Brian's Halloween recommendation: Ghostwatch (1992) MUST WATCH!

Dr. Lin Pascoe (Gillian Bevan) and Michael Parkinson on set in Ghostwatch.

Ghostwatch (1992)

Directed by Lesley Manning

Starring Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, Craig Charles, Gillian Bevan, Brid Brennan, Michelle Wesson, Cherise Wesson

Caution: Some spoilers ahead!

It is utterly shocking to me that I've only heard of this movie this year. It's a movie that frightened a nation and apparently caused PTSD, a childbirth and even a suicide.

It's as innovative as they come. As important as The Blair Witch Project is in film history, this movie was five years earlier and the creators of Blair Witch apparently made their movie after watching it. And I think the Paranormal Activity movies (which I like very much) owe a lot to Ghostwatch as well.

BBC peronalitis Mike Smith, Parkinson
and Sarah Greene.

It was aired as if it were completely live though only the studio segments actually were. So audiences at home in the UK watching on BBC thought it was real. The studio even took phone calls from real people who shared their own ghost stories while the investigation of a haunted house was taking place. They used real BBC personnel (Parkinson, Greene, Smith and Charles) so there was no reason to believe it wasn't real.

A photo from the film of the items being
thrown across the girls' bedroom.

It centers around the happenings at the house of Pamela Early (Brennan) and her daughters Suzanne and Kim (Wesson sisters). Spooky and dangerous things have been happening and Pamela wants to get to the bottom of it and keep her daughters safe. So she enlists the BBC to send a film crew and spend a night at the house to experience the haunts and hopefully record them. Sarah Greene and Craig Charles are on site at the house in the filmed segments.

The story is a classic slow-build with very little happening for the first half. But when the scares eventually come they are extremely interesting and well done. You'll jump a few times for sure.

The film has a lot of specific similarities with Paranormal Activity 3. In both movies the main source of the haunting is a ghost that seems to want to do harm to the people in the house and the younger sister in each movie seems to be able to see and talk to him. The younger girl in each movie also has a name for their respective ghost. In Ghostwatch it's Pipes and in PA3 it's Toby. The director has said there are 13 Pipes appearances and people have pored over the movie countless times to find them all. According to the Wikipedia page only nine have been confirmed.

Outside the house as the investigation takes place.

The scares range from classically jumpy to physically violent. The last several scenes of the movie are quite scary and dark so be prepared for that.

I found it on a subscription service called Shudder which started streaming the movie last year. This excited a lot of people because it was previously difficult to acquire and view.

If you have a chance, check it out. It is a profound achievement for 1992 especially when you understand that nothing like it had been done before. It had profound impact on the found footage genre as well as the mockumentary genre.

It is my No. 1 recommendation for the last couple days of October and for Halloween seasons to come.

Even the set eventually becomes haunted by Pipes.