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Ghostwatch (101 Films) Blu-ray Review

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    Ian Jane
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  • Ghostwatch (101 Films) Blu-ray Review

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    Released by: 101 Films
    Released on: December 13th, 2022.
    Director: Lesley Manning
    Cast: Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Craig Charles, Mike Smith
    Year: 1992
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    Ghostwatch – Movie Review:

    An interesting chapter in the history of the BBC, Lesley Manning’s production of Ghostwatch is oft times referred to as the British War of the Worlds. The program was broadcast live on Halloween back in 1992 and despite advance press on the feature confirming that it was indeed a work of fiction, it sent a large portion of the British viewing public into a fit.

    The premise of the thing is pretty sneaky - take a handful of recognizable and respected British news personalities such as Michael Parkinson, Sarah Green, Mike Smith and Craig Charles (all playing themselves), set some of them up in the studio and send a team out to a haunted house to investigate the supposed hauntings that occur there on a regular basis. Broadcast the entire thing over live TV and unleash some extremely frightening imagery onto an unsuspecting and surprisingly gullible populace and voila, you’ve got yourself a bit of a horror classic.

    As far as the narrative goes, Pamela Early (Brid Brennan) lives in the home with her two daughters, Kim (Cherise Wesson) and Suzanne (Michelle Wesson). For quite a while now they've been living with a malicious poltergeist who they've named 'pipes' who has a tendency to not only make a lot of noise in the middle of the night, but cause cats to wail, and one of the daughters to wake up with some pretty nasty scratches all over her face and neck.

    The Early's have gone to the press with their problems before but the tabloids blew it all into a joke at the family's expense. To hopefully get to the bottom of things, they get involved with a paranormal researcher who gets the BBC involved and of course, this is how Ghostwatch came to be.

    Michael Parkinson, an actual BBC newsman, is the host of the show and he interacts with some call-ins and the aforementioned paranormal researcher who explains the details behind the haunting. The reporters sent on the scene are Craig Charles, who interviews some of the people in the neighborhood, and Sarah Greene, who goes inside the house with the family and experiences the activity first hand.

    Considering the big deal around the original broadcast was that this was coming to you live (or at least you'd have the illusion that it was), Ghostwatch is still an exceptionally well done piece that is not only interesting but oft times genuinely tense and even actually scary. We don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but man, there is some seriously messed up stuff going on in this film and while you sort of see it coming and it's more than a little bit predictable, it still grabs you and gets under your skin.

    The whole thing is very well put together, and it's directed in such a manner that it keeps up at a very fast pace. Casting real life news reporters in prominent roles helps to add to the illusion, as this very much does feel like a live news broadcast from the early nineties. There are all sorts of great moments that foreshadow the conclusion and if you pay close attention to details, you'll be rewarded with some nice little scares in the latter half of the production.

    For an North American audience it may not be as convincing as on this side of the pond we're less likely to be familiar with some of the faces involved, but Ghostwatch still makes it very easy to suspend your disbelief for ninety-minutes. Watch this one with the volume up at a decent level and the lights completely off for maximum effect.

    Ghostwatch – Blu-ray Review:

    Ghostwatch arrives on Blu-ray from 101 Films in an AVC encoded 1080i high definition transfer framed at 1.33.1, which would likely have been its original broadcast aspect ratio. Shot using television broadcast video cameras, this doesn’t have the same sort of detail and texture that something that was shot on film or higher end digital video might have, but it very much does look like an early nineties TV broadcast, which is exactly how it should look. There’s definitely more depth and noticeably better compression here than on previous DVD offerings.

    Audio options are offered in English only in 16-bit LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks with removable subtitles provided in English only. There are a few spots where the audio intentionally sounds pretty bad, but overall the track is pretty coherent and it works quite well in the context of how the story is being told. There are a few spots where the levels are going to jump a bit, again, likely intentional, but overall this sounds just fine.

    Extras on this disc start off with an audio commentary with film historians Dr. Shellie McMurdo of The University Of Hertfordshire/University Of Roehampton and Dr. Stella Gaynor of The University Of Salford. They provide a very thorough history of the production and also share their own memories of seeing the movie for the first time in their younger days. They talk about how they trusted the different newscasters that were used in the production as they were familiar to them from regular newscasts, how they felt about revisiting the movie years later and the impact that it had even on subsequent viewings, the importance of not being able to rewind the movie on the initial television viewing and how that would put ideas in your head, the legacy of the production and the influence that it had and lots more.

    The disc also includes a new 30th Anniversary feature length documentary titled Do You Believe In Ghosts? that runs for forty-eight minutes in length. This piece features interviews with Sarah Green, Gillian Bevan, Lesley Manning, Jed Shepherd, Robert Savage, and Stephen Volk. They cover where the idea for the movie came from, how it wound up at the BBC, why they decided to make the project look like a live broadcast, choosing the house location for the shoot, how the different newscasters wound up in the project, working with the different actors who played the other parts, what went into directing the project, how the movie does a great job of getting you into the heads of the different characters that populate it, the influence of Ghostwatch, how it was received when first broadcast, the use of night-vision and heat-vision cameras, what went into trying to keep it as realistic as possible and lots more.

    Carried over from the older BFI DVD release is an archival commentary with writer Stephen Volk, producer Ruth Baumgarten and director Lesley Manning. There's a lot of great information divulged in the track, which contains almost no dead air and keeps moving at a brisk pace, covering a lot of ground. Not only is the pre-production covered but they also delve into problems that they had with the BBC trying to get it made as well as the lasting appeal of the movie. Well worth a listen. The disc also includes the eight minute archival Shooting Reality featurette by Lesley Manning that is worth checking out.

    Ghostwatch - The Final Word:

    Ghostwatch still works really well, especially on initial viewing where it proves to be a surprisingly convincing mockumentary that will keep you on the edge of your seat and maybe even looking over your shoulder. 101 Films’ Blu-ray edition offers up the feature in a nice presentation and with a pretty solid selection of supplements as well. All in all, a strong package for a great movie.

    Note that this review is based on a test disc so we can't comment on packaging or inserts nor confirm that it matches final, retail product. Should final product be made available, we'll update this review accordingly.



    Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Ghostwatch Blu-ray screen caps!

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    Ian Jane
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    Last edited by Ian Jane; 12-08-2022, 02:12 PM.
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