Urban Ghost Story (UK)

This decent – if under seen – British thriller didn’t get much of a chance when it was released at the cinemas this year, originally made in 1997, it’s one of those British films which struggled to find a distributor, unfairly gathering dust. Given some of the dross which has been popping out of this country in the meantime, it’s particularly welcoming to see it available to buy.

A sort of combination of The Haunting and Raining Stones, the film takes place in a haunted (or not) Glasgow towerblock, the traditional banging of doors, moving of furniture and clunking of pipes, stemming – it seems – from an ecstasy fuelled car accident which killed young Lizzie for just over three minutes and her friend for good. The film offers a number of explanations for the events – is Lizzie just playing pranks? Is the run down flat just falling apart on its own? Or, as the social services suspect, is mother trying to scam her way into better accommodation? Niftily, the film shys away from answers. The viewer never actually sees the furniture move, while the bangings at the door and on the pipes could have any number of explanations.

Considering the film was made on such a tight budget (the director and producer are co-writers of the Guerrilla Film Maker’s Handbook) it looks pretty good – particularly the climactic “action” scenes. Surprisingly, a lot of effort has gone into the DVD – not something you’d expect from Vision, and while the picture looks a bit murky, the sound is good (importantly as the film relies on some very specific sound design) and the extras are excellent.

Two commentaries (one from the producer and editor and one from the director and DoP) are both fairly technical, but – like their book – provide a cracking insight into British micro-budget film making. The deleted scenes (with commentary), making of feature and other extras are also a plus. It’s gratifying to see a film like this get a better treatment than most rent-a-cliché Hollywood crap. Definitely worth a look.