A classic ghost story, which isn't necessarily a good thing

Rating: 5/10 (20 August 2001)

From the trailer I expected a scare-a-minute creep fest. What you have is a slow , theatrical based story with good performances, nice lighting, no special effects, period costumes and one or two jumpy moments.
The atmosphere started to build eerily enough, but as the red herrings started to fall unfortunately so did the number of story revelations. Combine that with a totally pointless appearance by Christopher Eccleston who does little more than mumble 3 or 4 lines and wear a blank expression I became bored. By the time the middle hour was over and the plot started to pick up speed I didn't care.
SPOILER

If you've read or seen Haunted by James Herbert you can probably deduce the major twist a mile away. Some of the "surprises" are bookmarked by really obvious and out of place dialogue. Christopher Eccleston wandering out of the fog unexpectedly saying "sometimes I bleed"?? What??
Even after the credits roll you will still be wondering just what the point of Christopher Eccleston's character was.
However it was good to see British comedy veteran Eric Sykes is still alive and well. Sort of.