The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

A bridge engineer and an experienced old hunter begin a hunt for two lions after they start attacking local construction workers.

Director:

Stephen Hopkins

Writer:

William Goldman

Stars:

Michael Douglas, Val Kilmer, Tom Wilkinson

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Douglas	...	Charles Remington
Val Kilmer	...	Col. John Henry Patterson
Tom Wilkinson	...	Robert Beaumont
John Kani	...	Samuel
Bernard Hill	...	Dr. David Hawthorne
Brian McCardie	...	Angus Starling
Emily Mortimer	...	Helena Patterson
Om Puri	...	Abdullah
Henry Cele	...	Mahina
Kurt Egelhof	...	Indian Victim
Satchu Annamalai	...	Worker #1
Teddy Reddy	...	Worker #2
Raheem Khan	...	Worker #3 (as Rakeem Khan)
Jack Devnarain	...	Nervous Sikh Orderly
Glen Gabela	...	Orderly #1

Storyline

Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman, seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington, who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.

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Plot Keywords:

lion | railway | africa | 1890s | lion attack | 

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Taglines:

Control Your Fear

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence and gore involving animal attacks

Did You Know?

Trivia

The book, The Maneaters of Tsavo, is still available after nearly 100 years, and well worth reading.

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Goofs

Patterson climbs the tree to escape a lion that has blood which appears and disappears from its face.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Samuel: [narrating] This is the most famous and true African adventure. Famous because what took place at Tsavo never happened before. Colonel John Patterson was there when it began. A fine Irish gentleman, a brilliant engineer. He was my friend. My name is Samuel. I was there. Remember this: even the most impossible parts of this story really happened.

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Crazy Credits

The beginning of the end credits is shown with a photograph of the real bridge as background.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Going Bananas (2016)

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Soundtracks

Hamara Haath (Our Hands Unite)
Written and Produced by George Acogny
Performed by The Worldbeaters with The Johannesburg Choir, featuring Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

User Reviews

decent adventure yarn

"The Ghost & the Darkness" is a very good adventure flick set in Africa in the late 19th century, and is based on a true incident. Kilmer plays an engineer sent to build a railroad bridge over the Tsavo river. Work is halted by attacks from two man-eating lions which terrorize the workers. Seems these lions are exhibiting behavior not seen in lions before, i.e. they appear to be hunting for sport ('the Ghost' and 'the Darkness' are the names given to the 2 lions by the native workers). Douglas plays a famous renegade American hunter, a tragically scarred Civil War veteran, hired by the railroad to kill the lions.

Good adventure, well-paced, with stunning photography of the African countryside. The movie has an "R" rating which I can't figure out; perhaps because of the bloodiness of the lion dinner scenes (and lunch, and breakfast, and between-meal snacks....). I have seen many PG13's which have more blood & guts than this.

I give it a straight A; my 10-year old son gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up also).

Details

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English Hindi

Release Date:

11 October 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Ghost and the Darkness

Filming Locations:

Songimvelo Game Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,215,063, 13 October 1996

Gross USA:

$38,619,405

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$38,619,405

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constellation Entertainment, Douglas/Reuther Productions, Bernina Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1