Hereafter
This Friday the 28th January sees the release of the new supernatural drama Hereafter. Oscar winner Matt Damon teams up with Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood and two time Oscar nominated screenwriter Peter Morgan to make this supernatural drama.
Hereafter tells the story of three people who are haunted by mortality in different ways. Matt Damon stars as George, a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife.
On the other side of the world, Marie (Cécile de France), a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality.
And when Marcus (Frankie/George McLaren), a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what they believe might, or must, exist in the hereafter. To celebrate Hereafter’s release we are taking a look at the 5 of the best supernatural flicks in cinema.
1. The Sixth Sense (1999)
Imagine if you will, an antediluvian filmic era. Before The Happening. Before The Village. Before Signs. Welcome to the golden age of M. Night Shyamalan, when The Sixth Sense briefly transformed him into the hottest new film-maker in Hollywood and he could deliver a twist ending that had viewers choking on their popcorn in surprise, rather than weakly sobbing at the lameness of it all.
Starting a trend for chiller flicks featuring kids delivering their dialogue in loud whispers (which persists to this day) and a trend for movies starring Haley Joel Osmant (which proved to be far, far, far-shorter lived), The Sixth Sense attempted to establish a cogent relationship between the living and the deceased, without diluting the spiritual atmospherics.
2. The Others (2001)
It may have been penned way back in 1897, but Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw still seems to exert a sizeable influence over the motion picture ghost story.
The literary original was successfully adapted as The Innocents with Deborah Kerr in 1961, and James’ narrative components of a young woman inhabiting a strange gothic property, a perplexing set of events which appear to be supernatural in nature, and kids conversing with the spirit world were all adopted by director Alejandro Amenábar for his Nicole Kidman-starrer The Others.
Privileging a nebulous sense of anxiety over blaring great shocks (although the bit where Kidman finds her daughter has been replaced by a knobbly pensioner is certainly a jolter), Amenábar’s movie even manages to find a sinister purpose for British comedy veteran Eric Sykes, as gardener Mr. Tuttle.
3. Ghost (1990)
Another romantic ghost movie, Ghost features Demi Moore as a widow who can't stop mourning for her murdered husband (Dirty Dancing's Patrick Swayze).
Swayze comes back to earth to protect her before she becomes the murderer's next target. Along the way, Swayze enlists the aid of a con-artist medium, played by Whoopi Goldberg in Oscar-winning form, who just so happens to be the only person who can hear him.
Ghost is a nice combination of romance, drama, comedy, suspense, and even a little bit of action. Jerry Zucker's direction holds the film together and keeps it believable.
4. What Lies Beneath (2000)
Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) relies too heavily on sudden bursts of loud music to scare his audience, but damn it all, it works.
He also teeters back and forth over a fine line between copying the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, and paying homage to him. Still, Michelle Pfeiffer gives a great performance as a wife who tries to convince her husband (Harrison Ford) that a ghost is haunting their house.
In the end, the movie spirals a bit out of control thanks to a transparent (no pun intended again) script, but there are several, several genuinely creepy scenes and some pretty amazing special effects.
5. Ghost Busters (1984)
Perhaps not in the same vain as the previous four films but none the less it still deals with the supernatural and is an absolute classic so it has to be included. Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Harold Ramis all bring top-notch performances to this spectacle (at the time) film directed by comedy great, Ivan Reitman (Analyze This).
The film is about a group of scientists who investigate the paranormal and manage to create ghost-capturing devices, which elevate them to a super-hero type status.
Ghostbusters is a classic. Where else can you be terrified of a spectral librarian or encounter a giant marshmallow creature? Throw in a funky soundtrack powered by Ray Parker's "Who You Gonna Call!" hit and you have a hilarious and constantly-amusing ghost movie.
Hereafter is released 28th January.