hellholehorror Ugh. It looks like nineties TV. Such an ugly time for TV. It sounded pretty good really. At least in the nineties TV sounded good. It is a nice idea and it is a little creepy with some fear edging in towards the end but there are problems. I thought that the climax would go one- step further but it didn't. Also some of the acting was pretty poor - most of these people are presenters and not actors so it is pretty unconvincing. If you thought that this was real then it would have been very good but I knew otherwise and would have spotted that it was fake pretty quickly if I hadn't known. Ultimately a nice idea and a nice experiment that didn't quite work or stand the test of time.

Bezenby Just watched this again for the first time on DVD (It's available on Virgin On Demand) with my wife, who missed it first time around. Granted, when you know (now) that it was all a fake, then some of the power of the film is diminished, but it still managed to creep me out quite a bit.The first time I watched it I was fifteen and had missed the initial credits, and was well suckered in. Not quite daft enough to believe it was real, but there was still a pure sense of dread as cheesy TV presenters like Mike Smith and Sarah Greene seemingly got involved in a live Halloween broadcast that got out of hand. I did sit there thinking 'is this real or not?' - can't imagine what I would have though had I been younger, though. Tons of subtleties abound, as the tension builds and things move from the cheery British documentary to full-blown paranormal chaos. I won't go into the details here because it's worth watching fresh. My wife didn't think it was that scary (although she enjoyed it) but she said that was down to knowing it was a hoax. Still a classic though. A definite must-watch for any horror fan.

ackstasis 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).'

lhommeinsipide I was only three when this film was televised, so I slip into the category of viewers who knew this was a hoax before they watched it. For most of the film, beyond my wishes, I found myself evaluating the validity of the actors' performances, and debating how someone could have thought this was real (the performances are pretty good, but there are certain exchanges that sway more towards theatrical than realistic). However, halfway in, when the transmission starts becoming infrequent and begins cutting out, my skin started crawling. Even the knowledge that it was fictional couldn't suppress my nerves as the ghost manifested itself in more terrifying ways. The finale, with a possessed Michael Parkinson whispering a nursery rhyme into the camera, sends a lasting sensation through the viewers' minds, in spite of how amusing it sounds on paper.As mentioned before, there are a few faults in the acting, but for the most part - especially during the scariest scenes where it counts most - it is utterly convincing and contributes to a rather shocking viewer experience. The visual quality of the "live" broadcast and the Crimewatch-esquire set-up of the studio lend the film enough credibility to have some viewers forget that this was just a teleplay for the BBC, but this is exactly what sets it apart from other horror films and, in a way, makes it so much creepier.