The Ghost and the Darkness

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The Ghost and the Darkness

R

Released Oct 11, 1996

1h 50m

Adventure

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

52 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Sir Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman (Henry Cele), seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.

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Critics Consensus

The Ghost and the Darkness hits its target as a suspenseful adventure, but it falls into a trap of its own making whenever it reaches for supernatural profundity.

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Tasha Robinson

Polygon

Overlooked and underrated over the years. But in an era that appreciates pulp cinema for its own gleefully cheesy values, Ghost and the Darkness represents a fairly unique marriage between lowbrow creature feature and highbrow historical epic.

Rated: 82/100

Dec 17, 2024

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Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

The picture is too lightweight, too posturing and too self-important to go in an introspective direction.

Rated: 1/4

Jun 18, 2002

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Liam Lacey

Globe and Mail

Ranges in quality from adolescent boys' adventure stories to Heart of Darkness.

Rated: 2/4

Apr 12, 2002

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Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

The film has a core competency - being a meat-and-potatoes thriller about killer lions - and as such, it's kind of frustrating how much time it spends not doing that.

Rated: 2.5/5

Sep 29, 2022

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Travis Johnson

Flicks (AU, NZ, UK)

It’s a handsome, robust, old-fashioned adventure yarn, packed with spectacle and action, and populated with colourful characters—the kind of solid, entertaining programmer we used to make dozens of every year.

Aug 30, 2022

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Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

The Ghost in the Darkness tries to give the audience a connection between the desire to finish what one has started with the notion of fatherhood, but some of that salience is lost by the films exciting finale.

Rated: 3.5/4

Feb 12, 2022

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Shaun R

Underrated film. Well worth a watch. Michael Douglas’s blink and you miss it dancing scene is unbelievable.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/02/25

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Benjamin A

I live close to the museum with the lions

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/17/25

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Stephen C

Success in 1 hour and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring Val Kilmer as John Henry Patterson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $38,600,000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/12/25

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Jerod S

Man eating lions? Okay, but it's really just a lot of smoky gunfire.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/18/25

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Lafayette M

Kilmers testament as a Hollywood macho, he gave it all to the cameras, which inspired by the man eating lions, had him as never before and after. Something special got to have happenned for him to be so inspired and generous to the cameras, was he in love during the process (of filming)? There he left his mojo for the ages to come, shinning in full splendour.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/03/25

Full Review

Seth C

If you’re a lover of 90’s films, this is a must watch. It has everything a great movie needs, fantastic cast, rich cinematography, unique score and heart rate-elevating action sequences. Critics got this one way wrong. Dim the lights, get the popcorn and 90’s creature feature out 🤙🏼

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/22/25

Full Review

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Stephen Hopkins

Director

Michael Douglas

Charles Remington

Val Kilmer

Col. John Henry Patterson

Tom Wilkinson

Robert Beaumont

John Kani

Samuel

Bernard Hill

Dr. David Hawthorne

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Killing The Last Lion

3:00

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Meet Charles Remington

3:00

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - The Lion Trap

2:22

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Lions Attack The Hospital

3:00

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Shoot Him!

3:00

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Man-Eating Lions

2:52

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Killing The First Lion

3:00

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Eating His Wife and Child

1:50

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Dragged off and Killed

2:31

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Lion Hunting

2:59

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Synopsis

Sir Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman (Henry Cele), seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.

Director: Stephen Hopkins
Producer: Paul B. Radin, Gale Anne Hurd, A. Kitman Ho
Screenwriter: William Goldman
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 11, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $38.6M
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: Surround

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