''Urban Ghost Story'' is a 1998 British horror film directed by Geneviève Jolliffe, written by Geneviève Jolliffe and Chris Jones, and starring

Jason Connery Jason Joseph Connery (born 11 January 1963) is a British actor and director. He is the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. On screen, he is best known for appearing in the third series of the ITV drama series ''Robin of Sherwood'' in 1986. H ...

Nicola Stapleton Nicola Kathleen Stapleton (born 9 August 1974 in Elephant and Castle, London) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in '' EastEnders'' as Mandy Salter and ''Emmerdale'' as Danielle Hutch. A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theat ...

, Billy Boyd, Stephanie Buttle, and Heather Ann Foster. It is set in a high-rise housing estate in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Plot

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 A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

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.

Cast

... John Fox * Stephanie Buttle ... Kate Fisher * Heather Ann Foster ... Lizzie Fisher *

... Kerrie *

James Cosmo James Ronald Gordon Copeland , known professionally as James Cosmo (b. 1947), is a Scottish film and television actor known for his appearances in films including ''Highlander'', ''Braveheart'', '' Trainspotting'', ''Jagame Thandhiram'', ''Tro ...

... Minister *

Elizabeth Berrington Elizabeth Berrington (born 3 August 1970) is an English actress and graduate of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art; she is best known for her roles as Ruby Fry in '' Waterloo Road'', Paula Kosh in '' Stella'', Mel Debrou in ''Moving Wall ...

... Mrs. Ash * Siri Neal ... Social Worker (as Siri O'Neal) *

Andreas Wisniewski Andreas Wisniewski (born 3 July 1959) is a German actor and former dancer. He is best known for his portrayals of Necros in the 1987 Bond film ''The Living Daylights'', Max's companion in the 1996 film '' Mission: Impossible'', and as one of Han ...

... Quinn * Billy Boyd ... Loan Shark * Kenneth Bryans ... Mr. Ash * Carolyn Bonnyman ... Mrs. Miller * Alan Owen ... Alex Fisher * Stephen MacDonald ... Coroner * Julie Austin ... Teacher * Nicola Greene ... WPC Tomkins

Production

Following production of their previous film, ''

White Angel ''White Angel'' ( sr, Бели анђео / ''Beli anđeo'') is a detail of one of the best known frescoes in Serbian culture in the Mileševa monastery, ''Mironosice na Hristovom grobu'' (the Myrrhbearers at Christ's tomb), dated c. 1235 in ...

'', Geneviève Jolliffe and Chris Jones researched Poltergeist activity including the

Enfield Poltergeist The Enfield poltergeist was a claim of supernatural activity at 284 Green Street, a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, London, England, United Kingdom, between 1977 and 1979. The alleged poltergeist activity centred around sisters Janet (11) ...

occurrences. Filming took place at

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever s ...

with location shots done in Glasgow.

Reception

The film was nominated for two

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

. It won two

Fantafestival The Mostra internazionale del film di fantascienza e del fantastico (English: ''International Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Show''), commonly known as Fantafestival, is a film festival devoted to science fiction, fantasy and horror film tha ...

awards, for Best Actress and Best Film. ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched ...

'' described the film as " Poltergeist,

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

-style". Michael Thomson stated that "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."

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, urban_ghost_story, Urban Ghost Story
''Urban Ghost Story'' at BBC
Films set in Scotland Films set in Glasgow Scottish films British ghost films British supernatural horror films 1998 horror films 1998 films Films scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams 1990s English-language films 1990s British films