Throughout the show, different producers and directors of the show made cameos. Some of these worked pretty well, while others strained believability. However, the most truly enjoyable cameo came in the form of writer/co-showrunner/co-director David B. Grelck, whose performance as the paranormal-accommodating Lt. Frank Glenn was fondly reminiscent of Dan Aykroyd’s character in Ghostbusters and actually made me laugh out loud.
I am extremely pleased to say that this film needs no spoilers, because the ending is excellent, with a great cliffhanger that makes you anxious to see the next season. Readers of my previous film critiques will know that the best compliment I can give a film is to exclude a “Spoiler Warning!” This is because I only reveal spoilers about a film if there is something wrong with the ending that needs correcting. This show is easily on par with most of the concluding episodes of “Supernatural” or the sadly cancelled The 4400. (Like The 4400, there is some extreme doubt as to whether their will be another season of Irving Renquist, Ghost Hunter. I hope that when the full DVD set of Season 1 is released on October 31, enough readers of MFM will pick up copies to give Grelck and company the encouragement to make the show go on. There is a lot better chance of that than getting CBS to bring back Jericho again or getting USA to bring back The 4400.)
Visual Look
The overall visual look in the show was quite good, growing increasingly refined as the shows went along. It started decently in the beginning, using a lot of handheld, and as the show progressed, the shooting grew more solid, locked down, and well planned. These improvements stayed solid until episode 7, culminating in the most beautiful episode with that show. Unfortunately, there was a setback in episode 8, which seemed much more rushed and unplanned, but by the time Grelck directed the final episode, the look had returned to much of the refinement found in episode 7, concluding the series on a strong note.
Early in the series, some of the lighting led to shots that cut from a brighter shot to a much darker shot. For these shots, more time needed to be taken to either light consistently or brighten the shots in postproduction, with software like Red Giant’s Colorista or Apple’s Color.
However, like the camera work, the lighting became much more refined as the series continued. The most refined lighting episode was episode 7, with lighting that amazingly resembled classic horror movies like The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and others. Again, like the camerawork, episode 8 had a much less planned feel, with more guerilla shots that did not appear to be lit or, if they were, to be lit minimally. Finally, episode 9 had much more of the lighting look found in episode 7.
The editing of the show was nicely done and, like the other elements of the show, grew more refined as time went on. In addition to the editing for the show itself, if you watch the online link of IR:GH, at the top of this critique, you get to see a number of trailers. At the beginning of each episode, a professional-looking, flashback trailer shows you the pertinent facts for you to watch the show as it is. At the end of each episode, a teaser trailer for the next episode encourages you to come back again to watch the next episode. [Editor’s Note: In the midst of the shows, during commercial breaks, David Grelck has included trailers for his just released film, White Out. While this is not counted toward the score for Irving Renquist, the trailers that he created for this film were superbly edited, rivaling many Hollywood trailers and were close to tying with Indie-phenom Mike Flanagan’s trailers. White Out will be critiqued in a future issue of MFM.-JH]
Now that we have gone through the other elements of the visuals in this show, let’s look at the special effects. At the introduction of each show, a professional 3D logo for IR, which consists of a large medallion with “IR” emblazoned on it, rotates as the cast member's name flash-fades in and out. While this may sound extremely simple, clearly a lot of work was done to make it look very professional and polished. Kudos for Grelck and team for putting their best foot forward by creating a professional opener, which is then referenced for the closing credits of each show, with appropriate music that reflects the episode.
Aside from the effects of the intro, the effects of different ghost attacks that Irving runs into are really well done. We see one scene where a ghostly couple has a fight and the use of starglow lines on the couple makes them look believably otherworldly. Other shots include telekinetic powers destroying glasses and whipping gusts of winds that rival shots seen in many Hollywood films and TV shows. Considering how much was accomplished at such a micro-budget, it is shocking.
