Ghost Rock (2003) User Reviews (38)

Nonsensical Mindless Entertainment

[NIXFLIX-DOT-COM · 4/10 · 21 December 2003]

A "western" with people running around doing Shaolin kung fu. There's a "Chinese" character who looks as Chinese as my Aunt Sally, who has never seen a Chinese person in her life. All the bad guys are dummies, and even though they always have their guns aimed at the good guys at point blank range and could kill them at any time, never bothers to pull the trigger. This, despite the fact that the bad guy's head honcho (Gary Busey) has killed people randomly throughout the film, but for some reason always lets the hero go so he can come back for one of those final shoot-outs. The script by the star is nonsensical, even as camp. The martial arts is actually quite good, but in the background of a western, it's just...wrong. Also, did the female lead steal Sharon Stone's clothes from THE QUICK AND THE DEAD? Someone call the police.

4 out of 10

This picture had a budget of $.19 , and they had change left over.

[dsteere02 · 2/10 · 3 October 2005]

I am a true lover of westerns, including the "B" westerns of Hollywood's golden era, so I tend to be tolerant of diverse production values. However, this is truly a time-waster. Continuity is sporadic, transitions are sometimes clumsy, comedy breaks are mediocre to silly, and stunt work is often abysmal. Gary Busey is the highlight in this film, although he did nothing to elevate his status by playing in this movie. He is a talented and accomplished actor and would undoubtedly shine, in even the worst movie. (Perhaps he just had that chance.) Now, not every small movie is a time-waster. Some of them turn out to be real gems. This is not one of them.

Travesty--an insult to two great genres

[bth2004 · 2/10 · 26 July 2006]

It wasn't an original idea, the thought of combining the martial arts and western film genres into a single project. It's been done before: Kung Fu with Davind Carradine, The Fighter aka Savate (a straight to video film by Oliver Gruner). However, none before were this horrible.

For starters, the acting was wooden throughout the entire film. The only recognizable actor was Gary Busey, and I truly pity him for having to resort to this kind of crap to pay his rent. It is such a fall to a truly talented actor.

Then there's the so-called martial arts in this. Holy crap, can none of these "martial artists" really do martial arts? It's almost as bad as most of Bloodfist! I've seen children who are more impressive martial artists than these people! The only possible upside to this entire thing is that the two lead actresses were very attractive, and this certainly isn't enough to carry a movie, especially if the viewer has any appreciation for acting talent.

At all costs, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!! You will waste valuable brain matter if you do! For the sake of your intelligence, do not watch this!!

Flat-out awful

[kelvin-9 · 1/10 · 30 December 2003]

First, let me say that I am a fan of westerns, including many of the more recent in the genre. Still, I found this movie to be an utter waste of time.

The action scenes in this movie are easily the worst that I have seen in a movie which was not a total spoof. This is made clear in the second scene of the movie as a man is "thrown out" of a building, which involves hopping a few times out a door into a small somersault. Action scenes throughout the movie have some of the least convincing fake punches, gun wounds, and deaths in cinematic history. Some of the kung fu scenes are a small step up, but the editing into and out of these scenes is awful.

The tone of the story is mostly serious, with random bits of comic relief thrown in, but it becomes difficult to sort these from the extremely shallow story and pathetic acting.

Two Thumbs Way Up...

[filmfortheblind · 1/10 · 8 July 2004]

When I saw this movie I gave it two thumbs up... and then proceeded to use those thumbs to gouge out my eyes to end the visceral torment this movie had inflicted on me. As much as I wanted to like this movie it didn't make sense, contradicted itself multiple times and stole countless scenes from other movies.

First off the martial arts in the Wild West: Okay this is original. It's not like Jackie Chan didn't do this three years ago in Shanghi Noon. Second, it's almost insulting to watch the movie confuse Asian cultures. The Chinese were brought over to construct rail roads. Even the martial arts style used in this film is Chinese. So why does the main character say to his leaving Chinese friend, "Arigato." Someone needed to grab the director and say "Hey... That's Japanese you moron."

So other than the entire stolen concept for the film, there were multiple other scenes stolen from other movies. When the three badass gun-slingers arrive in town (pretentiously played by the Director and his two brothers) taken from "Once Upon a Time in the West". The shot for shot copy of Tomb Raider with the gunslinging woman whipping her hair out of the water and drawing her guns. I can keep on going but I think you get the idea.

Now to the disaster also known as Ghost Rock's plot... *Caution Spoilers (HAHAHAHAaaa)* Okay there are two main characters in Ghost Rock, John & Savanah. Both kill people, move objects, talk to others but at the end one of them is a ghost. How this is possible I don't have a clue but even more confusing is we don't know which one is the ghost... we don't even know if there is a ghost. I'm not even sure that the Director even knows.

