The Ghost and the Darkness [Blu-ray]

Director: Stephen Hopkins Stephen Hopkins

Overview

A man bringing modern transportation to the ancient jungles of Africa discovers one of man's oldest enemies lays in wait for him in this period adventure drama. John Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is the owner of a British railroad firm who is building a rail line through Uganda. A bridge is needed so that the tracks may cross a large river, and engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) is summoned to the African nation to supervise construction. While Beaumont has placed Patterson under a strict deadline, the bridge designer is certain that with his guidance, the local laborers will be able to complete the job in time. However, when several workers are killed in an attack by a lion, Patterson is forced to deal with the animal; while he bags a lion who invades the work site one evening, it soon becomes obvious that there's more than one predator in the nearby jungle. The lion attacks continue, eventually claiming the lives of 130 men, and Patterson and Beaumont finally agree to call in Charles Remmington (Michael Douglas), an expert hunter who understands the nature of the man-eaters and knows how to lure them into his trap. The Ghost and the Darkness is based on a true story, which was previously brought to the screen in 1953, in Arch Oboler's pioneering 3-D adventure Bwana Devil.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/10/2022
UPC:	0826663221978
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Language:	English
Sales rank:	12,626

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Douglas	Charles Remington
Val Kilmer	Col. John Henry Patterson
Tom Wilkinson	John Beaumont
John Kani	Samuel
Bernard Hill	Dr. Hawthorne
Brian McCardie	Angus Starling
Henry Cele	Mahina
Om Puri	Abdullah
Emily Mortimer	Helena
Alex Ferns	Stockton
Nick Lorentz	Photographer,Photographer
Kurt Egelhof	Indian Victim
Jack Devnarain	Nervous Sikh Orderly
Giles Masters	Beaumont's Clerk
George Middlekoop	Station Master
Satchu Annamalai	Worker No. 1
Teddy Reddy	Worker No. 2
Rakeem Kahn	Worker No. 3
Glen Gabela	Orderly No. 1
Richard Nwamba	Orderly No. 2
Kaycey Padayachee	Beaumont's Valet
Patrick Gifford	Patterson's Son,Patterson's Son
Stephen Evans	Soldier
Jack Davnarain	Actor
Jerry Goldsmith	Composer
Raheem Khan	Actor
Luing Andrews	Gay punter

Technical Credits

William Goldman

Stephen Hopkins	Director
Danny Baldwin	Stunts
William Goldman	Screenwriter
Chris Corbould	Special Effects
Michael Douglas	Executive Producer
Kitman Ho	Producer,Producer
Gale Anne Hurd	Producer
Paul Radin	Producer,Producer
Steven Reuther	Executive Producer,Producer
John Rosengrant	Special Effects
Mary Selway	Casting
Sarah Trevis	Casting
Grant Hill	Producer
Amit Agrawal	Special Effects
Christopher Assells	Sound Effects
Paul Aulicino	Sound Effects
Bob Beher	Sound Effects
Gary Blufer	Sound Effects
Lance Brown	Sound Effects
Alexander Kitman Ho	Producer

Editorial Reviews

This action film from writer William Goldman and director Stephen Hopkins grafts a true story onto the structure and character types of Jaws (1976) to create a derivative but admittedly spellbinding and effectively spooky film. The central bogeymen are a pair of lions instead of a shark, the locals are railroad laborers instead of vacationers, and the setting is Africa instead of an island beach community, but savvy viewers will get the gist of what the filmmakers are up to pretty quickly. In the place of the naïve sheriff we get a naïve architect (Val Kilmer), and in place of a seasoned sport fisherman we get a seasoned hunter (a grizzled Michael Douglas having fun in a role his father would have been comfortable inhabiting a few decades earlier). Point for point, Hopkins and Goldman ape the earlier classic, and the stunning revelation is that it works remarkably well, resulting in a taut, suspenseful film with an outcome never in doubt but leaving the viewer chilled, thrilled, and satisfied.

All Movie Guide - Karl Williams