Review:  ‘Ghoul’ an inept ‘Blair Witch’ wannabe

“Ghoul� trails the fictional American crew of an ill-conceived television pilot about 20th century cannibalism. As the troupe arrives in Ukraine to investigate remnants of the 1930s Holodomor, a real-life mass extermination by famine during which cannibalism was rampant, the real-life Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo becomes the film’s Blair Witch.

The TV crew commissions a shady fixer, Valeriy (Vladimir Nevedrov), to set up an interview with cannibal suspect Boris (Yuriy Zabrodskyj). After testing a makeshift Ouija hidden under the tablecloth, psychic Inna (Inna Belikova) announces that they are stranded in a haunted house.

This Czech production, co-written and directed by Petr Jákl, could pass for American not only because of its largely English-speaking cast but also because of the Hollywood gimmicks the film employs. Since the release of “The Blair Witch Project� in 1999, the media landscape has changed considerably with the proliferation of reality television, YouTube and smartphones. For the found-footage approach not to seem like such as cliché, it has to evolve with technology and the times, as seen in a recent episode of “Modern Family.�

It doesn’t help that the main characters in “Ghoul� are aspiring filmmakers who can’t seem to differentiate documentary from home movie, broadcast news or reality television. Similarly, “Ghoul� can’t decide whether it should be about cannibals, serial killers, ghosts or demons. The found footage trivializes rather than reflects the horrific events that serve as the film’s basis.

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“Ghoul.�

MPAA rating: None.

Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes.

Playing: At AMC Puente Hills 20, city of Industry.