If there was ever an actor whose career could be aligned with the old Halloween tradition of trick or treat, it would be Nicolas Cage. From Oscar-winning highs to confounding lows, it’s fair to say that the star has served up a fair share of each across his sprawling résumé, and he’ll be hoping to serve up a spooky treat this fall season with Uli Edel’s Pay the Ghost.
Having directed Houdini, Oz and Homicide: Life On The Streets – not to mention a feature film in The Baader Meinhof Complex – Pay the Ghost is somewhat of a departure for Edel, which sees Cage’s Mike Cole scramble across the four corners of NYC in an attempt to find his missing son. You see, upon attending their local festive parade, the young boy is caught up in the atmosphere, capturing the hustle and bustle on his camera, when he disappears without a trace.
Distraught, Cage’s protagonist struggles to find any evidence that would help him and the police find and locate his missing boy, but when the lead character begins to discover a series of missing persons that are similar to that of his son’s, he stumbles into a murky conspiracy. It’s here that the trailer becomes obtuse for its own good, making fleeting references to some evil force without really distinguishing it. Couple this with the fact that Cage seems to be channelling his National Treasure spirit at points and it’s a wonder that Pay the Ghost managed to avoid a straight-to-DVD release.
Nicolas Cage will play a man on a mission when Edel’s Pay the Ghost creeps into select theaters and VOD come September 25.
Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas) stars in this intense and chilling thriller about one man’s desperate search for his missing child. One year after his young son disappeared during a Halloween carnival, Mike Cole (Cage) is haunted by eerie images and terrifying messages he can’t explain. Together with his estranged wife (Sarah Wayne Callies, The Walking Dead), he will stop at nothing to unravel the mystery and find their son—and, in doing so, he unearths a legend that refuses to remain buried in the past.
