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Ghostwatch

  • TV Movie
  • 1992
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
7.5K
YOUR RATING
Ghostwatch (1992)
Found Footage HorrorDramaHorrorMysteryThriller

In a "live" broadcast on Halloween night, a BBC team investigate a reported poltergeist in an ordinary London home.In a "live" broadcast on Halloween night, a BBC team investigate a reported poltergeist in an ordinary London home.In a "live" broadcast on Halloween night, a BBC team investigate a reported poltergeist in an ordinary London home.

  • Director
    • Lesley Manning
  • Writer
    • Stephen Volk
  • Stars
    • Michael Parkinson
    • Sarah Greene
    • Mike Smith
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    7.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Lesley Manning
    • Writer
      • Stephen Volk
    • Stars
      • Michael Parkinson
      • Sarah Greene
      • Mike Smith
    • 110User reviews
    • 44Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos38

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    Top cast21

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    Michael Parkinson
    Michael Parkinson
    • Presenter
    Sarah Greene
    • Reporter
    Mike Smith
    • Phone-in Presenter
    Craig Charles
    Craig Charles
    • Interviewer
    Gillian Bevan
    Gillian Bevan
    • Dr Lin Pascoe
    Brid Brennan
    Brid Brennan
    • Pamela Early
    • (as Bríd Brennan)
    Michelle Wesson
    • Suzanne Early
    Cherise Wesson
    • Kim Early
    Chris Miller
    • Cameraman
    Mike Aiton
    • Sound Recordist
    Mark Lewis
    • Alan Demescu
    Linda Broughton
    • Yvonne Etherly
    Katherine Stark
    • Wendy Stott
    Derek Smee
    Derek Smee
    • Arthur Lacey
    Roger Tebb
    • Local TV Presenter
    Colin Stinton
    Colin Stinton
    • Dr Emilio Sylvestri
    Keith Ferrari
    • Ghost
    Ruth Sheen
    Ruth Sheen
    • Emma Stableford
    • (voice)
    • Director
      • Lesley Manning
    • Writer
      • Stephen Volk
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews110

    7.47.5K
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    Featured reviews

    Krug Stillo

    It has power

    I was also one of the fortunate immature teens who saw Ghostwatch sitting alone on the sofa watching in 1992. Computer games awaited but better than average Saturday night quiz shows light entertainment cajoled me to stay rooted to the spot. I was looking forward to Hammer's/Terrence Fisher's Curse of the Werewolf that followed this 'Ghostwatch' program I was about to witness. This documentary/drama/horror/supernatural closed the curtains for the evening but I didn't turn off the light that night. I think it has something to do with the story development. It is revealed that this should be taken seriously and cleverly absorbs and you willingly go along. When the scares eventually occur you are totally disorientated and afraid. Images in Ghostwatch stay in your mind for hours afterward, the haunting Pipe's (true evil) revelation is typical Nigel Kneal, combined with the destruction of the family unit is absolutely terrifying. I got the DVD after all those years and now I'm convinced that the scare has something to do with periodic emotions. Those who saw it at a vulnerable age and wanted to be socialising more successfully than their older brothers or had dreams of being on where the best Halloween party of 1992 was being held got scared. Those socialites who were at those parties and heard the hype and saw Ghostwatch subsequently were less impressed. Why? Because they missed out on something that will never happen again. I say this because, depending on my emotional balance, sometimes I laugh hard at all the ham acting/sketchy dialogue and Parkenson, but sometimes when Pipes speaks, suddenly materialises and disappears I still find the experience unnerving. Only five films have made me feel like this: Demons (age 8), Ghostwatch (age 11), The Exorcist (age 13), Blair Witch Project (age 19) and Ringu (age 22).
    10hermionegranger1979

    Still Scary 14 Years Later!

