With the first two seasons of “Ghosts”, Lars Von Trier managed to create the biggest event in Danish TV history – next to the 1992 European Championship final, in which Denmark defeated Germany 2-0. ‘Ghosts’ (or ‘Hospital of Ghosts’) was intended to attract international attention in addition to significantly boosting the career of Lars von Trier (‘Antichrist’).
Cinemagoers around the world consider ‘Ghosts’ to be one of the best horror series of all time – for many, it’s THE best. Therefore, it should be a great joy that Lars von Trier is now delivering new episodes of “Ghosts” 26 years after the second season – on the big screen! As the German trailer reveals, the third round of “Ghosts” (which is subtitled “Exodus”) will hit select cinemas in this country on Halloween. Plaion Pictures will also handle the home cinema release.
This is “Spirits – Exodus”
The first two seasons of “Ghosts” billed themselves as hospital horror and workplace satire at the same time. Watching the series today, you often get the feeling that Lars von Trier had already anticipated hit formats such as ‘The Office’ and ‘Stromberg’. Except there’s a demonic force waiting to finally resurface, only to find out that it’s damn hard to keep up with the wickedness of the workforce.
In the third season of five episodes we return to the Reich Hospital, which is often simply called ‘Kingdom’ in the series. It all revolves around the sleepwalker Karen (Bodil Jørgensen), who watches Lars von Trier’s “Ghosts” and is not at all happy with the open ending of the series. In her dream she is lured to the hospital by a mysterious voice and meets old and new employees there.
It just sucks that the ghosts are still there too. Together with nurse Balder (Nicolas Bro) and cardiologist Judith (Brigitte Raberg), Karen makes the decision to free the satanic forces from the medical facility once and for all. Meanwhile, Sweden’s chief physician Dr. Helmer Jr. (Mikael Persbrandt) to find out how his Dane-hating father Stig Helmer really died. And then there is hospital director Bob (Henning Jensen), who is struggling with his plantar warts…
Yes, even with ‘Ghosts’ season 3 you don’t get standard horror material, although it is always quite scary. When asked whether fans of the first two seasons will be generally happy with the new episodes, we can answer with a resounding “Yes!” FILMSTARTS editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen was able to watch season 3 at this year’s Venice Film Festival and was more than excited, as you can read here: