| Author | Message | ||
     Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 121.220.19.195 |
Is 'Ghost Watch', the early 90's telemovie/mockumentary , worth buying on DVD? Any opinions would be appreciated. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
I saw this when it was first on TV. Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene. Probably the scariest screen entertainment I've ever seen. But that was then, and I knew nothing about it, and believed it was what it said it was. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Yeah, Sarah Greene was pretty scary. She looks very good now, though. For. Her. Age. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Badoom-tish! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
It's brilliant. I would not hesitate. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
In all seriousness, when it was originally aired I didn't watch it beyond the first ten minutes because it was opbviously a put-on. So I can't comment beyond that. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
That doesn't matter. It still delivers as a very disturbing and rather risque ghost story. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
I didn't watch it beyond the first ten minutes because it was opbviously a put-on ========== You're a smarter lad than I am, then. :-( It is actually brilliant. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
I agree with Gary and Des - it's brilliant (and I'm convinced it was a major influence on The Blair Witch Project). | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.242 |
Even the menu is scary. You can tell it's put on a bit, but once you accept it as drama it's really very, very effective. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.242 |
In a Kneale/Quatermass sense, too. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.123.101 |
It scared the bejesus out of me at the time - I don't think it has been repeated because of the sheer willies it put up people. Highly recommended. And no, I had no idea it was a put up job. gcw | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.242 |
An autistic lad killed himself and it caused a bit of a fuss. He thought it was real. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Really? You didn't see it was a fake? Mind, I had the advantage of being a surly teenager and seeing conspiracies everywhere. Especially on duff TV. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Oh, hang on. Early 90s? I thought it was late 80s. I was a slow developer. Kodak hadn't been invented. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.242 |
I never saw it at the time, and when i saw it later I knew it was fake because I'd been told. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Zed and I went to see this in Manchester with an interview afterwards with Stephen Volk. He said a woman had written to him and said that her elderly husband had soiled himself while watching Ghostwatch. Volk took great delight in claiming to be the only horror who'd ever actually made someone literally shit himself. Forgive my crudity. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
That was me. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
On the edge of your seat, were you? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
I was in a panic. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
A nappy might have been more useful. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
They don't call me Mr Poo Poo for nothing. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
I caught on about half way through, but only because I recognised the actress who played the mum from a TV advert. I also missed the first few minutes (and the opening credits), which helped convince me it might be real. I basically caught the show cold, having heard nothing about it. I was genuinely terrified for the first 40-45 minutes. It becomes obvious that it's a put-on as the play progresses, but the early scenes are very convincing. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
A similar thing happened to me when watching HUMAN REMAINS starring Rob Brydon as an obnoxious husband to be, Zed. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I caught it halfway through. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
It's funny, but out of context even ridiculous things can be unnerving. As a kid, I remember overhearing a report on telly (I couldn't see the screen) that England was at war with Spain and that the attack was due any day now. I was genuinely fearful until I got to the telly and saw John Craven dressed like Francis Drake; it was a Newsround special designed to report news from the past. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.244.67 |
He's a bastard that Craven. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
He isn't, isn't he? Now he's weaving his particular brand of malevolency on Farmers' Outlook. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.84.68 |
Echoes of The War of the Worlds and Orson Welles - almost, Gary. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Craven is far sexier than Welles. | ||
| Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 58.170.217.117 |
OK - sold! Where's the best place to order DVD's from in the UK? | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Craven...weird jumpers...children... | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
 | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.123.101 |
I was the same as Zed...I remember it well...i had been out with my Girfriend of the time (yes! an earlier one....like Captain Pike in Star Trek!) and flipped it on 5 minutes in. Totally unaware. the best way to see it.Imagine my mounting horror. Marvellous. It's like that first fuck. You just can't get it back. gcw | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
We're not all dockers here, Gcw. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 98.220.71.248 |
What the *&$! is Ghost Watch? | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.180.119 |
Here you go:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200659/ Ghostwatch (1992) (TV) | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.51.96 |
GC; I envy you that experience. Er, not a first f**k. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.51.96 |
Anyone from the north remember Friday Night Live? I think it was called that. It was someone like the guy off Clapperboard and this woman taking phone calls and stuff - every now and then they'd talk about ghosts, have articles on it. It was well creepy. Then there was the often incredibly scary radio show Nightowls with the Halloween phone ins. It sucks now, but every now and then something they have on still frightens. Other than Alan Robson that is. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
I used to listen to Nightowls. But wasn't that Viking FM? A local station, for local people? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.51.96 |
Did you get scared by these shows? That station sounds like it might be for vikings; advice on the best chicken legs, things like that. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Well, I think I did. It was more than 15 years ago. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.123.101 |
"We're not all dockers here, Gcw." Still not over it Griff..? gcw | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
*Puts on Gloria Gaynor* | ||
| John (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.4.67 |
I remember it being terrifying at the time. I bought the DVD a few months ago but haven't gotten around to watching it since as my girlfriend panics everytime I say I'm going to put it on. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Volk wanted a superior ending to the rather OTT one he was forced to do. [MINOR SPOILER] Even so, it's a particularly harrowing story with some brilliant moments. The call from the guy near the end revealing the true identity of the spook is seedy and terrifying. And what a name - Pipes. Readers may wish to know that Volk wrote a sequel to Ghostwatch and its only publication is in Dark Corners, his short story collection. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.188.221 |
31/10 - and a good story it is too! Published by Gray Friar Press, no less, and well worth buying. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.92.216.182 |
Don't think I've seen this. I remember there being this weird series where kids explored these supposedly haunted places on a gameshow dare. Mockumentary film with hauntings as its subject matter is good stuff. Must be lots of fun to construct that, with interviews and source material. |