A charming Irish ghost story that is consistently hilarious; but Chris de Burgh is definitely going to sue
There is only one way to appease a ghost. You must do the things it asks you. The ghosts of a nation sometimes ask very big things; and they must be appeased whatever the cost.
- Pádraig Pearse; "Ghosts" (1915)
Some ghosts are so quiet you would hardly know they were there.
- Bernie McGill; The Butterfly Cabinet (2011)
The debut feature from writer/directors Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, Extra Ordinary (the reason for it being two words is explained in the movie) is an unexpectedly hilarious Irish ghost story. I'm sure there are other examples in the Irish comedy/ghost genre, but the only one I can think of off-hand is Neil Jordan's well-intentioned but poorly executed High Spirits (1988), a film built almost exclusively on "look how weird and strange the Oorish are" humour. Extra Ordinary, on the other hand, isn't about the Irishness of the characters at all, focusing instead on their inherent decency, and, in the case of the villain, his tendency to call upon Astaroth so as to achieve musical success. As you do. It's a quant film in all the right ways, leaning into the trope of small-town people forced to deal with situations far beyond their ability, and it gets a lot of mileage out of just how completely out of their depth they find themselves. The humour is low-key and irreverent, but it doesn't rely on winking at an audience it assumes to be Irish – I would imagine most of the laughs will translate well to international markets. Some of the nuances will certainly be lost, but, by and large, the film is working with a broader palette by juxtaposing the supernatural with the utterly banal. And it works exceptionally well.
In an unspecified rural Irish town, Rose Dooley (Agatha Ellis) is a young girl with the ability to talk to ghosts, who works with her father, famed paranormal researcher Vincent Dooley (Risteard Cooper, playing the character as if he's in an ultra-serious existentialist drama). However, when an incident involving a dog, a bus, and a haunted pothole (don't ask), leaves Vincent dead, Rose swears never to use her ability again. Fast-forward 20-odd years, and the now adult Rose (stand-up comedienne Maeve Higgins, who is also credited with "additional writing") is a genial but lonely driving instructor whose only real friend is her sister Sailor (Terri Chandler). Rose receives calls every day from those looking for help contacting the dead, but she steadfastly refuses to get involved. Meanwhile, Martin Martin (a superb Barry Ward, whose physicality reminded me of Michael Crawford) and his daughter Sarah (Emma Coleman) are being haunted by Martin's deceased wife, Bonnie, and so Martin contacts Rose, pretending he wants a driving lesson. However, when he reveals his true intentions, although the two have really clicked, Rose refuses to help. At the same time, one-hit-wonder Christian Winter (a hilarious Will Forte in full caricature mode), living in Ireland as a tax exile, is desperate to make a comeback, and has abducted a local virgin, who he must sacrifice to Astaroth on the night of the blood moon. Which wouldn't be a problem except that his wife, Claudia (a spectacularly acerbic Claudia O'Doherty), accidentally causes the young girl to, well, explode. With the blood moon in a couple of days, Christian must find another virgin, and lands on Sarah. However, Rose has decided to relent and help Martin banish Bonnie, but upon arriving at the house, she quickly realises they have bigger problems when she finds Emma levitating (never a good sign). Deducing that she's imprisoned in a "holding spell", Rose tells Martin that the only way they can save her is by collecting the ectoplasm of seven ghosts, and they can only do that by letting each ghost temporarily possess Martin. And so begins a race against time as Rose and Martin try to save Sarah, and Christian attempts to stop them.
Extra Ordinary is one of those films that could have been distractingly sardonic if it wasn't made with such genuine warmth. Sure, the humour is, for the most part, fairly irreverent, but it's done in such a way as to endear the characters to the audience due to their imperfections rather than encourage us to laugh at their failings. For example, when Rose explains to Martin what she has to do to release Sarah, he responds, "oh, so like The Exorcist?", to which she says, completely seriously, "I don't know, I've never met him." It's a funny moment, but so too is it a rather sweet moment, and a lot of the humour is in this vein; on the edge of being sarcastic, but never cynical.
Another important aspect of the humour is that the jokes come thick and fast from literally the opening few seconds. Indeed, there's rarely a scene without some element of humour somewhere in it. This isn't the type of comedy where everything gets serious at certain points, or where the characters' experiences force them to make major changes to their lives because they have learned this lesson and that lesson. Instead, from the opening voiceover to literally the last words spoken, this is wall-to-wall humour. For example, Martin is essentially a victim of "domestic violence by spectre" (his deceased wife enjoys roughing him up), but Ahern and Loughman never allow this to become an issue as so many comedy writers do, using humour as a platform to examine serious topics. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's just not how Extra Ordinary operates. Along the same lines, there's Martin's relationship with Sarah. He's introduced as being overly protective of her (his great fear is that she'll end up "a homeless sex maniac living on the streets and snorting hash"), whilst she views him as a bit of an embarrassment. However, their relationship never leads to the clichéd old scene where [insert emotion here] they learn to value one another's flaws. Again, that's just not the film's modus operandi, and it's all the fresher because of it.
