CREEPY CLASSICS COUNTDOWN 2013 - #18: Ghostwatch [1992] vimeo/62986600 On October 31st, the BBC aired a television movie called Ghostwatch. Theyve never aired it again. And yet, the reaction to what has to be the most wide-reaching, most hair-raising Halloween prank since Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast was such that it has never been forgotten. Ghostwatch is presented as a documentary-style report on the paranormal goings-on in a suburban home outside London. The family dwelling in the house, a woman and her two young daughters, have recorded alleged poltergeist activities in the house, and so the BBC have concocted a fun special for Halloween: All evening, theyll be broadcasting live from the house to capture any spooky events which may occur. Meanwhile, hosts in a BBC studio are standing by to chat about their stance on the supernatural, as well as to take calls from viewers about their own ghostly experiences. Through interviews with the family inside the house, we learn that the poltergeist, named Pipes by the children due to his habit of banging on the plumbing, seems to be most active when the elder daughter, a teenager, is in an emotional state. One paranormal scientist in the studio notes that it is common in cases of poltergeist activity for the ghost to attach itself to an angsty teenager, but it also hinted that perhaps the teenage daughter is simply faking the ghost attacks. Over the course of the hour, however, it becomes very clear that the ghost is no fake. The family and the researchers piece together the history of the ghost: Pipes is an amalgam of negative energies, which have accumulated and strengthened over the ages. Its most common physical form is an apparition of an unbalanced child molester, who was himself possessed by the spirit of a Victorian-era baby-murderer. The ghosts manifestations become more and more frequent and disturbing, until Sarah Greene, the reporter on the scene, is yanked by an unseen force into the cellar where Pipes is said to live, the door slamming and locking behind her, and the feed from the house is lost. Inside the studio, paranormal activity begins taking place as well. Teacups fly across the room and shatter, and an ethereal wind begins to blow. Too late, the reporters realize that by broadcasting Pipes activity, they have created a nation-wide seance and exponentially increased the ghosts power. Suddenly, all the lights shut off. After a stretch of darkness and silence, lead host David Parkinson is heard faintly muttering a nursery rhyme, a hallmark of being possessed by the ghost. Like Welles War of the Worlds broadcast, Ghostwatch created quite a stir during and after its one and only airing. Many people called the provided phone number (the actual number for real call-in programs on the BBC), but due to the increased phone traffic were simply met with a busy signal, adding to the apparent reality of the program. The most remarkable aspect of the presentation is that all the hosts and reporters were real BBC personalities, playing themselves. Some were prominent hosts of weekly, or even daily, TV shows. Sarah Greene was the host of Blue Peter, a popular childrens program. These were people viewers loved, trusted, and watched every day. And now they were being murdered by ghosts. Live. Though, as with Welles broadcast, reports of a national Ghostwatch-inspired outrage are somewhat exaggerated, some people were fooled by the programs documentary style, and many others were simply disturbed by its graphic and unexpectedly scary subject matter. One teenage boy committed suicide after allegedly becoming obsessed with the broadcast, and his parents attempted to sue the BBC. The British equivalent of the FCC eventually ruled that the station had taken insufficient precautions to assure viewers of the films fictitious nature. In response, the BBC issued an apology to viewers, and to this day has never re-aired the special, though it has been aired on numerous cable channels in Britain and other Commonwealth nations. When I initially watched the film, I didnt find it to be all that frightening (admittedly, reading a plot synopsis on Wikipedia always does tend to take a lot of the punch out of horror movies by removing much of the element of surprise). But later, I found myself replaying moments from the film in my head. I felt an enduring sense of foreboding. Feelings of fear lingered for days afterward. This is a scary movie. I think the most effective element of the film may be the use of the call-in line. You only really realize its significance at the end of the film, when the hosts have the national seance epiphany. Throughout the movie, calls from viewers reporting their own personal paranormal experiences become more and more frequent. Eventually, the stories these callers tell shift from the past to the present tense. Ghostly things are occurring in their homes DURING the broadcast...only at the end do we realize these occurrences are BECAUSE of the broadcast itself, infecting the entire country (including your house, presumably, because youre watching it) with a malevolent spectral presence. Spooky stuff. On a sunnier note, expect a few more full movies to be linked in the days to come!
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 05:54:22 +0000
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