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IMDb > The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
The Ghost and the Darkness
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The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) More at IMDbPro »

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The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) -- Set in 1898, this movie is based on the true story of two lions in Africa that killed 130 people over a nine month period, while a bridge engineer and an experienced old hunter tried to kill them.

Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   17,547 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 2% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Stephen Hopkins
Writer (WGA):
William Goldman (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Ghost and the Darkness on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
11 October 1996 (USA) more
Tagline:
Control Your Fear more
Plot:
Set in 1898, this movie is based on the true story of two lions in Africa that killed 130 people over a nine month period... more | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations more
User Comments:
The most famous adventurous true story of Africa.. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for some violence and gore involving animal attacks.
Runtime:
109 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
There is only one scene involving an animatronic lion. All the other shots were used using two real life lions named Bongo and Caeser. The same lions also appeared in the film George of the Jungle (1997). more
Goofs:
Factual errors: Misuse of bird songs/calls. Barred owl, boreal owl, and common nighthawk are native to North America, not Africa. more
Quotes:
John Patterson: Well then you go too, you lack the courage to lead. Go! Tell all your men to go. But I will kill the lions and I will build the bridge. And you? You must go home and tell the wives of the men who died here that you fled with the others because you could not master your fear. more
Movie Connections:
Version of Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959) more
Soundtrack:
Hamara Haath (Our Hands Unite) more

FAQ

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful:-
The most famous adventurous true story of Africa.., 20 March 2007
8/10
Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

...Well according to Hollywood anyway, since "The Ghost and the Darkness" actually takes lots of liberties with its story, about the two man-eating lions of Tsavo. Quite odd since it presses in the beginning that everything you're about to see in this movie, no matter how unbelievable it seems, has truly occurred. Oh well, just a good and clever marketing trick, lets leave it to that. No way they can pull off a trick like this now days in the days of Internet, were with only a few clicks you can look up an historical event. Of course the biggest difference between the truth and fiction is the Remington (Michael Douglas) character, who never existed in real life and also the looks of the lions, who in real life were not maned. But oh well, are these movie changes bad or not believable? No, it strengthens the story and makes it all even more interesting to watch.

I've always loved watching "The Ghost and the Darkness". It's a great adventurous movie with action in it and some good characters, all set in a beautiful environment.

The story is perfectly adventurous and action filled. It's all the more amazing knowing that the story has actually occurred in real life, over an hundred years ago already. The movie and its story is kept simple and allows its images and characters to tell the story.

What I like about the movie is that it fully treats the 'Ghost' and the 'Darkness' (the nicknames of the two man-eating lions) as movie characters. It shows them as smart thinking creatures and not simply just as 'monsters', even though they kill for pleasure (at least in the movie they do).

The movie is definitely helped by its environment and atmosphere. The beautiful African land serves as a perfect backdrop for the movie and also works quite claustrophobic, since the movie is for most part set at just this one location (the railroad and bridge building-site). Also the great Jerry Goldsmith musical score suits the environment and perfectly adds to the atmosphere of the entire movie, as does the cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond.

Michael Douglas plays a good role and actually shows with this movie how versatile he is as an actor, though his role is definitely smaller than he is credited for in the movie. As also the producer of this movie he obviously claimed to become the top-billing actor of the movie as well. In fact the main part of the movie is being played by Val Kilmer, who plays his character in a way like we're used of him; a humble way and he doesn't try too hard to impress in his role, which also leaves room for the other actors to shine and of course allows the story to be told best. Surprising to see that the movie also had actors in it, that would later turn into big well known names such as Bernard Hill and Tom Wilkinson, in some good roles. Also Om Puri gives a nice performance.

A perfectly fun and simple adventurous action movie. This is high quality entertainment.

8/10

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Was any of this true?? ollie168
The Ghost and the Darkness. TheDuckfoot
Michael Douglas' character and performance... soybean1895
Time for an enhanced dvd please rstonesfan
More movies based in Africa in Colonial Era ? duryodhana
Kept asking myself... WhedonFan80
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