    I was 12 when Ghostwatch was shown on Holloween on BBC1! I remember sitting on the sofa with my Brother and Mam, my Dad went out before the show had began. We were pulled into the story and got scared to death by Pipes and the story of the Early family, this was years before Most Haunted hit the screens! You could spot Pipes, you could hear the stories and watch as the team falls apart! I totally believed Sarah Greene was taken by Pipes and that Parky was taken over by Pipes too, GREAT TV! Little did we know that it was due to be banned and never shown again, until the ban ran out and it was released on DVD/Video, which I had for Xmas 3 years ago! Even now I cant watch it alone or with the lights off.....the power of being 12 back then and Pipes coming to get me still shakes me up! For me Ghostwatch is pure great British TV! Sure it might be dated and some people might call it boring...but to this 26 years old...sleepiness nights happen after I watch this show 14 years later!
    7TheFilmGuy1

    Would Have Been Amazing To See When It First Aired

    I recently watched "WNUF Halloween Special", a horror film that is obviously inspired by this film, because it is VERY similar, except for a few little details here and there. I must say that Ghostwatch does it much better. I only wish I could have been sitting in front of a TV in 1993 watching this and not knowing it was fake. It seems like it would have been very convincing back then.

    Ghostwatch is a film that is made in what is similar to the "found footage" style of films. It is essentially made to look like a TV special where they investigate a haunted house, and things get very crazy. It's full of many creepy and subtle spooky scenes, and it really creates that scary vibe that a lot of films are missing. What is most unique about this film is its idea of television and how it is incorporated into the haunting. It adds another layer of creepy, and perhaps even is saying something about television and how it is incorporated into peoples everyday lives and can even be a big part of them.

    In the end, I would say this is a must see for horror fans. It's spooky and should be seen alone for the fact that it has a place in history as a TV movie that seemed so real that it tricked thousands of people into believing it's content.
    9mbeswick99

    Ghostwatch

    Considering some of the myths and stories that have been generated by the legendary Halloween 1992 showing of Ghostwatch some disappointment may be felt when actually viewing it long after it was to have its greatest impact. However that is not to detract from what is an original and innovative drama, and one that has retained its ability to scare.

    A BBC team are invited to Britain's most haunted house to investigate a malevolent presence terrorising the family that live there, in particular the eldest near-pubescent daughter. As events unfold live from the house an initially sceptical Michael Parkinson and an ever increasingly concerned parapsychologist begin to realise that the BBC is about to score a scoop far greater, and more dangerous, than they had bargained for.

    I recall seeing Ghostwatch on its first and only transmission. I had missed the opening Screen One card and titles so what I sat down to I initially believed to be a real investigation into a haunted house. The first university research footage of a poltergeist attack on the two girls made my blood run cold. I remember phoning a friend to see if he was watching. I was shaken. Then I started to realise certain things. The mother and eldest daughter were not convincing. The parapsychologist was clearly an actress. The slightly improvisational interaction between the presenters was clearly a scripted attempt at improvisation. I was disappointed, indeed sufficiently so to change the channel and only occasionally dip back into the programme. I remember the press reports over the following days. I couldn't believe they were referring to the programme I had glimpsed. Then Ghostwatch was buried and forgotten.

    Then it came back, released on dvd by the BFI. People started to write about it again, reporting that it still had the power to chill. I had to see it again. I watched it twice this week. The strange thing I realised was that despite the poor acting and the occasionally clichéd script, those people who said it retained its power to scare were absolutely right.

    Ghostwatch won't make you jump. It won't turn your stomach and it won't make you scream. Ghostwatch will simply unnerve you. It will make you check things that you see from the corner of your eye again. It will make you wonder what that shape in the corner of your room really is, as you struggle to sleep after viewing the show. It will make you ask whether that really is the sound of the central heating pipes expanding, or contracting, or is it something else.

    It's true enough that some of the acting is poor, undermining the verisilimitude of the film. One wishes that the script allowed for more spontaneity from the cast. As it is the actors are quite obviously adhering to a script and their attempts at looking genuinely astonished, scared, unnerved by the events are frequently wooden. Probably the most convincing member of the cast is Craig Charles. His performance is light and therefore he appears the most natural. Sarah Greene does very well for the most part, although once strange events begin to occur it is clear that she is acting scared rather than actually being scared. Michael Parkinson is poor, but his part doesn't help. One simply can't believe that an institution such as he could be so openly cold and dismissive to the plight of the family, as he frequently is (he is particularly unsympathetic at the moment the older girl is found covered in scratches).

