Second Sight, out now

How can ghosts escape their fate?

Antonia Barber’s novel The Ghosts was one of my favourites as a young boy (I still have the paperback), and I can still remember my annoyance that we missed the chance to see the movie version in the cinema when it first came out. (I’ve made up for it since with multiple different editions.) For this new Blu-ray set, Second Sight have really come up trumps, adding considerable extras to a great transfer of the film.

The film is very much appealing to the same audience sensibilities as The Railway Children, with personable youngsters forced to relocate through no fault of their own and discovering secrets – in this case, that the grounds and the house where they’re living are haunted. Kindly solicitor Mr Blunden (who will always be the judge from The Persuaders to me!) is trying to make amends – but will the children be able to turn the clock back? There’s great turns from Lynne Frederick, Rosalyn Landor and Diana Dors in particular with Lionel Jeffries ramping up the emotions from behind the camera. It’s scary enough to give little ones a temporary fright – but no more than that.

The extras show how important the film has been not just to those involved, but also to fans of a similar generation to me – the commentary and the separate interviews are both fun and informative (not always the case!). There’s even a reprint of the original novel.

Verdict: A spooky family film that is finally getting the attention it deserves. 9/10

Paul Simpson

PS. Intrada Records in the US have also recently released the long thought lost soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein.

Read our interview with star Rosalyn Landor here

and click here for our competition to win a copy on Blu-ray

Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk