Let's be realistic.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

I love a good ghost story as much as the next person. This movie has the potential, but ultimately was another let down. I did manage to stay awake throughout the film, but there was nothing new. Same old, same old. Another great actor sold out to a mediocre scrip, if you ask my opinion. If you're starving for a new movie about ghosts, I suppose I'd recommend this one, but don't expect much. I'd rate it a "B" movie at best. I really felt let down by Cage. I really can't say much more about the movie without spoiling the story line, since it's so transparent. Cage pulled through on his acting, however, I feel he sold out for a weak script.

Can one put a number on that? I mean in Dollars or Euros please? But apart from that silly question (we know it's not money they are after, no one has to mention that), the movie is not as bad as I expected. Nicolas Cage goes to his extreme and crazy routine again at times and you'll either love it or be fed up by it already.Whatever the case, the story itself is nice and the movie has some ups and downs, but has a stellar cast overall that convinces with its story. It also features McHattie, which is always a plus, even if he just did it for the money (very likely), he always brings some gravitas to a plot and the movie he is involved with. Is it enough though? That's up to you to decide

The only reason I rate give this a "2" rating- instead of "1"- is I somehow was able to watch the whole movie. What a load of drivel this picture is! I do not know how the actors can keep straight faces as the story and script are total baloney. Every Halloween for 300 years a nasty Wizard of Oz type witch has kidnapped 3 children in revenge for her grievance at being burnt at the stake along with her own kids. So our dumb or rather dumber hero, N.Gage, must retrieve his kidnapped child from the ghost's clutches; but he must do this before the Cinderella hour of midnight otherwise he loses. Now any parent who has a missing child might to grateful to learn that they can recover their child if they know about this witches curse. On the other hand if they have any sense they would realize this film is total rubbish and actually makes a mockery of the deadly serious issue of missing persons, especially children.2/10.