Wow I don't know who I would recommend Ghost Rock to... the movie is the cinematic equivalent to crap. Don't rent it, don't buy it, don't waste your time.

One of the VERY WORST wannabe Westerns

[gary_aumieux · 1/10 · 1 May 2011]

Gary Busey and Adrienne Barbeau should hang their heads in shame that they participated in what in my opinion it a TOTAL Piece of TRASH and a TOTAL waste of my time.

Netflix should be spanked for even offering this total turkey as a movie for anyone to watch.

The lines in the script are AWFUL.

The supposed "action" scenes are a VERY BAD JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is NOT entertainment. This is punishment!!!

I am 64 years old and I have seen thousands of movies and hundreds of westerns.

Why would anyone do the things the script has these characters doing? NEVER in the most remote fantasy would anyone have ever done what these characters are supposedly doing. Kung foot totally unrealistic. Even Chucky boy Norris did better and some of his movies were pure attempts to make money at the total expense the viewers.

The martial "arts" fight scenes are so very bad that one does not know whether to laugh, cry or just turn this TOTALLY HORRIBLE movie OFF!

The gunfire sounds like CHEAP cap guns. What were they thinking when they made this filth in 2004?

Gary Busey and Adrienne Barbeau have never been more at their WORST! And I really LIKE BOTH of them !!! Busey's death scene is Ludicrous!

I can NOT say ENOUGH BAD about this TOTAL FAILURE that provides ABSOLUTELY NO entertainment.

You didn't spend twenty bucks in a theater to see this....

[cowboyblob · 5/10 · 11 March 2007]

As an extra and conscripted stunt guy in this flick, I've seen this movie more times than I would have otherwise, mostly at the request of friends and family who wanted me to point out where I show up. Having joined the Corps of Unpaid Extras in the second week of filming and sticking around for Wrap-up Day, I was witness to the proverbial sausage-making. Michael Worth wrote a dime-store novel and called it a screenplay. Gary Busey quotes Shakespeare...nuff said. My friends say it's a pretty good movie -- AFTER I tear down their expectations. The martial arts were well-choreographed, the gunplay cheesy, and the T&A gratuitous. What's not to like? Continuity was problematic since much of the movie ended up on the editing room floor. Lindy Teague's part was pared down to almost nothing and who knew the one girl was Japanese until the "Arigato?" When they started running out of extras (and Old Tucson stunt regulars literally ran out over not getting paid), some of us got recycled as other characters.

The marshals arrive on the train engine because that's the only train prop Old Tucson Studios had. Remember, a large chunk of the budget must have been spent just getting Gary A-Busey and keeping him supplied with cigars. Cinematography was crisp and bright (they thawed Bernie Abrahamson out of cryogenic storage to put another big name in the credits)...that said, *I* would have dulled down the saloon lighting for a moodier, more realistic atmosphere. But what do I know? This low-budget movie has many faults but still makes for a decent adult night in front of the DVD player. Just tear down those expectations first.

Bleedin awful movie

[wh08117-1 · 1/10 · 3 January 2005]

When I saw that Gary Busey was in this movie, I had to see it. I knew it would be bad, but I did not know how bad. This movie was bad, and not in a funny way. Gary Busey plays the mayor of a little Western town, and his job is to maintain order while a group of Chinese railroad workers and locals fight for control. There was so much fighting in this movie that it was hard to keep track of the reasons. The fighting was also matrix style, and it was kung fu. Gary Busey was not the only horrible actor in this movie, everyone involved was equally nauseating. I had to turn the movie off after an hour. The worst part is that I had this movie in my home for almost a week.

Bwhahahahaaaaha

[Kimputer · 3/10 · 6 January 2004]

During the first few minutes, I was on the floor, rolling in laughter. With tears still in my eye, I'm writing this down.

Probably made with a cheap digital camera, the scenes are shot without any thought. The live action compares to a well rehearsed school play. The editing in most porn movies are of higher quality. Actually, most porn movies have better acting in it. This is definitely a movie to be seen with a group of friends and lots of beer. You'll be having so much fun. Don't see this movie because you're expecting a movie. Only watch if you've made sure the floor is clear of pointy things, you need at least 3 by 3 meters to roll around.

For what it's worth...

