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STUDIO: Koch Vision
MSRP: $59.98
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 1020 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
· 10-Minute Behind the Scenes Specials for All 20 Episodes
· Clerkenwell House of Detention, Extended Walkaround
The Pitch
It’s Ghostbusters meets Blair Witch meets Milli Vanilli.
The Humans
Yvette Fielding, Derek Acorah, and ghosts.
The Nutshell
What happens when you make a spiritual medium, an antsy show host, and a film crew stay in a haunted building over night?
Nothing.
Elizabeth: The Blair Witch Age.
The Lowdown
It’s pretty sad when the most interesting part of a show about paranormal activity is the part where they tour whatever castle, church, prison, or pub, they happen to be researching that episode. That’s always the first eight minutes or so of each episode. We’re given a history of the events that took place, sometimes with bonus recreations of historic events or recent ghostly activity.
Unfortunately there are still about forty minutes to go after that, and the research involved is spirit medium, Derek Acorah, who walks around the building and talks to, and describes, whatever spirit or spirits are haunting the building. In every episode he goes off on tangents, speaking loudly, saying "thank you" a lot to nobody in particular, and sometimes throwing a fit and yelling at unseen things.
Nostril Cam.
After that, the lights go out, the night vision is turned on, and then the rest of the cast joins the show. Assistants, camera operators, the host, and the medium, all join in on the shenanigans that take place.
Now, I’m not sure where I stand on if ghosts exist or not. Fun fact: I used to live in Gettysburg, and in the four years I lived there, I had my share of creepy, unexplainable incidences. Thinking back on it, it was probably just my imagination, and wasn’t all that scary at all. I equate this show to those experiences, except instead of my 11-year-old self, it’s a bunch of adults and it’s being recorded.
I have no doubt that walking around a supposedly haunted building at three in the morning would be an incredibly creepy experience no matter what happened…the big problem of the show, is that you’re not experiencing it. The separation between viewer and the events are never as apparent as when the people on camera are asking each other "Do you hear that?" or "Did you feel that?" and you don’t hear or see a thing. The other big problem is that the entire production reeks of fakery. On the rare occasion that we get footage of objects moving, we never see it in a wide frame and from all angles.
Even if what Derek Acorah is going through from episode to episode is real, when you’ve got that television screen separating you from the event, it makes it seem more like a performance then anything else. And after doing a bit of research, it appears that it was a performance. Towards the end of the series he was replaced by a different medium after he was accused of being a fraud.
Satan is such a pessimist.
At the end of every show they bring their findings to a paranormal expert who never confirms anything. They play back key sounds from their stay at the haunted house. Maybe it’s a ghost saying something, maybe it’s just the wind…you’ll never know for sure. And unfortunately, after about five episodes, it all comes down to whether or not you believe in what they’re going through…because that’s the only thing that’s going to make you keep watching.
The Package
There is a 10-minute "Making Of" feature for every episode included in the set. They seem more like cut scenes from each episode, accompanied by narration by Yvette Fielding. The extended walkthrough of Clerkenwell House of Detention is just a few extra minutes of Derek Acorah acting crazy. At one point he gets pushed against a wall by an unseen force. Believe me…it wasn’t cut out of the original broadcast because it was too intense. He’s playing everybody for a fool.
The set itself is well put together. Six discs in a foldout cardboard case, tucked in a sturdy cardboard sleeve. And the cover features Yvette Fielding trying to be the blonde Elvira.
4 out of 10