for the ceremony](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2023/02/15/SAG-Awards-presenters-Andrew-Garfield-Emily-Blunt/7981676484271/) include [Andrew Garfield](https://www.upi.com/topic/Andrew_Garfield/), Emily Blunt, [Jessica Chastain](https://www.upi.com/topic/Jessica_Chastain/), [Don Cheadle](https://www.upi.com/topic/Don_Cheadle/), [Caleb McLaughlin](https://www.upi.com/topic/Caleb-McLaughlin/), Paul Mescal, Ashley Park, Zendaya, [Michelle Yeoh](https://www.upi.com/topic/Michelle_Yeoh/), Ke Huy Quan, and [Michelle Williams](https://www.upi.com/topic/Michelle_Williams/). [returns for a fifth season Friday](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2023/01/12/Formula-1-Drive-Survive-Season-5-teaser-premiere-date-Netflix/4401673537888/) on Netflix. [Jack White](https://www.upi.com/topic/Jack_White/) serves as musical guest. [streams its first episode](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2023/01/04/christoph-waltz-consultant-prime-video/6071672836388/) Friday on Prime Video. [returns for a third outing](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2023/01/26/Party-Down-reunion-trailer-Starz-revival/9471674753059/) Friday on Starz and the premium network's streaming app. [streaming live Sunday](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2023/01/31/2023-awards-show-schedule-how-to-watch/1221672955140/) at 8 p.m. [which airs Saturday on](https://www.mylifetime.com/movies/12-desperate-hours) Lifetime and streams the following day on the Lifetime app. The show is executive produced by James Gay-Rees and [Paul Martin](https://www.upi.com/topic/Paul_Martin/). The film, adapted by director Christopher Landon from the short story "Ernest" by Geoff Manaugh, stars Jahi Winston as Kevin, a teenager who discovers a ghost named Ernest ( [David Harbour](https://www.upi.com/topic/David-Harbour/)) haunting his family's new house. [streams Friday on](https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2023/01/26/We-Have-Ghost-trailer-David-Harbour-Netflix/4491674749578/) Netflix. [Christoph Waltz](https://www.upi.com/topic/Christoph_Waltz/) stars as Regus Patoff, a consultant hired to reorganize operations at an app-based gaming company. The movie, directed by [Gina Gershon](https://www.upi.com/topic/Gina_Gershon/), also stars David Conrad as Val's husband, Mark.

We Have a Ghost, the new comedy-horror film starring David Harbour (Stranger Things) as a balding, mute ghost named Ernest, materializes on Netflix this weekend ...

To be fair, some people enjoy this kind of miserabilism. Inspired by real-life events, this drama follows a group of women and girls at an isolated, unnamed Mennonite colony who discover that certain men in the colony have been using cow tranquilizers to subdue and rape them for years. To prevent the apocalypse. Song Kang-ho (Parasite) and Gang Dong-won (Peninsula) star in Shoplifters director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest comedic crime drama as two scoundrels who steal babies from church drop boxes and sell them on the adoption black market to affluent couples who can’t have children of their own. This documentary focuses on the lives of the social workers and the residents of the Lysychansk Center in eastern Ukraine, an orphanage for children of unfit parents who are provided shelter for up to nine months before their next home is decided. Rose Cotter, a therapist exposed to a bizarre, traumatic event involving the death of one of her patients. This drama follows the members of the Solé family, who for generations have worked as peach farmers in a small village in Catalonia. Well, Die Hart: The Movie is a satirical action-comedy where comedian Kevin Hart plays a fictionalized version of himself who is trying to become a big-budget action movie star. It’s filled with hundreds of bad-taste parodies, laughless messes, silly garbage, and probably a few unfortunate movies that weren’t deliberately designed to be laughed at. This new drama follows the story of Darious (Jalyn Hall), an African American teen who struggles to fit in at the private school he attends, where he is frequently preyed upon by his more privileged classmates. With the government now breathing down their necks to experiment on him, Kevin must help Ernest escape capture and solve the mystery of why his spirit still haunts this Earth. If watching a close-knit family reckon with an impossible decision posited by the emissaries of an inscrutable force is a little too heavy for you right now, not to worry — there’s plenty of other great new movies to watch on VOD and streaming.