[fmarkland32 · 3/10 · 3 August 2006]

Michael Worth stars as a gun-runner who goes up against the local mobster (Gary Busey) who wiped out Worth's friends and family years ago, however a mysterious blonde has returned and is killing of Busey's gang one by one, also on hand is Jeff Fahey who is fairly useless to the High Plains Drifter rip off storyline. When I think westerns I don't think of dynamic martial artistry combining with six-shooters. There is a problem of tone and due to this the movie never gels and we are left to flounder in the silliness of watching a hybrid of two genres that never mix that well. The best of these hybrids was Lone Wolf McQuade but the movie this reminds me was the Olvier Gruner starred dud The Fighter. Which also combined kickboxing with western antics, the western ripped off there was Shane, where as this one rips off High Plains Drifter, even down to the "twist" at the end. This is of course a very silly effort but Dustin Rikert is not much of an action director and for this the movie is fairly dull.

*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

Low Budget...but has heart

[Zen-9 · 10/10 · 19 February 2004]

Some of these reviews seem pretty harsh and make me think some people just don't watch the film. But, to each their own.

The film was low budget, but is DEFINATELY not shot on video. It's shot on film, as most westerns should be. As for martial arts in the old west...come on, THAT IS THE POINT. You have an American raised with a Chinese family and that's how he knows how to fight. No one complained about Jackie Chan or David Carradine in the old west....but then maybe some out there think you actually need to BE Chinese to fight like that (I'm Chinese and I don't).

Also, the whole reason Gary Busey isn't going around killing people in this film as he did in the opening scene is because his characcter WANTS TO CHANGE. He is trying to be the mayor of the town instead of a dirtbag outlaw. He says that in the film (someone wasn't listening I guess) This is where some original and subtle writing comes in (by actor Michael Worth): Busey is trying to lead a different life than his past life but realizes, when the surviving children of an earlier massacre return to find him, you can't change a tiger's stripes. I think this might be too much out of stereotype for some of the reviewers here. Like make the bad guy JUST bad instead of conflicted(Busey is giving a kid candy while he is having a guy whipped....)

The film is only boring if you want action every 10 minutes. This is a drama with action elements. I think that was a great idea as it would have been typical to make this an excuse to just shoot and fight. It has a nice love story between Worth and Jenya Lano, some cool characters in the town (including the outlaws that follow Busey) and some great fight scenes that don't go over the top as is typical today.

Like I said, it's low budget but that didn't hurt El Mariachi or Evil Dead so it certainly doesn't hurt here either. I rented it and will buy it next.

It was a cool movie.

[comeonirene · 6/10 · 26 May 2005]

Maybe i was watching another movie, but the movie i saw had jokes, sex, and some cool martial arts moves. I didn't pick this movie for sex scene or to get off on it, i saw the cover and through it would be cool. And i even bought it, the lead actor is cool guy i seen him in other movies. This is the kind of movie you get from blockbuster or the library when you just seen everything else and you need a change. I can't wait to see the TV series when it comes out.

I think you should have a open mind when seeing any movie and watch it twice because you always miss something when you first see it.

:)

not as bad as others say but thats not saying its good

[villianthehero · 9 January 2005]

first of all i stumbled across this movie on show-time about 5 in the morning when i couldn't sleep and nothing else was on. i like westerns and love martial arts movies so i thought id check it out.

well there's nothing great about this movie in fact there's not much good about it. everything about it is average, the acting, the script, the directing, all in all its a average direct to video movie. the gun fights are OK nothing spectacular. the martial arts are probably the best thing in this movie but not nearly enough to make the movie any better.

warning spoilers ahead some things i had a problem with, the hole ghost thing was a little weird. how is a ghost gonna interact with everyone, hold cards, push stuff around, drink a beer, and shoot people.

some people are complaining about the clichés and the fact that a few scenes are taken from other movies. that doesn't bother me. there will always be clichés in movies. and one of the greatest directors from my generation takes bits and pieces from other movies all the time, and the director i speak of is none other than quentin tarintino.

all in all if your up late and cant sleep and stumble across this go ahead and watch it if u like direct to video b movies and western / martial arts movies, but don't expect much.

Scrambled western that fails miserably...

[merklekranz · 1/10 · 16 October 2007]

Where to begin? This movie tries to use something from every western ever made and ends up a scrambled mess of a film. As if that is not enough, throw in some kung fu for good measure. Several scenes from Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns are totally ripped off (bathtub gunfire from "The Good The Bad And the Ugly"), (out of range gunfight from "For A Few Dollars More"), (family massacre flashbacks from "Once Upon A Time In The West") The only original ideas in "Ghost Rock" are astoundingly ridiculous (naked female gunfighter, and a hand chopping to a character doing a poor Edgar Buchannan imitation). This is what happens when you have no script, poor acting, zero character development, and unbelievably bad editing. Even the pistols sound like cap guns. - MERK

I Don't Think I Have Ever Seen a Worse Film

[Ed-Shullivan · 1/10 · 26 November 2013]

Okay so Dustin Rikert has a credit for both Writer and Director of this overly acted film. Oh and did I mention he also has a bit part in the movie with two of his brothers? Ghost Rock is noted as an Action, Drama, Western film but I think it would be more appropriate under the film genre Family Home Movie because it was so staged that I really thought the film was put together by a teenager without a single bit of editing.