As mentioned, the humour is introduced in the first few seconds, as the film opens with a VHS recording of Vincent Dooley's public access TV show (featuring some of the most low-rent production values you'll ever see), with Dooley explaining that the reason cheese gives people bad dreams is because cheese is made of the same stuff as ghosts, and hence, ghosts find cheese easy to inhabit. In fact, he tells us, most cheese is haunted, as we watch a montage of stock footage of cheese complete with VHS tracking lines along the bottom of the screen. And this is the tone in which the entire film takes place; it never really departs from this register (which does have the effect of letting you know almost instantly whether you're likely to enjoy it). Later on, a major plot point is Christian's "virgin rod". This is a magical staff which can point Christian towards a suitable virgin for sacrifice (although as Claudia points out, it looks like a huge wooden dildo). To avail of its services, he must hold it up, whisper an incantation, then drop it, and it will point towards a virgin. He must then walk a few feet in that direction, pick it up, and repeat. And yes, it's as absurdly ridiculous as it sounds, and the shot of him wandering across an empty field as he continually picks up and drops the stick is absolutely hilarious.
The film doesn't rely too heavily on sight-gags, but there's a moment towards the end that is side-splitting. In a climactic car chase, as Sarah floats down the road towards the sacrificial altar, she's followed by Christian and Claudia in one car and Rose and Martin in another. The first few shots are all tight interiors, but when it finally cuts to a wide shot, we realise why – the entire chase is taking place at around 10mph, as they are all moving at the speed Sarah is floating. It's one of the most slapstick moments, and even without the increasingly frustrated Claudia's solution to speed things up, it's one of the best scenes in the film – but what she does to get things moving elevate it to a whole other level. And I won't spoil anything, but the "ginger werewolf scene" has to be seen to be believed; suffice to say, it's pure Father Ted humour, with an elaborate build-up that makes the utter mundanity of the punchline exquisite (point of fact, I'd be shocked to find that Ahern and Loughman weren't Ted fans, as the film has very similar DNA).
However, easily the single most hilarious moment is when we see a brief clip of Christian's claim to fame, a song called "Cosmic Woman" that is so obviously a riff on Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling By" (1976), I'm pretty sure he could sue for royalties. Everything about it, from the cheesy special effects in the video to the instrumental refrain to the self-important lyrics, just screams out where it was taken from. At the screening I attended, the film had been getting a lot of laughs, but, much to my surprise, this scene didn't, with only a few of us finding it really funny. It was only when I was leaving the theatre I realised why – the majority of the audience was too young to be in on the joke. If you don't know the song, do yourself a favour and watch the video for "Spaceman" on YouTube before seeing the film. It'll enrich your viewing experience, trust me.
Elsewhere, there are plenty of smaller moments that really stand out. For example, right at the start, a "based on a true story" subtitle appears on screen. Perhaps getting a dig at the seemingly never-ending spate of horror films to make this claim, however tenuous, no sooner has the subtitle appeared when a garbage truck quite literally drives across the frame, erasing the words behind it. A beautiful and perfectly judged self-reflexive moment if ever there was one. Along the same lines is cinematographer James Mather's tendency to use overly dramatic crash pans (usually accompanied by a similarly overly-dramatic sound effect), especially in car scenes, with the incongruity between hyperkinetic form and utterly mundane content never failing to make me chuckle. Speaking of overly-dramatic shots, in one particular scene Mather even uses the Brian De Palma staple that is the split diopter, except he does so in the most mundane setting you could possibly imagine (in a scene in which a person holds a mop in front of their face as a disguise), with predictably hilarious results. Another shot worth mentioning is one I've seen used on a few posters, and it's "The Exorcist shot", which sees Rose standing in Martin's garden looking up at the illuminated window. There's also Christian's truly hilarious driving lesson (his mortal fear is being behind the wheel of a car), which sees him spend more time putting on a pair of driving gloves than actually driving. Managing to go all of four feet (and somehow giving himself a bloody nose in the process), he decides he's had enough for the day, and then sits silently and motionless, until Rose realises he's waiting for her to come around and open his door. Also consistently funny is Claudia's inability to understand why the virgin must be sacrificed on a particular night, with her refrain of "just kill the bitch" one of the film's best running gags.
Finally, I'd be remiss here if I didn't mention Barry Ward's performance as Martin. Due to the nature of the plot, he has to play multiple characters, but as each one still looks like Martin, he has to convey everything with tone of voice and physicality, so as he moves from leering old man to chain-smoking nagging wife, you really see his range as a performer as he differentiates from one spirit to the next.
Extra Ordinary is a distinctly Irish film, but it's one whose self-aware brand of Irishness should travel pretty well. Strong performances all-round, constant laughs, some terrific sight-gags, and a generally warm tone make for a fine film. For some, the highpoint will be Forte's ludicrously over-the-top Christian, for others, it will be the genuinely touching character beats between Rose and Martin. Irrespective of your preference, however, I would strongly recommend this truly charming film.