Judas Ghost

There’s something about the phrase ‘cracking little ghost story’ that seems a bit patronising. So perhaps this review should start with a run down of some of this cracking little ghost story’s credentials.

Written by New York Times bestselling author Simon R Green, Judas Ghost was Winner of the Best New Horror Film at the London Independent Film Festival, Winner of the Best Film at Bram Stoker Film Festival and Winner of the Award for Best Director at British Horror Film Festival.

Judas Ghost may be ‘little’ in terms of budget – it’s pretty much a one-room play – but it has all the hallmarks of a one of those late night horror films that you stumble upon by accident and end up watching over and over because it ticks all your boxes. Well written, with a real sense of tension and just the right amount of scares.

The source material is of course a classic – being based on the Carnacki The Ghost-Finder stories by William Hope Hodgson. Simon Green’s fan favourite reboot translates Hodgson’s Edwardian team into the slick, sassy operators of the modern day Carnacki Institute whose motto is “We don’t take any shit from the Hereafter”.

Judas Ghost lives up well to that motto, presenting us with a team of take-no-bull ghost hunters on a mission to work out exactly just what is going on in the old village hall. There’s perhaps a bit too much of the Torchwood, strike a pose and talk direct to camera, school of acting initially. However, the film quickly settles down into a neat two-hander with Martin Delaney (Zero Dark Thirty) and Simon Merrells (Spartacus: War Of The Damned) providing the right balance between human interest and ballsy heroics.

A cracking little ghost story.