Greystone Park DVD Review

Title: Greystone Park

Special features: Alternate Ending, Sean Stones Ghost Stories: The Making of Greystone Park, Locations of Greystone Park, Commentary by Sean Stone & cast

Sean Stone, the son of renowned director Oliver Stone decides to take a camera and a couple of friends into the abandoned Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital and attempt to film some “shadow men” and other unexplained phenomenon rumored to haunt the building; unfortunately they get more than they bargained for.

Picture The Blair Witch Project on a bigger budget, and a cameo by Oliver Stone. That almost sums up Greystone Park.  I guess I’m a bit desensitized when it comes to these types of of horror films with implied realism, as I didn’t find anything about it intense or scary. The acting was maybe a bit better than Blair Witch & the Paranormal Activity films, but the annoying shaky cam is almost unbearable.

I liked the story of the institution. The old film clips and history of the building made that part of the film really interesting. The ghost story that Oliver Stone tells his son and their friends was sort of creepy and fun. I really didn’t get the ending of the film. The flashback clips were confusing, so I’m only guessing that supposedly nobody survived except Sean. The alternate ended did clear up my confusion and was quite bizarre in itself. I would’ve preferred he kept that one instead of the final cut, but a little longer with maybe a little bit of extra tweaking.

The two featurettes in the special features section were more of Sean Stone’s documentary forte and there were some good cast and crew interviews. I also think I appreciated the film more after watching the film with the commentary.

Greystone Park is an “okay” first feature effort by Sean Stone. I feel he may  have something better in his back pocket, and I want to see what else he can do.

Reviewed by: JM Willis

Total rating:  C