Ghost Town: The Movie (2007)

Years after turning Maggie Valley into a Ghost Town in the course of avenging his father’s death, Harmon Teaster (Herbert “Cowboy” Coward) has become gravely ill.

So ill that his pretty daughter Violet (Princess Lucaj) heads to Ghost Town to find a doctor and a cure.

She finds a sympathetic ear in young Will Burnett (D.J. Perry), who’s busy fixing up the town church after the preacher was scared off by all the violence in the town.

But most of the occupants of Ghost Town aren’t nearly so friendly.

Matter of fact, town boss Victor Burnett (Bill McKinney) has been waiting for years for some clue as to where to find Harmon Teaster, the man who slaughtered his father, mother and brother during a night of gruesome violence. Violet’s arrival provides that clue.

But what Victor hasn’t told his son Will is what prompted that violence.

John Burnett’s son was being held in jail for killing a young Indian boy. When Harmon’s father refused to release him, John had him beaten, nailed into a coffin and burned to death during a jailbreak.

And Harmon, a deputy at the time, watched it all from the jail cell he’d been locked into, then struck out looking for revenge.

DJ Perry as Will Burnett in Ghost Town (2007)

Bill McKinney as Victor Burnett in Ghost Town (2007)

Review:

Better than it deserves to be for what it is — an homage to a once-popular Wild West tourist attraction located on the fringe of the Smoky Mountains in Maggie Valley, N.C.

The director’s dad worked at that attraction. So did Herman “Cowboy” Coward, who reprises the role he had been playing at the site since 1961.

Looking feeble and very old, Coward simply isn’t capable of pulling off the role of a vengeful Harmon Teaster, who can hop off his death bed and still inspire fear in the hearts of his enemies. Bill McKinney is much more convincing as the sadistic Victor Burnett.

And here’s a piece of trivia — Coward appeared in one other film, “Deliverance.” He played the toothless character who rapes a man in the film. And he got the part because Burt Reynolds once performed as a guest star at the Ghost Town in the Sky Wild West attraction.

Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward as Harmon Teaster in Ghost Town (2007)

Princess Teaster as Violet Teaster in Ghost Town (2007)

Directed by:
Jeff Kennedy
Dean Teaster

Cast:
DJ Perry … Will Burnett
Bill McKinney … Victor Burnett
Princess Teaster … Violet Teaster
Herbert “Cowboy” Coward … Harmon Teaster
Dean West (Teaster) … Digger
Renee O’Connor … Little Jack
Terence Knox .. Mayor Rogers
Rance Howard … Sheriff Parker
Anthony Hornus … Capt. Ketner

Runtime: 115 min.

Dean West (Teaster) as Digger in Ghost Town (2007)

Terence Knox as Mayor Rogers in Ghost Town (2007)

Memorable lines:

Victor Burnett: “Look, we may not see eye-to-eye, and I may not be the ideal parent. But I’ve always tried to provide and make you into a man.”
Will Burnett: “Yeah, you’ve helped me decide what kind of man I never want to be.”

Victor Burnett: “These people don’t respond to religious guilt bullshit. They need authority from someone who can give punishmen — direct punishment — and reward.”
Will Burnett: “Now you sound like you’re trying to fill in for God. Is that what you’re trying to do?”

Mayor Rogers, after Victor Burnett’s men have dragged Violet out of the general store and taken her captive: “Victor, you mind telling me what the hell’s going on out here?”
Victor Burnett: “A bit of family business.”
The Mayor: “Now you gotta understand. It does not look good for people to be dragged off the street in the middle of broad daylight like that.”
Capt. Ketner, one of Burnett’s men: “And it’s bad for politicians to be messin’ with other folks’ business.”

Renee O’Connor as Little Jack in Ghost Town (2007)

Anthony Hornus as Capt. Ketner in Ghost Town (2007)