‘Ghoul’ 2015 Trailer Hits The Web, VOD Release Date Announced

Ghoul (2015) will finally be getting a release date for video on demand on June 23 after opening in the Czech Republic on February 26 and limited U.S. theatrical release on March 20.

And even though this one is “another found footage horror movie,” it actually looks pretty solid. That’s in part due to a setup that allows for slicker filming without violating the suspension of disbelief.

Three American filmmakers have flown to the Ukraine to interview survivors of a famine that occurred in 1932 and 1933. During this famine, many people were forced into cannibalism to survive.

But the real drive of the macabre documentary is to chronicle the killings of real-life cannibal serial killer Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo, who is known to have 53 victims. (There were possibly others.)

While the crew is investigating Chikatilo, they encounter his evil spirit Blair Witch style and mayhem ensues, though with presumably much more violence.

The team at Horror Movie Trailers has a look with Czech subtitles if you’d like to give this thing a look.

https://youtu.be/TaXQgWGwKkQ

This is definitely not the first time that a film has taken inspiration from this particular murderer. The acclaimed made-for-HBO thriller Citizen X did it in the ’90s. There was also the 2004 film Evilenko starring Malcolm McDowell. Even this year, the film Child 44, which is based on a novel of the same name, is inspired by it.

That last one was released in April 2015 and features a lot more star power, including Tom Hardy, Joel Kinnaman, Noomi Rapace, and Gary Oldman.

Ghoul (2015) takes the most off-the-beaten path approach as this one is a supernatural horror thriller and is set in a world where Chikatilo is very much dead, but his spirit hangs around to cause mayhem.

Of course, as sinister as Chikatilo’s rap sheet is, he was largely allowed to be as prolific as he was because the Soviet Union didn’t want to admit it had what was considered a Western problem.

The film Citizen X does the best job of faithfully portraying the case, and if you watch that, you’ll see that Chikatilo was really taking advantage of a golden opportunity in his country’s history.

Investigators had a very good idea he was a serial killer but were often tripped up by superiors in their pursuit of him.

In other words, he was a social outcast, who preyed on victims of opportunity, and far less of an “intellectual” as, say, a Hannibal Lecter.

Nevertheless, this looks like a fun time at the movies for fright fans.

[Image via Ghoul (2015) IMDb page, linked above]