Urban Ghost Story (1998)

The Worst Film Ever

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Is there a ghost here, or maybe not? That question is left unanswered, and left as a possibility either way. The girl who's the center of the controversy is a kind of teenage version of Candace Hilligoss in Carnival of Souls, and it seems possible that she might meet a similar fate, and indeed nearly does. The movie starts off slowly enough and it is hard to become involved, but when the paranormal investigations begin and the medium (noun here) arrives, by then it's engrossing. A nice examination of the various groups who take advantage of the folks who suffer paranormal activity, the tabloids, the parapsychologists, the séance types, all in it for their own gain and treating the "victims" as objects of study, not as people. If this is what the filmmakers intended to show, they were successful. If they were trying to create tension, they were partly successful, and if they wanted to make it a true Urban Ghost Story, they were barely successful. Not recommended for those who really like chills and scares, there are some, but not enough. But recommended for those who'd like a thoughtful examination of the society around paranormal activity.

Finally - something different. I've been really disappointed with horror films like Van Helsing, Cabin Fever and to some extent 28 Days Later mainly becausethe stories tend to be very flat and uninteresting. The characters are people we have seen 1000 times before and you know exactly what they are going to do.Also, the stories don't make a lot of sense - there are enough plot holes in 28 Days Later (is there really only one way out of London and it's through atunnel?) and Cabin Fever (not to mention the lousy acting of the latter) to make anyone roll their eyes. However, Jolliffe's film feels real, looks real and takes a bold chance by mixing horror and social realism in a truly frightening way.I love how Jolliffe take us into a world that few Americans ever see - a Scottish slum and make a poltergeist film out of how one might actually happen. Mostpeople who experience this phenomenon are young teenage girls who have alot of stress or trauma in their lives. It is dark, dingy, nasty world filled with harsh characters like a very un-Hobbitish Billy Boyd as a stuttering loan shark who live life with twisted view. A woman gets pregnant at 16 and thinks it's the greatest thing ever because she can go on welfare. That's f-ed up. It's no wonder that the lead girl, who I thought did a fantastic job balancing her emotions betweentrying to be a "cool" teenager and a "scared little girl" is a prime candidate for a poltergeist happening. Refreshingly there's none of these ghosts swirlingaround the room - they are much more subtle and hence much creepierbecause they fray on your nerves instead of blowing their wad in one hugeaction sequence. That's what Spielberg did with Jaws for most of the film.But two things really make Urban Ghost Story stick out. First, is that the story takes the viewpoint of "what would really happen" to people who experiencethis situation. They would go to as many "doctors" to fix the situation. So we see scientists, exorcists and religious figures all trying to put their spin on it - and they all have a valid argument for their belief. But, ultimately we are dealing with something that humans can't defeat with "weapons" - that is what makes thistruly supernatural and scary. Only from the lead girl's confession does all go back to how it should. Humans have to appease the situation - make amends for wrong doing - not try to get away with something through sorcery or statistics. Fantastic. The second thing is that the film from what I have read was made for about $300,000. And yet the filmmakers managed to have a spectacular highfall and a frightening car wreck with a thunderous explosion. They really know how to put every dollar on screen. It really is inspiration for indie filmmakers out there that you can make something great with very little.Go see this film and open your mind. You won't get the same obligatory plotpoints and cardboard cutout characters. You'll get something 100 times better.

This shows that you can make an involving, emotionally moving film on a low budget - characterisation and story are what counts here, helped by a grimly realistic setting. I won't give too much away, but it's about a young girl who 'dies' in a car accident and is brought back to life, and what follows...the DVD is out in the UK soon - take a look!

The film is excellent, on par with many other of it's like, of poor budget and poor material, yet arousing so many questions in the viewers head.It seeks to deal with many different elements of society, from the culture around us, the poverty of many families in Scotland, to the trauma that can be inflicted upon the neglected young.Although the film does take up perhaps too many elements, it leaves you thinking about so many different things, it really does get the Grey Cells going, as it were, rather than just a 'sit back, no thought required' film, and to be honest, this is the style I prefer.Heather Ann Foster in her first big-screen debut is a stunning actress, bringing across perfectly the balance between the insanity her character suffers and the torments she faces from society around her. Excellent casting on the Producers part, and excellent, 100% performance from Heather Ann Foster, I for one will be following her career more closely since this stunning piece.