Woman in the Chair

 Faced with incontrovertible proof of the afterworld, it figures that an influencer would choose to make it a roadside attraction.

 I'm being more than a bit glib here; Maurice (Hagen Vanholland) is not really an influencer, more one of those youtube paranormal investigators. And he doesn't immediately go out to exploit the ghost he finds sitting, immobile, in a creepy abandoned and inaccessible house in Japan. 
 The way things work out, Pearl (Shoko Plambeck), a fan of his youtube videos, hooks him up with her fiancé Devon (Evan de Sousa) - a kind of sleazy rich Frenchman who's hosting investment pitches at a party attended by some presumably rich people. Mostly fellow expats.

 

 Maurice, realizing how big his discovery is, has sat on the video instead of putting it up on his channel, and agrees to pitch it in the meeting to try to secure funds for a proper paranormal investigation. The pitch does not go well, but later in the reception, a couple approaches him asking him if they could see the ghost; You can almost see the dollar signs appear in Devon's eyes.

 Soon they organize an expedition out to the house - which lies in an island in the middle of a lagoon formed by a semi-recent typhoon - and find that yes, the ghost is still just sitting there, in her run-down room.
 So they hire a couple of expat handimen (A.J. Hamilton and Kai Issey) to put a transparent acrylic wall so they can bring tourists over to see the ghost. One of the handymen gets attacked by the ghost when left alone with her, the other one ends up muscling in on the operation as a security guard.

 Business goes all right at the beginning, even though a rich asshole (Charles Glover) forces his way into the ghost's room to get a closer look - instead, he goes into a short trance, and then forgets whatever it is that happened.

  The movie posits Devon as the bad guy, constantly making the worst decisions and pushing for them, but neither Maurice nor Pearl are off the hook as they don't protest nearly as much as they should. Devon is also put on the wrong end of a sort of a love triangle (chaste on all vertices) that develops between himself, Maurice and Pearl; Again, it tries to paint Devon as, if not the villain, as clearly in the wrong in the relationship, but it seems to me that it's Pearl at fault, as she's effectively stringing him on for his money. To be fair, it's slightly more nuanced than that, and there's exactly zero chemistry between Devon and Pearl. But it still rings off - it's natural for the guy to want to fool around a little with his fiancé, and it's not even like he's too pushy or anything, but here it's treated as a huge betrayal - ends up making the film's tone seem pretty prudish.

 Not to defend Devon, who seems like a douche, but let's not clear the others of any blame.

 Anyhow. It's all pretty entertaining! The premise is great and well developed, barring some bum notes and obvious points that even a dipshit like Devon should realize (like the fact that they're building a place of business at a house they don't own, something a local policeman has to point out later; did any of them even think of it?), and it's fun to see how these dumbasses dig a hole for themselves.

 Until a reporter gets wind of the phenomenon and goes in to try and make contact with the ghost, and the script loses it completely just in time for the third act. Actually, it at first it only mildly loses it - sure, the reporter doing something insanely stupid while none of the others realize it because their (non-)sexual tension has reached a breaking point; it's the first time the movie lets the ghost go wild with her telekinetic powers, and she gets in some pretty respectable zero-budget mayhem.

 It's after the fallout from that settles, when everyone gets taken to the local police station, that things really go to hell. Some characters return to the house, joined by other characters from earlier in the movie for poorly explained reasons. All sorts of crazy revelations come tumbling out, all of them completely unforeshadowed, and.. well, pretty fucking dumb. A whole room in the house with an important element is introduced at the last minute, Pearl sees a picture and immediately comes up with some pretty out-there explanations, all sorts of (awkward, low-budget) confrontations take place, and the movie ends up going out with an unconvincing whimper.
 I mean... it's not not fun, and there are some cool images in the mix- a highlight, spoiled in the trailer, has a walking man keel over only for his invisible ghost to leave footprints in the mud where his path would have continued. But it's a shame to see a pretty sharp script (by director Derek Hammer) devolve into this sort of complete bullshit.

 A shame. But two thirds of a good movie, especially a good, well-shot, mostly well-written and paced movie produced on what seems like the low end of a regional production budget - that's nothing to sniff at. I liked it, despite the completely botched final act.