Western movies have been made for almost the past 100 years with actors like Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy, John Wayne, James Stewart, James Arness, and even Clint Eastwood making a great living from them. But I will say this for Ghost Rock, if you were to place the aforementioned lot of western stars in Ghost Rock, even they could not save the film from being a total dud.

So I won't blame this films poor review on Gary Busey, Jeff Fahey or Adrienne Barbeau who for some reason agreed to make this film. I can only surmise that they got paid a ton of money for a week or two of shooting the film with no time or opportunity for re-shooting any of the scenes that did not quite work out the first time around. In this film's case, I think they would have had to re-shoot the entire movie with a more realistic script that was true to the western genre and not a mix of David Carradine's 1970's TV series Kung Fu combined with Charles Bronson's Death Wish series.

Stay away from Ghost Rock.

Not great but sometimes funny

[vchimpanzee · 18 September 2012]

During the Civil War, John Slaughter witnesses a massacre committed by Jack Pickett and others. Among the dead is 12-year-old Savanah. Twenty years later, John helps defeat a gang that is terrorizing a town which most people have abandoned. Afterward, he is told that his father has died and Pickett has taken over the town of Ghost Rock. John returns to the town where his father was respected and finds a Chinese family is being mistreated. He was good friends with these people at one time and tries to help them and the other people living under Pickett's rule, but his efforts make Jack Pickett mad. A tough but beautiful mystery girl who looks like Bo Derek as Calamity Jane shows up to help make peace in the town. Her name is Savanah; does that really mean the little girl actually survived the massacre? Or is she a ghost? There is evidence for both views.

Eventually those troublemakers John dealt with earlier come to Ghost Rock and make more trouble.

The best thing about this movie was Cherokee Bill, the movie's comic relief. Craig Wasson does a very good job with Pickett's moronic lackey.

And Jenya Lano is much more than a pretty face. She does a good job and her character can really take care of herself.

The movie also has occasional comic moments. And there is a romance which is sort of pleasant. Actually, I suppose John and Savanah come close to being a couple, but John likes one of the ... working girls.

Other than that, I suppose the fighting was good. With Chinese involved, this is kind of a martial arts western, but nowhere near the quality of "Shanghai Noon".

There were two songs with the closing credits. "Follow the Light" by Melanie Monroe was not at all appropriate because it emphasized technology over substance. The other was a good country song that fit perfectly, even though the style might not have existed in 1882.

But be sure to watch the closing credits because numerous cast and crew photos show these people had a good time making this movie.

It wasn't a complete waste of time.

Waste of Time....!!!

[bk_connection · 1/10 · 24 March 2004]

Why did they make this movie...?

I can hardly say something good about this movie, everything is so poor done that is makes you Sick. The acting from all the characters is Awful, and the whole storyline is S***.

The only good thing about the movie was the female actress, she is so hot and if she just showed her BOOBS the movie might have got one more star from me.

Keep away from this junk movie , and go for a walk in the park instead, I bet its more exciting.

To all you western lovers or Kung-fu lovers dont watch this movie, you will regret it.

Busey on Crack part 8

[mbarn76 · 1/10 · 17 December 2005]

Awful acting, awful plot (wait a minute, what plot?)

This movie begs the question, How do movies like this get made? I guess somebody gets a bunch of b-list actors together and they throw in a washed up Busey an expect the movie to be good?

Anyway the setting for this movie was at a state fair just outside of Hilljack county. The costumes were clearly stolen from a discount western clothing store. The storyline was going to be used for porno, instead they decided to keep it on clean side.

Please, don't waste your time with this movie. I beg you your life will thank you!!

They was Kung Fu fighting

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 27 March 2016]

An interesting and incongruous mixture of martial arts and old fashioned gunslinging happen in this western of Ghost Rock. The film is so named after a town where Gary Busey is the town boss. He's having some threats to his leadership coming and he's brought in a group of outlaws as enforcers headed by David Jean Thomas who look like they enjoy their work.

Our nominal hero is Michael Worth who can use a little training in both the martial arts and firearms. He's aided and abetted by Sharon Stone ripoff Jenya Lano.

The film is poor in about every department you can name. I guess you either needed the late David Carradine for this kind of hybrid film or Chuck Norris in his salad days.

