The Lonely Man With the Ghost Machine is directed and written by Graham Skipper (Sequence Break), who also stars as Wozzek, who may be the last man on Earth. At one point, before he slipped into depression and started drinking the days away, he lived with his wife Nellie (Christina Bennett Lind) in a cabin. They were safe and should have been happy, but they grew apart and one day, she died.

Skipper spends most of the film on his own, in a cabin, having flashbacks, getting wasted and speaking to the voice of The Deleterian (Paul Guyet), who knows more than he tells Wozzek, who is trying to build a machine to bring his wife back to life when he isn’t giving himself therapy through questions he’s recorded earlier.

It’s also a Christmas movie and a puppet film, as when The Deleterian is revealed, it’s learned that he is also the last of his species, having eaten everything else on Earth that is alive other than Wozzek and that he needs someone to talk to. He tries to make this film’s protagonist more introspective, but that’s impossible by this point. And when he finally does succeed in saving his wife, she reminds him that it’s for him and not for her. That’s probably the nicest thing she says or does to him,

This is an auteur film in the best of ways, a one-man showcase for ideas, acting and story. It held my attention throughout and I can’t wait for more people to see it.

I watched The Lonely Man With the Ghost Machine at Pigeon Share FrightFest. It’s the UK’s best, brightest, and largest independent international thriller, fantasy, and horror film festival and has three major events each year in London and Glasgow. Learn more at the official site.