| Urban Ghost Story | |
| Director: | Geneviève Jolliffe |
| Producer: | Chris Jones Jagjit Singh Banwait David Hardwick Ian Hierons |
| Starring: | Jason Connery Stephanie Buttle Heather Ann Foster Nicola Stapleton Billy Boyd James Cosmo Elizabeth Berrington |
| Cinematography: | Jon Walker |
| Editing: | Eddie Hamilton |
| Music: | Rupert Gregson-Williams |
| Studio: | Living Spirit Pictures |
| Runtime: | 90 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
Urban Ghost Story is a 1998 British horror film directed by Geneviève Jolliffe, written by Geneviève Jolliffe and Chris Jones, and starring Jason Connery, Nicola Stapleton, Billy Boyd, Stephanie Buttle, and Heather Ann Foster.[1] It is set in a high-rise housing estate in Glasgow.
The plot follows 12-year-old Lizzie (Heather Ann Foster) who, after being involved in a road traffic accident and suffering a near-death experience, feels that she is haunted by a malicious spirit that she brought back with her from the afterlife. Although surrounded by people who disbelieve her claims, Lizzie and her mother eventually encounter a journalist who, although initially skeptical, comes to eventually believe the claims and with the assistance of a university parapsychologist the family start to confront with the events.
Following production of their previous film, White Angel, Geneviève Jolliffe and Chris Jones researched poltergeist activity including the Enfield poltergeist occurrences.[2] Filming took place at Ealing Studios with location shots done in Glasgow.[3] James Cosmo, Nicola Stapleton, Andreas Wisniewski, and Elizabeth Berrington were cast in the film; it also makes a film debut for Billy Boyd. The music was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams.
The film was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards, for the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Best British Independent Film. It premiered at The Edinburgh Film Festival, won two Fantafestival awards, for Best Actress and Best Film, Best Film at WorldFest Houston Film Festival and was selected to play at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and The Busan International Film Festival. Genevieve was selected as one of the Ten to Watch series, Critics Choice: Europe Now by Variety.
Michael Thomson from BBC Film Review gave a mixed review to the film: "Despite creating credible scares, a sense of poor folk being pounded by their circumstances, and an environment of fully-detailed grubbiness, the director relies on too much editing within scenes, so the film often moves too quickly from one face to another instead of moving fluently with unbroken shots. In this way, we are unhooked from a film which should really have grabbed and gripped".[4]
Total Film described the film as "Poltergeist, Ken Loach-style".[5] Variety described the film as "a clever, often potent blend of British kitchen-sink drama with fantasy elements that gains added resonance by being set in gruff, rugged Glasgow".[6]
Fangoria described it as "one of the most authentically rendered '90s horror films about the poor, lower-class world which its cast of central characters inhabit. Comparisons to Ken Loach and Mike Leigh might seem hyperbolic, but Joliffe and Urban Ghost Story ultimately don't need to be tethered to big name fancy pants male filmmakers to justify how good it is; this movie stands on its own, and is an extraordinary snapshot of how poverty, shame, guilt and isolation work together, all through the enduring supernatural metaphor of the ghost".[7]
The Guardian described the film as "a ghost story told with conviction, some creepy atmospherics in the desolate tower block, and an interesting riff on the poltergeist as a manifestation of poverty and alienation".[8]