The Ghost and the Darkness
The Ghost and the Darkness ★★½ 1996 (R)
Based on the true story of two maneating lions who killed 130 people and nearly derailed the building of the East African railroad in 1896. Engineer John Patterson (Kilmer) is sent to build a bridge over the Tsavo river, but as African liaison Samuel (Kani) informs him, Tsavo prophetically means place of slaughter. The workers become convinced the lions, nicknamed “The Ghost” and “The Darkness” are actually demons and, try as he might, Patterson has little luck killing the beasts. Then, legendary big game hunter Remington (Douglas) is called in—but the lions still seem to have the advantage. Lots of crunching bones, slurping blood, and quick cut editing is used to depict the lions' attacks. 110m/C VHS, DVD . Val Kilmer, Michael Douglas, John Kani, Bernard Hill, Om Puri, Brian McCardie, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Mortimer, Henry Cele; D: Stephen Hopkins; W: William Goldman; C: Vilmos Zsigmond; M: Jerry Goldsmith. Oscars ‘96: Sound FX Editing.