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The Ghost and the Darkness

Play trailer Poster for The Ghost and the Darkness R 1996 1h 50m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
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51% Tomatometer 51 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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The Ghost and the Darkness

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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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Critics Reviews

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Tasha Robinson Polygon Dec 17
82/100
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. Go to Full Review
Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle 06/18/2002
1/4
The picture is too lightweight, too posturing and too self-important to go in an introspective direction. Go to Full Review
Liam Lacey Globe and Mail 04/12/2002
2/4
Ranges in quality from adolescent boys' adventure stories to Heart of Darkness. Go to Full Review
Tim Brayton Alternate Ending 09/29/2022
2.5/5
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. Go to Full Review
Travis Johnson Flicks (AU, NZ, UK) 08/30/2022
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. Go to Full Review
Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight 02/12/2022
3.5/4
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. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Shaun R @Shaun666 Sep 2 Underrated film. Well worth a watch. Michael Douglas’s blink and you miss it dancing scene is unbelievable. See more Benjamin A Jul 17 I live close to the museum with the lions See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jul 12 Success in 1 hour and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring Val Kilmer as John Henry Patterson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $38,600,000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Jerod S Jun 18 Man eating lions? Okay, but it's really just a lot of smoky gunfire. See more Lafayette M Apr 3 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. See more Seth C 10/03/2024 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 🤙🏼 See more Read all reviews
The Ghost and the Darkness

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The Ghost and the Darkness

The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Killing The Last Lion The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Killing The Last Lion 3:00 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Meet Charles Remington The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Meet Charles Remington 3:00 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - The Lion Trap The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - The Lion Trap 2:22 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Lions Attack The Hospital The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Lions Attack The Hospital 3:00 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Shoot Him! The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Shoot Him! 3:00 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Man-Eating Lions The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Man-Eating Lions 2:52 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Killing The First Lion The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Killing The First Lion 3:00 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Lion Hunting The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Lion Hunting 2:59 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Eating His Wife and Child 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 The Ghost and the Darkness: Official Clip - Dragged off and Killed 2:31 View more videos
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Movie Info

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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