ackstasis Review of Ghostwatch

Ghostwatch (1992 TV Movie)

"Round and round the garden... like a teddy bear?"

[8/10 · 20 May 2011]

As a skeptic of all things faked or imagined, I found 'Ghostwatch (1992)' to be fantastically interesting. The programme's earnestness would have irked me, had the whole thing not been a complete put-on. 'Ghostwatch,' hosted by Michael Parkinson, aired on Halloween 1992, and purported to be a live 90-minute broadcast from a supposedly haunted suburban house. Things start off ordinarily enough, with the presenters seeming to enjoy themselves, but within 90 minutes all hell has broken loose. I suppose I might have been unnerved had I watched the programme back in 1992, especially considering the well-known and respected personalities involved, but in this case I just sat back and enjoyed the theatrics: the equipment malfunctions; the grisly anecdotes of molestation, suicide, and animal decapitation; the fleeting glimpses of a bloodied male figure. Apparently, not everybody was amused. The BBC received a multitude of complaints, and 'Ghostwatch' has even been cited as causing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in several children who were still watching after the 9pm watershed. Also probably, while we're at it, a huge influence on films like 'The Blair Witch Project (1999)' and 'Paranormal Activity (2007).'