It's Nicolas Cage and you know he's had his ups and downs in movies but possibly more downs. This one is in the middle. The botton line is it's always fun to see his facial expressions and dedication even to a story like this which is not that bad at all but very familiar. As a horror fan, this one feels ok at times but mostly filled with horror cliches mainly the jump scares. But that's not to say the movie didn't have it's creepy moments as there were a few nice ones that crept here and there and at one point it really reminded me of Sinister so that was a plus. Overall, it's on Netflix so why not give it a watch. The ending however was a bit laughable.

A lot of reviews are giving this movie flack but it's not that bad. I feel like people go into Cage movies now expecting the worse and have already decided how to feel about it before they've even watched it. I'm not about to argue that this film is good (because it definitely isn't) but you could do far worse than watch this movie. Sure, the CGI is terrible and the plot is no good. But we have okay dialogue in the script and everyone in the movie (minus the child actor) does a fine job. Cage isn't hamming it up like he often does and Sarah Wayne Callies does a great job. The scene after they lose their son is rather heartbreaking when you look at her. This movie does fall apart a bit down the stretch, however.All in all, it's very forgettable, not recommended, but not terrible either.

Nicolas Cage does so many movies that it's the greatest shame is when he does a movie like this. And it's not that it's an entirely *awful* project to work on - it's a horror movie that doesn't rely on the requisite jump scares that so many mainstream movies that get released in theaters tend to have and has an inkling of a decent premise about a kid who gets taken on Halloween night and a year later it's discovered that it's part of a string of kids who are taken on the night - and yet it's also that it's not very good either. It doesn't give the opportunity for Cage to do something legitimately good (which he IS still capable of, see Green's JOE from 2014 for proof of that) nor is it a place for him to go full bat-s***-cage like Port of Call New Orleans. It's a watchable lump.It's from director Uli Edel so if you've seen Body of Evidence (where Madonna has sex with people to death and there's a court case about it), and the Baader Meinhoff Complex (which is actually a pretty good accounting of the terrorist group in the 70's), so he isn't exactly a hack... sort of. He's out to basically tell the story that he's been given. The trouble is there isn't a whole of story to give out, except that there are some requisite clichés, such as when the married couple of Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies call upon someone who can talk to 'spirits' or whatnot (Poltergeist and Insidious called...), or the simple fact that Cage is playing a literature professor who on cue is teaching Goethe to his students who give him rapturous applause at the end of his first lecture (and then later when he's all sad that his son is gone and teaching Irving there's just a collective shrug, it's almost like there is no class there). It's full of clichéd elements.I think it's simply a combination of Pay the Ghost being full of stuff from other movies like the cult in robes (I liked it better in Wicker Man, a Nic Cage bat-s*** movie I'd rather be watching) or that it's execution is just lazy (the CGI vultures that hover over buildings from time to time, but then when it has to be story-driven there's some shadowy figure in a window). The simpler fact is that it's not very scary, and the director seems to be trying to make it scarier through bursts of music and dark lighting that is unconvincing. And yet through all of this, a little of Cage kind of sort of trying is there... in parts. And the actress playing his wife from Walking Dead is okay (though she often has a look in her eyes of panic, which may be for the character but may be uh 'Hey, can someone get me out of here?'). But the general feeling by the end of this is 'ho-hum', and one can only hope Cage is done paying off his tax debts so he can do more things like Joe again.

Wonderful, smooth film. The action never ends and there is a ghost different subjects. Nicolas still shows great performance. You can watch without getting bored. Scared been a bit more fantastic. In fact it could be better. The film was stretched a little time in doing so. The most crucial areas does not take much. This seems to be the sequel. at least I perceive it. If you continue in my opinion it would be fine. Visual effects, music and so much good although really impressive monitored. You do not understand how that time is not now. I would recommend to those watching. I do not understand why this movie actually given so few points. I think it deserves a high score.