Despite a rich tradition of ghost sightings over the centuries (see Clarke 2012), and indeed a rich tradition of ghost literature, going back to Charles Dickens, and including writers such as Henry James and M.R. James, Britain has until recently produced only a handful of memorable scary ghost films. THE INNOCENTS, THE HAUNTING (1963) (a Hollywood film made in Britain), The Shining (a British film that seems American), HAUNTED, HALF LIGHT (a German/US co-production made in Britain) and THE DARK do not exactly constitute a major corpus of ghost movies. British ghost stories from the late 1960s onwards were in fact primarily made as television dramas. It is possible to see many of these dramas on DVD, but most are the equivalent of ghost short stories – several are, for example, adaptations of M.R. James’s own short stories – and inevitably they lack the development and dramatic possibilities of a feature film.

The Disappeared (Johnny Kevorkian, UK, 2008)

Nevertheless, THE DARK is a very fine ghost melodrama, and it heralded what may now be seen as something of a renaissance of the British ghost film. The first two notable examples date from 2008. Scripted by Kevorkian and Neil Murphy, THE DISAPPEARED is a promising first feature. Set on a London council estate, the film focuses on the teenage Matthew (Harry Treadaway), just out of psychiatric hospital following treatment after his young brother Tommy disappeared when Matthew was supposed to be caring for him. Matthew keeps hearing Tommy's voice and catching glimpses of him – he thinks his brother is still alive. But Tommy is a ghost, trying to communicate with Matthew in the typically oblique, fragmented manner of ghosts. For example, Matthew records Tommy's voice saying, ‘It's dark in here; I’m really scared’, and has a recurring dream of being buried alive – which we will learn was Tommy's fate. Matthew is assisted in his attempts to make sense of these happenings by the teenage Amy (Ros Leeming), who recommends a psychic, Shelley (Nikki Amuka-Bird). Both Amy and Shelley will turn out to be revenants but, together with Tommy's elusive ghost, they serve to guide Matthew to Tommy's murderer, a serial killer of children. It is Shelley who makes Matthew realise why Tommy is trying to reach him: ‘Ghosts are about the unresolved. They never rest until they find an answer’.