User reviews

Well the name of the film and the description on the back of the DVD, and even the tag line would have you believe this is a ghost story.

In fact what you have here is a story of a 12 year old girl in a high rise block in Glasgow who suffered a car crash where she died but was revived.

What follows seems to be more focused on her life and her mothers struggle to raise her kids in the poverty stricken area, and the ghostly elements play a very small part and the film never really takes it any further than you are expecting.

OK watch this film if you'd like to see a film about the above mentioned but not if you want a ghost story urban or not.

Well, this is a shame. After all the good review I had heard/ read about this film, I managed to rent it out on video, and was left feeling very let down.

The initial concept appealed to me anyway, so without the knowledge of the strong reviews I would have eventually watched this film.

The story? A young girl dies for approx 3 minutes in a car crash with her best male friend. He dies, but she lives. She is brought back from death with an evil spirit and survivor's guilt. Set in Scotland, I saw this as a nice departure from the over-glamourised Hollywood supernatural movies.

The first 15/20 minutes are used to create an unsettling atmosphere, and I did jump a few times. From then on, it's all downhill.

We are treated to many, many flashbacks that deal with the actual car crash, and these do get tiresome after a while. Jason Connery, not a patch on his Dad, is very annoying and I did feel the need to switch off when he came close to being on screen.

If the film does have a good point, it's in the performance of Heather Ann Foster who plays the enigmatic and traumatised Lizzie. She IS the film, and she seems to carry this burden very well, for a girl of such a young age, she seemed very confident.

Of course, people will try and compare this film to "Poltergeist", which, in plain English Should not be done - they are both totally separate films!!!

This film wanted, and could have been so much more than it is. It is a shame that I didn't enjoy it, but I hope someone out there does.

I just didn't connect to this film at all

A half way decent mix of supernatural goings on and a close examination of a family torn apart by a tragic accident. Like the spirit, this film doesn't know where it is. It's basically lost.

5/10

This debut by Jolliffe is not bad, but if suffers from wanting to tell too much at the same time: the guilty conscience of Lizzie, the horror of living in a block of flats, of nosy neighbours, of journalism, social service and so on, and so on. The result is an uneven, detached picture. Heather Ann Foster is very good as Lizzie.

I caught Urban Ghost Story on t.v. recently and I have to say I was very impressed. I was familiar with the film makers through their authorship of the Guerilla Film Makers Handbook but, to be honest, after reading about their first two features 'The Runner' and 'White Angel' (neither of which I have seen) I wasn't expecting great things from Urban Ghost Story.

It turned out however to be a very effective piece of film making which works just as well as social realism as it does as a genre film. The central performance, given by a young non-actor, possesses a raw, natural quality which helps to ground the film's supernatural aspects in a very well observed reality. Stephanie Buttle as the girl's mother is a real find as well, having to work hard against her natural beauty to make her portrayal of a dirt poor single mother convincing. Less impressive are the star turns. Billy Boyd is an ineffectual, stuttering gangster and Jason Connery (a questionable piece of stunt casting) does little with his role as a shady tabloid journalist. The film works hard though to create a believable locale, a Glasgow tower block, and succeeds totally. The film makers have clearly taken the Robert Wise 'Haunting' approach to depicting the ghostly activity and for the most part it works. These scenes could have done with being a little scarier perhaps but a bizarre seance scene does unnerve. Most impressive of all though is the fact that Urban Ghost Story was made for a reported £250,000. For that money they have created an atmospheric film which feels cinematic, complete with a jaw dropping explosion and stunt work. If only more British low budget film making was this adventurous. I am surprised to see that the director has not made a film in the six years since release whereas Merchant Ivory (whose films have gone largely unwatched since Remains of the Day) get money thrown at them. I only wish that more film makers like Ms Joliffe would emerge to shake up the British film industry.

I first heard about this movie in an article I read in the publication Cemetery Dance and had been looking for it ever since. I have to say, it really wasn't what I was expecting when I rented it. In my opinion, this movie centers more upon an adolescent girl's ability to deal with guilt/grief from a horrible auto accident than upon any poltergeist/demon or ghost (if there ever even was one...) The acting was descent, and the arrangement of the film was such that it kept you interested and waiting for something to happen, but as far as delivery, I felt a little let down. While I am the first to agree that the less you see of a monster, the scarier it is, In this case there just really didn't seem to be much haunting going on. Some wraps at the door, a dresser being moved (maybe) and some noisy pipes are about all we got. I thought there was a lot of potential for this film to be better by tying it in with the girl's trauma, but no conclusion was ever really made. Was it real? Was it not? For those of you who have seen Emily Rose, you know what I'm talking about. Perhaps I was just in the mood for a film where there was more of a paranormal climax than a psychological one. Not that it was a bad film, but with a title like Urban Ghost Story, I had expected a little more spook for my buck.

After a car accident, Lizzie lies dead on the roadside - slowly she is taken into the light - but is pulled back to earth when she is revived by the doctors.

It's a descent ghost story, nothing special. Good acting though.

Being an American, I was familiar with American independents, but hadn't experienced low budget features from abroad. I didn't know what to expect. "Urban Ghost Story" was a pleasant surprise. We have nothing on the Brits.

While this film occasionally shows it's low budget, that becomes part of the film's charm. The filmmakers are saying that they didn't spend a lot, but they can still bring the audience a lot. The film feels very stark, eerie, and enclosed. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what comes next. Sometimes frightening me about what comes next. And then it gave me a finale that I was certain probably cost more than the budget of the entire movie. I have no idea how they did that.

What I thought I was watching when I saw this movie was an effort at a case study of an unhappy adolescent girl in a dingy Scottish slum, whose unhappiness is accompanied by a spate of poltergeist activity, perhaps caused by her, but not by a ghost as usually understood, and presented as a secondary aspect of her general condition rather than as the point of interest in itself. That seemed an unusual approach, but I found it hindered by the casting of the main actress, who is remarkably inexpressive even for a surly adolescent; by distracting effects and music; and by the script, which is constructed so as to hold back rather than reveal key information about the character, and which, rather than limiting itself to her, the people around her, and the events that would be likely to happen in the circumstances, ropes in several not very credible characters who mainly get in the way of the main subject. Though the movie was not very scary, its attitude, more than its eye, and its location (as I thought, but this turned out to have been a well-designed set), more than imaginativeness in its use, drew me in and carried me along. But I wish it had taken me farther, faster.

In the commentary on the DVD, the producer and co-writer explains that the film was not intended as the character study I had supposed but as a "real" (as opposed to a Hollywood) ghost story, dictating the urban setting (and the prosaic title), and was intended to capture the effect of sitting in a haunted house for hours without hearing anything and then hearing a small sound. Thing is, though, this effect has been a staple of horror movies since the coming of sound, it has been done more effectively in many; also, most ghost movies I have seen recently have had urban settings. The filmmakers have talent, but in my opinion their film would have gained if they had viewed, or imagined, a little more widely (their favorite movies are "Aliens," "Star Wars," "Die Hard," and "Back to the Future"), written a little more to the purpose--and done what I had thought they were doing.

Film-making duo Jones & Jolliffe deliver bleak and spooky visions in modern day Blighty with this inspired tale of the supernatural.

A winning cast plays out the story of a 12 year-old girl haunted by survivor's guilt after living through a horrific car accident that claimed her best friend. The guilty conscience coincides with subtle but decidedly ethereal events in the family's rundown, government subsidized building. Is a ghost haunting the family or is there a corporeal explanation for furniture going bump in the night?

The film looks startling realistic which heightens the goose flesh when the boo shocks come (especially in the first 25 minutes) but the film doesn't settle for scares, it also examines the real world struggles of a single mother and her brood facing down to earth skepticism of money lenders, social workers and the police. Some viewers may be put off when the film neglects ghostly activity in favor of character study, and perhaps some of the tone shifts are unwieldy, nonetheless this is one of the best (and painfully overlooked by US distributors) British genre films since DOG SOLDIERS. Bravo.

When urban ghost story is mentioned stuff like Candyman etc. spring to mind so I was perplexed when I saw this little gem from Scotland recently.

The content and atmosphere of the film does not adhere to the title whatsoever. You would be expecting Snoop Dog and Dr Dre driving around in cadillacs killing vampires. But no, instead a gritty Ken Loach style drama set in lovely Glasgow! I was very impressed overall by this effort, although the spiritualist and paranormal team from the university seemed a bit over the top with the more realistic view elsewhere. Otherwise it was neatly paced with a few creepy moments and a very moving score. I would recommend this film to any film watcher and not just paranormal junkies!

Finally - something different. I've been really disappointed with horror films like Van Helsing, Cabin Fever and to some extent 28 Days Later mainly because

the stories tend to be very flat and uninteresting. The characters are people we have seen 1000 times before and you know exactly what they are going to do.

Also, the stories don't make a lot of sense - there are enough plot holes in 28 Days Later (is there really only one way out of London and it's through a

tunnel?) and Cabin Fever (not to mention the lousy acting of the latter) to make anyone roll their eyes. However, Jolliffe's film feels real, looks real and takes a bold chance by mixing horror and social realism in a truly frightening way.

I love how Jolliffe take us into a world that few Americans ever see - a Scottish slum and make a poltergeist film out of how one might actually happen. Most

people who experience this phenomenon are young teenage girls who have a

lot of stress or trauma in their lives. It is dark, dingy, nasty world filled with harsh characters like a very un-Hobbitish Billy Boyd as a stuttering loan shark who live life with twisted view. A woman gets pregnant at 16 and thinks it's the greatest thing ever because she can go on welfare. That's f-ed up. It's no wonder that the lead girl, who I thought did a fantastic job balancing her emotions between

trying to be a "cool" teenager and a "scared little girl" is a prime candidate for a poltergeist happening. Refreshingly there's none of these ghosts swirling

around the room - they are much more subtle and hence much creepier

because they fray on your nerves instead of blowing their wad in one huge

action sequence. That's what Spielberg did with Jaws for most of the film.

But two things really make Urban Ghost Story stick out. First, is that the story takes the viewpoint of "what would really happen" to people who experience

this situation. They would go to as many "doctors" to fix the situation. So we see scientists, exorcists and religious figures all trying to put their spin on it - and they all have a valid argument for their belief. But, ultimately we are dealing with something that humans can't defeat with "weapons" - that is what makes this

truly supernatural and scary. Only from the lead girl's confession does all go back to how it should. Humans have to appease the situation - make amends for wrong doing - not try to get away with something through sorcery or statistics. Fantastic. The second thing is that the film from what I have read was made for about $300,000. And yet the filmmakers managed to have a spectacular high

fall and a frightening car wreck with a thunderous explosion. They really know how to put every dollar on screen. It really is inspiration for indie filmmakers out there that you can make something great with very little.

Go see this film and open your mind. You won't get the same obligatory plot

points and cardboard cutout characters. You'll get something 100 times better.

The film is excellent, on par with many other of it's like, of poor budget and poor material, yet arousing so many questions in the viewers head.

It seeks to deal with many different elements of society, from the culture around us, the poverty of many families in Scotland, to the trauma that can be inflicted upon the neglected young.

Although the film does take up perhaps too many elements, it leaves you thinking about so many different things, it really does get the Grey Cells going, as it were, rather than just a 'sit back, no thought required' film, and to be honest, this is the style I prefer.

Heather Ann Foster in her first big-screen debut is a stunning actress, bringing across perfectly the balance between the insanity her character suffers and the torments she faces from society around her. Excellent casting on the Producers part, and excellent, 100% performance from Heather Ann Foster, I for one will be following her career more closely since this stunning piece.

Saw this at the Edinburgh Film Festival last year, and enjoyed it a great deal. The 'ghost' element was kept off camera which made the whole story very ambiguous - concentrating more on grief and social conditions than special effects. The acting was terrific (even Jason Connery) and the script literate and well paced. The film was interesting the way it came up with dozens of "explanations" for the events - some supernatural, some scientific - before underlining that the reasons behind such things aren't so important as the psychological effects on the protagonists. I hope it gets a wider distribution soon, as it deserves to be seen by a larger audience. Very impressive - considering its budget, doubly so.

Billy Boyd is the sexiest Glaswegian thug ever, I want to have his little ned babies. He will beat me and I will drink all the time and the children will steal cars and start smoking when they are seven, we will be the perfect family. I will stick by him even through his years in prison and his numerous bits of stuff on the side. This is my dream.

Jason Connery is also not bad looking, even funny German scientist dude was kinda cute. The movie was also quite good, well worth the £4.99 I paid that's for damn sure. Take a couple of characters from Trainspotting and stick them into a mix of Sixth Sense and Poltergeist. Now ramp down your expectations to British ITV movie level and you're there. A lot better than I would have expected.

We saw Urban Ghost Story at the Odeon in London. It took a bit of getting into but then we were hooked, enthralled even,and came out feeling that we'd seen a Hollywood style movie, albeit on a low budget. We recently bought the DVD and really enjoyed the commentary about how the film was made and what scenes were disgarded etc. Altogether extremely interesting. Buy the DVD it,s really enlightening and enjoyable to boot. Janis, my wife dragged me and some friends along to see it and I'm glad she did. Can't wait to see their next movie.

In all honesty I bought the movie just because I heard that Billy Boyd was in it and I am a huge Billy Boyd and Lord Of The Rings Fan. But when I saw the movie I was amazed, it was so good, scary suspenseful and very well done. The story was well constructed and the editing was amazing. Towards the end of the movie the editing all but makes the movie one of the best I have ever seen. While Billy's part was small it was very well done, I found myself actually distesting him for the first time. He is so lovable in LOTR that when you see him in a different role you are amazed that he could play someone evil. This is the first Scottish film that I have seen, and if they are all this good I want to find as many as I possibly can and spend as much money as possible just so I can see all of these good missed movies. I am Irish and I am very proud to say that I come from somewhere near Scotland, they produce good movies and even better actors. If you can you should get a hold of this movie and see it.

Lol, this is actually my first time on IMBd and I just had to post this! Umm, yea I live in Edinburough and drove out to Glasgow when I heard they were making a movie entitled "An Urban Ghost Story" since I am like a total paranormal freak. I was really fortunate and got to check out the set with my friends, where we actually ran into Billy Boyd on accident. So that was awsome. He's a hysterically funny man, very gentlemanly. And it was really cheekey when he remembered running into me a couple months before at a shopping mall. So that was great.

Anyway, great movie, hauntingly beautiful, splendid acting, a real cheekey movie.

Finding any work with Billy Boyd here in the US is tough so finding something where Billy is credited as 'loan shark' told me he wouldn't be in it much - and he was only in two scenes. However, the story itself was absorbing, though slow or repetitive in a couple of places. There was a good amount of tension building to keep me interested. While I am not familiar with who's who in the Scottish acting world, I thought there were strong performances by Heather Ann Foster, Stephanie Buttle and Nicola Stapleton, as well as a fair turn for Jason Connery. I was quite astonished by Billy's foul mouthed character - a loan shark that has a stutter that comes out when he particularly angry. I thought he played the part well. He certainly startled me with his performance - so much anger.

Generally, I don't go in for these kind of movies and it was curiosity of Billy's previous work that got my attention. But it was the story that kept me watching.

I liked the film, and not just because I happen to be a Billy Boyd fan. I wish the film were available in the US. I was lucky enough to have a friend who could translate out of PAL for me, although my copy ended up extremely quiet and therefore difficult to hear. This wasn't helped by the fact that they're in Glasgow. That particular dialect can be difficult for the US ear to properly interpret.

A good example of this is the indie My Name is Joe, also set in Glasgow, which actually required subtitles. No, I'm not kidding.

In any event, I liked the concept of the film in general. Particularly the fact that you're left guessing to the end whether the "ghost" is real or a product of Lizzie's sense of guilt over the death of the friend.

I do think that Billy's character was the most interesting. He's only in two scenes, but he's got rather a lot of depth for all that. He's not just a loan shark, he's an insecure loan shark's son with a stammer and a runny nose. He seems to have some serious self esteem issues, and being flanked by two large thugs both emphasizes his short stature and implies that he can't convincingly threaten those he's trying to intimidate without them. On the other hand, the (darned sexy) way he menaces Lizzie's mum is indeed convincing. His true cowardly nature is, of course, revealed when Lizzie calls his bluff.

This shows that you can make an involving, emotionally moving film on a low budget - characterisation and story are what counts here, helped by a grimly realistic setting. I won't give too much away, but it's about a young girl who 'dies' in a car accident and is brought back to life, and what follows...

the DVD is out in the UK soon - take a look!

Sorry this movie was so depressing..hearing neverending problems, arguments and typical type casting of ethnics in low social urban communities...was enough to say, "Stick a bomb in the middle of that community and blow it up off the face of the earth!" that would solve a lot of problems!! I have to say Billy Boyd WAS THE ONLY ACTOR THAT WAS CONVINCING AS THE LOAN SHARK!..All the other actors looked too stiff and uncomfortable...2 out of ten for me and everyone down under! Instead of making a movie of the unemployed lower struggling! economic suicidal class..(how the writers portrayed them ) lets look at REAL TV and watch real English battlers struggle through life! KEEP WATCHING Neighbors and HOME AND AWAY FOLKS!!!