The Ghost and the Darkness

The Ghost And The Darkness is a remake (of sorts) of the 1952 3-D film Bwana Devil, based on an intriguing true adventure set in Africa in 1896. It recounts the story of Colonel J. Patterson (Val Kilmer), a British engineer sent to Kenya to oversee the construction of a bridge over the river Tsavo. The bridge is being built under the guise of humanitarian needs, but is in fact an attempt by the British to maintain their dominance of the ivory trade that is increasingly under threat from the Germans and the French.

At first the assignment seems simple enough, and Patterson expresses his confidence in having the whole thing built in less than six months, which will allow him to return home in time for the birth of his first child. Things start out well enough and Patterson manages to win over the locals by killing a rogue lion with just one shot from his trusty rifle. Patterson is happily fulfilling his dream of spending time in this wonderful continent when things begin to go wrong. It seems rogue lions are rather plentiful in Africa and this time the lion is a lot smarter, and manages to attack and kill quite a number of the local workers whilst evading elaborate traps set for his capture. It is during one of these daring hit-and-run lion attacks that we learn there are in fact two lions working together and outsmarting just about everyone. The local workers believe the lions have supernatural powers and are rather spooked at seeing so many of their workmates killed by these "ghosts in the darkness". Via their spokesperson, they let on that they are just about to take matters into their own hands when 'help' arrives.

Enter Remington (Michael Douglas), a professional hunter who has some very definite ideas about how to handle this menace - for a fee, of course.

Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer turn in great performances and while this was no box office smash and had some critics reaching for their knives, I found the whole thing to be rather good. The background scenery is wonderful and there is plenty of gore as the lions set about devouring the locals - well over 100 as it turns out. There is even the odd surprise or two, not the least of which is being informed by the narrator (Colonel Patterson) that the two lions are still on display at The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois.

This is a film that requires some suspension of disbelief even though it is based on a true story. The acting is generally good all round (including the lions) and there are even some rather (intentionally) humorous moments that had me laughing out loud.

There are both good and bad elements in this transfer. Shadow detail is excellent, as good as any I have seen on DVD, and drops only slightly during the night scenes. Colours are generally vivid which enhances the majestic scenery, although some scenes have a slightly red hue about them that mostly affects skin tones. There is no evidence of any colour bleeding.

There is some slight aliasing and edge enhancement at times, but nothing too distracting. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the number of film artefacts. In the early and late stages of the film particularly, there are numerous instances of white flecks, scratches and stray hairs and these become quite distracting.

Grain is also evident throughout the film and although slightly more obvious in the outdoor scenes, it is within acceptable levels.

The layer change is well placed between scenes at 63:30, which is as good as could be expected and doesn’t disrupt the flow of the story. It should also be pointed out that the film ratio is not 2.35:1 as stated on the case, but more like 2.10:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

Ah, now this is where things improve and I will start by saying that I could find little to fault in either the English Dolby Digital 5.1 or the French Dolby Digital 5.1 - though I will confess I did not spend much time listening to the French track. Everything is just right. Dialogue is clear and predominantly from the centre speaker with no audio sync problems. All other sounds are well distributed between the front and surround speakers. With a movie such as this, set in Africa, you would expect lovely ambient sounds all around - and you get them. The sounds of rain, thunder, crickets, birds and assorted wild animals fill the room and really draw you in. This is augmented beautifully by gunshots, trains and people noises, all underscored by a wonderful soundtrack courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith. The music is both orchestral and distinctly African with the rhythmic pounding of drums and tribal chanting woven through the score.

Low frequency sounds are rich and deep and sound splendid throughout. The subwoofer gets a solid work out and fills out the bottom end nicely.

Hmmm. Not much to report I'm afraid. There is a Theatrical Trailer presented in full frame with 1.85:1 non- 16x9 enhanced clips from the movie all in Dolby Digital 2.0.

Other 'features' are Scene Selection and Subtitles where you can choose from French, Greek, English or Hebrew.

The Ghost In The Darkness is a pleasant way to spend almost two hours as long as your expectations are not too high. The movie itself, although based on real events, is just a little hard to believe at times. The video quality overall is fair, but the audio transfer more than makes up for it. Factor in the lack of extras and I would say renting this would be the way to go, you could do a lot worse.