    So what does work? The staggered revelations about the house and family's history are intriguing and eerie, as is the idea that the accumulation of evil over time in the house and the area has led to a manifestation of hateful malevolence. Sound and video effects are put to excellent use. The occupants of the house are subjected to sudden bumps, crashes and, as more secrets of the house are revealed, the awful wailing of cats. The ghostly voices are creepy in the extreme, particularly the inhuman voice played back on the studio tape recorder. What you hear can be far scarier than what you see and the makers of Ghostwatch play on this with great skill.

    The link between house and studio begins to deteriorate late in the show. Picture and sound slow down. The link is lost and regained. The sense that something evil has penetrated the broadcast equipment and begun to transmit itself to homes across the UK is brilliantly done. In the studio more and more callers report strange events at their own homes, events that mirror what is happening in the house. Glass breaks, clocks stop, and dogs start barking at the screen. The parapsychologist realises that the BBC transmission has effectively provided the environment for a national séance. Every home tuned into the programme is now primed for supernatural attack. It's a wonderfully apocalyptic idea and one can imagine how disturbing this must have been for those original viewers who bought the idea that the show was live. As it stood the programme was blamed for several women going into premature labour, for 2 boys requiring treatment for post-traumatic stress, and for the tragic suicide of one young man. One can now understand why the BBC blocked the writer's attempts to have a high-frequency noise, calculated to upset viewers' pets, played on the soundtrack during the show's climax. It could have been the first television show in British history to create civic disorder.

    I can't recall the last time a British television programme made such a bold attempt to scare. It's surprising considering the wealth of ghost lore we have to draw on in this country (the UK reportedly has more ghosts per square mile than any other place on earth). It's a testament to Ghostwatch that it has since become a fondly regarded piece of that tradition.
    barnabyrudge

    Guaranteed to give you nightmares.

    Halloween 1992: the BBC broadcast a real documentary in which a team of celebrity presenters go to "Britain's most haunted house" to check out if any ghosts can be found. Via link-up, Michael Parkinson commentates on the events from the studio. It all looks like it is going to be a big bore, until weird little things start to happen. Slowly but surely it begins to become clear that the BBC are going to unearth the biggest ghost story of all-time.

    Amazingly, this TV movie from 1992 had an entire nation believing that it was all for real. Not since Orson Welles terrified America with his rendition of War of the Worlds (convincing half the country that they were being invaded by Martians) has there been anything like this. I remember seeing this as an impressionable teenager and it kept me awake for almost two weeks afterwards. So convincing was it that the BBC have vowed never to screen it again in the wake of complaints of children having nightmares and one (unconfirmed) suggestion that a kid committed suicide because the show scared him so deeply. This makes the top 5 horror films of all-time, even though it is technically not even a film at all. Ghostwatch is a legendary show and anyone who saw it "live" will talk about it, somewhat nervously, to their dying day!

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      It earned the dubious honour of being the first TV programme to be cited in the British Medical Journal as having caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in children.
    • Goofs
      When the Policewoman enters the house you can see her smiling like shes out of character.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Michael Parkinson: The studio's... completely dark. Just... just blackness. All the lights have failed. The... the power's gone off.

      [phosphorescent glow rises]

      Michael Parkinson: We've... got some lights in the studio. I don't know... there's cameras, but I don't know which one's working... I mean... there are no... No camermen! I mean... it's difficult to know even if anybody's still... still with us, but if they are, this is the scene in this studio... this totally deserted studio.

      [cats start to shriek in background]

      Michael Parkinson: Autocue's still working...!..."Round and round the garden... like a teddy bear?"

      [stiffens]

      Ghost: [speaking through Parkinson] Didn't believe that story about Mother Seddons, did you? Fee... fie... foe... fum.

      [cats shriek as camera dies]

    • Connections
      Edited into Screen One: Ghostwatch (1992)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 31, 1992 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • BBC Online - Cult Vault
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Призрачный дозор
    • Filming locations
      • Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK(Studio)
    • Production company
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 31 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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