GB / US / SWE / CAN
2012
1hr 35mins
Dir: James Watkins
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe and Janet McTeer
A young solicitor travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals
This hugely effective supernatural horror is the second adaptation of Susan Hill’s 1983 novel of the same name, a television production had previously been filmed in 1989. There are a number of railway scenes in the film and these open with a stunning shot of Southern Railway U Class 2-6-0 No.1638 on the Bluebell Railway, wonderfully backlit by the setting sun. This is followed by shots of Daniel Radcliffe onboard a train, with fake ‘M & D R’ antimacassars, and then scenes with him sat on Sheffield Park station at night in the pouring rain. The train passing through the countryside at night appears to be a CGI creation, but the second train interior scene is real, and has Daniel Radcliffe sitting inside vintage wooden carriages. The final chilling scenes were filmed at Horsted Keynes station and though Southern Railway coaching stock is present the locomotive is not identifiable. It is fitted with a very large central headlight but freeze framing the scene gives the suggestion that it could be No.1638 again.
