The Ghost and the Darkness

One of my favorites that I didn't have. Based on a true story,great tension with the Lions a true nightmare of a threat.

Took awhile to get this movie, but it works great & was a great price.

Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer star in a true adventure set in 1896 East Africa. In fact at the end of the movie the narrator confirms this two man-eating lions story is true with proof being they are on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. Paramount has never really given the home video market a decent presentation of this movie. In fact the last effort was a DVD which wasn't even anamorphic. SHOUT MADE A 4K SCAN FROM THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE but only put it out on Blu-ray. There are internet posts that show the 4K SCAN had flaws and they needed to be corrected before they could even produce a standard Blu-ray. SHOUT has decided to present this movie in a 2.12 to 1 aspect ratio instead of the original SUPER35 2.35 to 1 ratio. In layman term's this means if watched this on your TV set you will have black bars not only on the top and bottom but also on the left and right sides. Collectors while this is currently the definitive presentation to date, it is a standard edition with NO EXTRAS except the original trailer. My copy came without a slipcover. Both color and sound are improvements over the DVD. The presentation is anamorphic but with a 2.12 to 1 aspect ratio.

The product arrived earlier than expected. It plays terrific.

An underrated movie that, surprisingly, got a lot,of negative reviews, “The Ghost and The Darkness” is based on a true story that the late writer William Goldman has fashioned into “Jaws” in Africa. Charles a Remington (Val Kilmer) receives a commission to built a bridge for the railroad in Africa. He faces man eating lions that begin picking off his workers.When writer William Goldman first pitched the story for this, he sold it as “Jaws” in Africa and the parallel works. While it deviates from the true story, the story does capture the spooky feeling that is hinted at around the legend of these lions.Roger Ebert, a man I usually trust, disagrees with me about the film. He named it one of the worst films of 1996. He was often wrong and is in this case as well.The Blu-ray from Shout features a new 4K scan of the negative and it looks fairly good although the colors aren’t quite as bold as they should be. WHY Paramount won’t license out their titles for 4K releases is beyond me. They seem to do this to torture fans; license 4K scans of movies for Blu-Ray, wait for fans to buy the title and release it in 4K almost to spite film fans. Oh and then they’ll stream this (n compressed 4K just to rub salt in the wound.The audio is quite good with a solid 5.1 mix.Unfortunately, Shout has elected not to provide any special features for the film. A commentary track would have been helpful especially given the rewriting that occurred when Michael Douglas came on board in a supporting role asking for his role to be significantly expanded. Douglas, reportedly, also recut the film against the director’s wishes (which also bulked up his role). If the director’s original cut exists, it would be worth digging it out of the vault and adding it as a special feature even if it is in lower resolution.We do get the theatrical trailer and that’s it.A fine film that took it on the chin by many critics, time has been pretty kind to “The Ghost and The Darkness” it’s just too bad Ebert isn’t around to change his opinion.

Bought this movie because I like it. Not for kids!!

Classic must have for the collection.

Requested as a gift. No complaints.