It's finally October so let's not waste any time getting into the Halloween spirit. What better way to do so than by watching the Halloween-set GHOSTWATCH? I apologize to our readers in the UK who might find this selection to be too obvious but here in the States, this startlingly effective, not to mention ahead of its time, production is not nearly as notorious as it should be! For my money, it's one of the best ghost tales ever told! You can read our review from back in the day HERE and a traumafession HERE but I wouldn't advise it until you've checked out this landmark spookfest in three parts below!
Ghost Watch pt 1 from Encounters with Spirit on Vimeo.
Ghost Watch pt 2 from Encounters with Spirit on Vimeo.
Ghost Watch pt3 from Encounters with Spirit on Vimeo.
I just watched Sarah Greene on the recent Big Fat Quiz of the 80s on Channel 4, and realized that as an American with a limited exposure to UK pop culture, the only other thing that I know her from is Ghostwatch. I was glad to see her alive and well, and not trapped in some kind of glory-hole vortex.
Oh yeah – GhostWatch is the BEST. Trauma'd a whole nation of Kinders. Is there an equivalent in the US? Maybe "The Day After"? The Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction"? Sure, the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" counts, but that was back in old-timey days. Can't think of anything form the age of television……
I had heard so much about it that I ordered the DVD from the UK a few years back just to see if the fuss was worth it (I'm in the US). I watched it alone at night in a darkened room and it completely creeped me out. Great Halloween fun!
The show's author wrote up follow-up short story, "31/10", and it's available for free as a PDF from his website. http://www.stephenvolk.net/31-10.pdf
Outstanding. Me and the Mrs. finally watched this over the weekend after reading so much about it (mainly from this site). It was very funny if only because they went all in with trying for reality. The use of all real BBC presenters just made it all the better. My wife, who spend 5 years in London in the mid-90s loved how it took her back to that period. And I about flipped with Craig "Lister" Charles showed up forgetting that he was quite the personality over there beyond just Red Dwarf. The dated technology from the phones to the skeptic in "New York" just add to the atmosphere. But you can totally see how they had everyone on the fishhook back then. Just a fun fun production.
I first heard about GHOSTWATCH on an old BLAIR WITCH PROJECT forum I belonged to back in 1999. And it immediately became something that I became almost obsessed with seeing.
Unfortunately, at the time, there were precious few sources which claimed to have the program, but in those days before Paypal & with e-commerce in it's infancy, I wasn't willing to a) send my cc info off to total strangers nor b) spend $50 or more on something that I didn't have total confidence in actually receiving. So, it took me another five or six years to finally get to see it.
Thankfully however, it more than lived up to it's reputation. I found it to be absolutely brilliant. And, best of all, it gave this jaded, lifelong horror film fanatic a REALLY nice batch of goosebumps at the appropriate time toward the finale. I STILL love it to this day.
So, thanks very much for the reminder about this gem, because now, I'm going to make it a point to watch it sometime between now & Halloween night!
Peace.
– Jim Allcorn