We Have a Ghost is a movie released on Netflix in 2023. Falling into the category of a horror comedy with some emotional components, the film caught some curiosity among the viewers, following the story of Ernest, a ghost found in a mansion by the black family that had just bought it. The plot evolves while the little son, Kevin, investigates what happened to Ernest the ghost in his life, and why he’s stuck in that house. Since Ernest’s true story may be unclear to some spectators, we will have it explained it in this article.
You can watch the official trailer for We Have a Ghost here on Youtube.
We Have a Ghost, the plot & ending explained: the true story of Ernest
When Kevin’s family moves into their new house, Kevin meets a ghost in the attic. He wears a bowling shirt with “Ernest” written on it, so he starts calling him that way. Kevin gets connected with Ernest and promises himself that he will discover what happened to him and why he’s stuck.
With the help of his neighbor Joy, he finds out that “Ernest” is actually an alive person, Ernest Scheller, who lived in that house many years before. They visit him, and he explains a weird story: according to him, the ghost’s real name is Randy MacGovern, who was married to Evelyn. Evelyn’s sister, Ramona, is Ernest’s wife. Evelyn died while giving birth to their daughter, June, and Randy had to raise her alone. One day, Randy left June to Ernest and Ramona and left forever, abandoning her daughter. Nobody ever saw Randy again until he became famous as a ghost in the present.
But this reconstruction was a lie. The true story is explained in a flashback we see while the ghost is imprisoned at the CIA: the truth is that Randy raised June with love and dedication. But Ramona, his dead wife’s sister, couldn’t have kids and decided to raise little June. One night, while Randy and June were at Randy & Ramona’s house, Ramona took June, and Ernest killed Randy. Ernest takes off his shirt, with his name and Randy’s blood on it, and buries Randy in the garden. June was four years old and grew up with Ernest and Ramona until, as an adult, she decided she didn’t want to talk with them any longer.
This is why the ghost (whose real name is not Ernest but Randy) is stuck in that house: justice has not been made for him. He’s been killed, they stole his daughter, and nobody knew his true story. We Have a Ghost, though, has a happy ending that explained everything in the best way: Ernest gets killed by Kevin’s family after he threatened to kill everybody, and Randy finally meets his adult daughter, June, hugging her in an emotional moment. After that, the ghost disappears, meaning there is no longer reason for him to stay stuck in the living world.
The movie is based on the short story Ernest, written by Geoff Manaugh in 2017. And no, of course it’s not based on a true story that happened in real life.
