A passion project 20 years in the making finally came to life on Friday, September 23rd. Statesboro's highly anticipated The Legend of Ghost Road movie was made freely available for the public during its night-time premiere downtown.
Movie-goers brought their own chairs or cars to see the event, which was packed. The audience spread from the parking lot to the sidewalk across the street.
Some audience members simply stopped by out of curiosity. Still, for others, this movie was a chance to finally see a representation of their experiences traveling down the haunted road.
The event was projected on a giant inflatable movie screen courtesy of Party Harbor. (Party Harbor is a local event coordinating company that helps citizens make a lasting impression on their parties or events. They provide high-quality equipment like mechanical bulls, bounce houses, slip n' slides, tents and tables, and more.)
The movie was a 53-minute long production about the producer, Jason B. Martin, and his crew's experience documenting the Ghost Road (formally, Railroad Bed Rd.) of Brooklet in Bulloch County.
The movie garnered lots of positive reviews from attendants. The general consensus seemed to be that the movie captured many people's experiences when visiting the road.
One attendant, John Williams, talked about how he and his girlfriend enjoyed the film. It captured the couple's past experiences with the road.
"It was New Year's Eve 2020," Williams said. "We was driving down, we've seen the light come on, disappeared for five seconds. We drove forward; within 30 seconds, it was like green fireworks in the shape of money."
Some detractors of the film felt the movie could have done more. One male member of the audience who wished to remain anonymous had his own criticisms of the film, mainly the lack of variety in the perspectives of the story.
"I think it should have been more people captured in the movie," he said. "They got little scientific things going out there trying to explore ghosts and all that stuff. No, no, no, I'm talking about people that actually had to experience it, you know? "
Martin and his team used scientific instruments to see if the trail was really haunted or not, which is a plus for many with interest in the paranormal. This added a new layer to the legend that hadn't been shared before.
The movie critic, however, felt less time could've been spent on this and more on interviewing the people who actually lived on the road itself -- gathering accounts of residents and telling their individual stories. (Perhaps there will be a sequel!)
Despite the critiques, the movie attendance-wise was a huge success. After the movie ended, the film crew sold t-shirts to any who wanted for $25.
See the Legend for yourself
More than 1,000 people viewed the film online in its first weekend. Martin has arranged for additional viewings at Statesboro's AMC Theatre on Saturday, October 22. Information on show times, pricing, and tickets is below.
Limited seating per showtime.
12pm $5 / 2pm $5 / 4pm $5 / 6pm $5 / 8pm $10
Call or text 912-601-4883 for tickets.
For more updates on future productions from Play J Studios, visit https://www.facebook.com/The-Legend-of-Ghost-Road-103193342467392.
