Urban Ghost Story

Urban Ghost Story is a paranormal story against the mercilessly sharply outlined setting of the underbelly of Scottish society. After a car accident Lizzie (12) is lying on the road, given up for dead. Slowly she moves to the light,but she is pulled back when doctors reanimate her. Lizzie is convinced that something has clamped on to her. First it’s the nightmares that convince her that she should have been dead, then all kinds of supernatural things start rearing their heads. Her complaints about bumps and nasty smells are ignored as attention seeking, but when her mother is also confronted with inexplicable phenomena, she asks for help. She eventually gets it from an apparently sympathetic reporter, who brings para-psychologists, spiritualists and true believers to the small apartment. They all have their own explanations for the supernatural.Genevieve Jolliffe largely focuses on Lizzie’s mental state, her feeling of guilt about the accident, her anxiety and her loneliness. The gripping leading roles by Heather Ann Foster as Lizzie and Stephanie Buttle as the single mother leave scars in your memory.Jolliffe: ‘I wanted my first feature to be much more than just a horror movie, I wanted it to ooze a creepy atmosphere whilst remaining firmly in reality. Ghost stories are only genuinely chilling when you feel that they could be true – hence the heavy reliance on research and true events within the story.’