Phrogging is a phenomenon that at first, sounds too bizarre to be true. It refers to the act of a person living in another person's home entirely undetected, with the term deriving from the word ‘frog' as phroggers often hop from home to home, like the amphibian hopping between lily pads. The nightmarish idea is very real, however, with multiple real-life accounts of residents finding unwelcome guests in their property, either discovering the remnants of their stay or worse, the person themselves.
Ghost Game, directed by The Stylist's Jill Gervargizian, takes the idea of phrogging one step further, with the home invaders playing pranks on the residents to make them feel like their home is haunted, sharing videos of their ‘ghost game' with the community and following the rules of its leader, Mr Watley: Don't get caught, don't steal anything, and have a plan. The film follows phrogger Laura (Kia Dorsey) who, alongside her reluctant boyfriend Vin (Zaen Haidar) and arrogant partner Adrian (Sam Lukowski) breaks into the infamous, supposedly haunted Halton House. It was once inhabited by Adelaide Halton, her husband and children, but one fateful evening she poisoned her family with nightshade and then drowned them in the various bathtubs in the sprawling manor before taking her own life.
It was rumoured that spirits in the home pushed her to do it, but this doesn't stop the Trammel family – made up of disgraced author Pete (Michael C. Williams), his new wife Megan (Emily Bennett), and disabled stepdaughter Sammy (Vienna Maas) – from purchasing the property to start afresh. As the phroggers gain access to the property and begin messing with the Trammels, it soon becomes clear that something is amiss with the creaking, decrepit home as tensions rise and the group's risk of exposure heightens.
Bringing together the act of phrogging, the tension between those perpetrating the act, the familial tensions of the Trammels, and a potentially haunted home could have been too much to grapple with in one narrative, but Gervargizian navigates each plot thread with ease and weaves them together effortlessly to create a tapestry of winding dread and tension from start right through to its wild final act. Scenes of Laura, Adrian, and Vin skulking through the shadows are permeated with close-up shots of them from hidden locations that suggest they too are being watched, with flickering lights and unusual sounds compounding their steadily rising paranoia.
This horror is almost overshadowed by the dysfunction of the Trammels, with Megan desperately trying to keep her vulnerable daughter safe, both from the dangers inside the home and Pete, who has little patience for Sammy's needs and directs his drunken, violent outbursts her way. Overheard and witnessed by the intruders, their sense of morality and judgement over whether to intervene or stay anonymous is a harrowing take on the haunted house genre, and one that is sure to unlock new fears in viewers.
Ghost Game is yet another slam dunk for Gervargizian, utilising traditional horror tropes and a terrifying real-life phenomenon in a twisted game of hide and seek, where not all of the participants are aware they're playing.
Ghost Game had its international premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Friday, August 23.