Why waste the celluloid?

[m-cunday · 1/10 · 23 January 2013]

...so, it's generally agreed that this is an awful movie...my first glimpse (on TV) involved a short scene of a reverend digging a fresh grave in a cemetery: did anyone happen to notice the over-sized weathered headstone with '1886', and yet the movie is supposed to be set in 1882? If the mistakes were just in continuity, at least it would be fun to watch. As it happened, we were either bored or slightly less bored in the action scenes - had to turn to a different station 20 minutes in. The question remains: Why waste the celluloid? My advice is to not bother wasting the brain space, because there are so many other westerns that incorporate ghosts/martial arts/retribution in a much more palatable package. Too bad - I was looking for a Gary Busey movie that was more than his standard "bad guy" persona. Oh, well,,,

oh my god...is Busey that broke?

[dragoneb · 1/10 · 22 December 2005]

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I have seen some bad ones! Was Gary Busey even sober during this? The only "good" thing was the eye candy we get to see for a few minutes. Avoid this at all costs. How does this junk get made...? It was a very lame attempt at making a kung-fu western and the stereotypes were awful. The so-called stunt work looked like amateurs and the editing was choppy as all get out. I have seen better "Wild West shows" that what this bit of junk claims to be, at it gets to be on TV! Like I said before, the only watchable part is what we are led to believe is the birth of the "Lap dance"!

Really bad....

[tarhealer · 1/10 · 27 February 2006]

This poor excuse for a western missed out all the way around: terrible acting, awful editing, and a miserable excuse for any originality in the plot. Shades of "Once Upon a Time in the West" and a half-dozen other far better horse operas. It has absolutely no redeeming social value, not even the half-hearted efforts at soft porn. I started watching it because Gary Bussey and Annette Barbeaux were listed in the cast, but even their appearances couldn't save it. They must really have been hard up for acting (?) jobs! The lines they were given to read were so trite and corny as to induce severe nausea. I kept waiting for something unexpected (read interesting) to happen, but nothing ever materialized.

Not 'The Magnificent Seven' or 'True Grit,' but still worth watching.

[thebearsays · 8/10 · 26 June 2006]

This review contains spoilers.

I am a fan of Westerns, and I did enjoy this one, in spite of the problems mentioned in other reviews. Gary Busey and Jeff Fahey are good here, as usual, and I liked Jenya Lano as well, even if her role was lifted right out of 'The Quick and the Dead.'

My main complaint involves the whole 'ghost' subplot, which was somewhat confusing...How DOES Savannah interact with the other characters if she's dead? And my own personal preference, if you must have the ghost angle at all, is to have Johnny really die at the end, so he and Savannah are both ghosts and can be together.

Even better would have been to not kill Savannah in the opening, and simply have her and Johnny show up as live people to avenge those who'd been killed 20 years before,

As for the Marshals sent for by the bartender...How incompetent were these guys? I found it hard to believe they could be slaughtered so easily.

And one more thing...An earlier review mentioned that straight-razor cuts would bleed heavily--what about the clueless outlaw whose hand is cut off? If he even survived such an injury, how likely is it that he would then be able to cross the desert barefoot?

Ah, well...I enjoyed the movie for what it was, a low-budget Western that tried to be different. Overall, I feel it succeeded.

Could end up a cult movie

[basaxl-1 · 6/10 · 21 April 2006]

I don't know exactly why I like this movie.Maybe I have a soft spot for shoestring Indies.The dialog is hokey,but the idea is a good one.There's plenty of action and enough gunfighting to take you back to the old westerns where each gun held a box full of lead.I really enjoyed the martial arts.....yes you saw right,martial arts.The stunt work is well choreographed and the boys earn their pay. The eye candy is there...for both sexes.The movie trys,it really does.It's a brave effort, and I'm a sucker for ghost stories.It's not War and Peace,but a good way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy night.Grab some chips and dips and Enjoy!

This is an unbelievable "film".

[blade5-1 · 1/10 · 8 December 2005]

I wondered throughout the whole movie if this thing could save itself. I sat stupefied through the entire movie, at how unbelievably god-awful this "film" was. It was so bad, I caught myself squirming with horrible discomfort at the pretentious lines and canned acting that I witnessed for a solid hour and 30 minutes. Amazement and disbelief. I am still just absolutely dumbfounded. I've never known Gary Bussey to be a superstar movie talent, but I've never known him to take a role as bad as this one, either. Even the opening titles had abhorrently cheesy fonts. It was doomed from the beginning. I've seen a few movies before but please let me go on record as saying this is the worst movie I have ever seen. I'll say it again, THE WORST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN.