The Ghost and the Darkness Movie Review 1996

Based on the true story of two man-eating lions who killed 130 people and nearly derailed the building of the East African railroad in 1896. Engineer John Patterson (Kilmer) is sent to build a bridge over the Tsavo river, but as African liaison Samuel (Kani) informs him, Tsavo prophetically means place of slaughter. The workers become convinced the lions, nicknamed "The Ghost" and "The Darkness" are actually demons and, try as he might, Patterson has little luck killing the beasts. Then, legendary big game hunter Remington (Douglas) is called in--but the lions still seem to have the advantage. Lots of crunching bones, slurping blood, and quick cut editing is used to depict the lions' attacks.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 110 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Adventure Drama, True Stories, Wild Kingdom, Africa, Trains, Hunting, Bridges, Big Cats

Screenplay

William Goldman

Cast

Val Kilmer, Michael Douglas, John Kani, Bernard Hill, Om Puri, Brian McCardie, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Mortimer, Henry Cele

Cinematography

Vilmos Zsigmond

Director

Stephen Hopkins

Music

Jerry Goldsmith

Producer

Gale Anne Hurd, Paul Radin, A. Kitman Ho, Michael Douglas, Steven Reuther, Constellation Films, Paramount Pictures

Awards

Oscars 1996: Sound FX Editing.