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Here& #39;s the biggest flaw with Ghostwatch, & it& #39;s not even a flaw with the film itself, more than it is a flaw with the viewing experience. Watching this today, or any time after it first aired, you know going in that it& #39;s entirely fictional, & that definitely is going to lessen... https://twitter.com/JakeBrannan5499/status/1320568253798850562">https://twitter.com/JakeBrann...
...the immersion aspect. Therefore, when you watch Ghostwatch, you really have to put yourself in the mindset of someone seeing this for the first time, when it first aired, completely unaware that it was fictional. When you do that, this film becomes pretty unnerving to watch.
I think it& #39;s fair to say that the controversy surround Ghostwatch is more famous (or infamous) than the film itself. This film is similar to that the likes of The Blair Witch Project & Paranormal Activity, in that it presents itself in a realistic, documentary style (called...
..."mockumentary"). It depicts a news crew investigating an allegedly haunted house, taking place on Halloween night, & is presented as a live broadcast event. It features actors & real news reporters from the BBC that the British public were accustomed to seeing on actual...
...broadcasts, giving the film an even more realistic feel. When it was first aired, before it began, the BBC put up an advisory stating that the film was fictional, & when the film ended it has credits & all that. But for the majority of the film, it& #39;s played as real,...
...so if a viewer was to tune in after it had already started, they were led to believe they were watching an actual news broadcast, with real reporters that they knew, & they had no reason for believing what they were seeing wasn& #39;t real. Because of that, thousands of people...
...believed that the film was in fact a real live broadcast, & they believed that the paranormal happenings the film was showing were all real as well, & this scared the shit out of, as I said, thousand of people across the UK. The other interesting this is that throughout...
...the film, it& #39;s shown in the studio that there& #39;s a call center, where audience members can call into the "live broadcast" & tell their ghost story, & they even provide a number for people to call in. If one was to call the number given, they would have heard a recorded...
...message stating that Ghostwatch was in fact fictional, & then they were invited to tell their ghost story if they wished to. A problem arose, however, when thousands of people began calling this number that it got to the point where the line crashed,...
...so when someone called the number they no longer heard the pre-recorded message saying the film was fictional.
This film scared so many people, that studies later showed an increase in PTSD in children who had views the film. A teenage boy even committed suicide because...
This film scared so many people, that studies later showed an increase in PTSD in children who had views the film. A teenage boy even committed suicide because...
...he believed he would come back as a ghost, like the one depicted in the film. When the public did find out the film was fictional, much of the British public were angry with the BBC, accusing them of misleading them. After all the backlash, the BBC basically swept the film...
...under the rug & tried to make it disappear the best they could. They removed all word of the film, ceased any future airings, & for the longest time Ghostwatch was never heard of.
It wasn& #39;t until years after it first aired, when it really started to gain a cult following,...
It wasn& #39;t until years after it first aired, when it really started to gain a cult following,...
...that the film saw a resurgence 7 a new appreciation.
So that& #39;s the rather long background on the film & the controversy surrounding it.
As I said in the beginning, the impact of watching this film is lessened a bit because you know going into it that it& #39;s fictional,...
So that& #39;s the rather long background on the film & the controversy surrounding it.
As I said in the beginning, the impact of watching this film is lessened a bit because you know going into it that it& #39;s fictional,...
...but it does help to put yourself in the mindset of someone seeing this back when it first aired.
Because this film presents itself as real, & it comes off as real, when creepy stuff does happen, it& #39;s amplified a little bit, because you have the reaction...
Because this film presents itself as real, & it comes off as real, when creepy stuff does happen, it& #39;s amplified a little bit, because you have the reaction...
...of "holy shit, did I just see/hear that?"
There are some incredibly unnerving things that happen throughout the film. I won& #39;t talk about all of them, but the one I will mention is everything having to do with the ghost known as "Pipes," that the children in the film say...
There are some incredibly unnerving things that happen throughout the film. I won& #39;t talk about all of them, but the one I will mention is everything having to do with the ghost known as "Pipes," that the children in the film say...
...is haunting their house. Pipes appears at several times in the background of several shots throughout the film, & if I& #39;m someone back in 1992 tuning into this program, thinking it& #39;s just a Halloween special live news broadcast, & all the sudden I see this creepy ghostly...
...figure appear in the background, that& #39;s gonna freak out anyone.
One of the reasons The Hauntings of Hill House & Bly Manor creep me out so much is because of all the hidden ghosts in the background. When you see them, it& #39;s kind of a blink of an eye moment,...
One of the reasons The Hauntings of Hill House & Bly Manor creep me out so much is because of all the hidden ghosts in the background. When you see them, it& #39;s kind of a blink of an eye moment,...
...where you see them, then they& #39;re gone & you wonder if that& #39;s really what you saw. To me, putting something in the background of a shot that only the viewer can see, that is incredibly effective at unnerving the viewer.
admittedly, the film does get a bit over the top with its scares towards the end, but it does fit with the direction the story is taking, & again, if you thought it was real back in 1992, it was probably all the more scarier.
I love horror that presents itself as real.
The found footage style (though the genre as a whole is oversaturated with bad films) is very effective at immersing the viewer into a mindset of believing what they& #39;re seeing is real. Films like Ghostwatch, The Blair Witch Project,...
The found footage style (though the genre as a whole is oversaturated with bad films) is very effective at immersing the viewer into a mindset of believing what they& #39;re seeing is real. Films like Ghostwatch, The Blair Witch Project,...
...Lake Mungo, these are films that feel very real, & because of that they can be incredibly frightening at times (Lake Mungo is one of the scariest films I& #39;ve seen because of how real it feels). Even the 1st Paranormal Activity is incredibly effective & very scary at times.
