I have always like many been fascinated by the Enfield Poltergeist case that supposedly took place in a house in the late 70's that included a young girl being levitated and also talking in a voice not her own. I was very excited then to hear of this 3 part series based on the case with superb Brit actor Timothy Spall,i was not disappointed.
When young Janet Hodgson(a outstanding Eleanor Worthington-Cox)and her family(mum Peggy,sister Margaret and brother Billy)experience terrifying encounters with a supposed poltergeist they call in paranormal researcher Maurice Grosse(wonderful Tim Spall)and sceptical but curious Guy Playfair(Matthew Macfadyen)to help but as the happenings become worse and young Janet seems the focus of the activity can Maurice and Guy get rid of this evil before it destroys lives,there is another problem too as Maurice has his mind on his crumbling marriage with wife Betty(Juliet Stevenson)after the tragic death of their daughter also called Janet.
This was a excellent first part and the strongest of the three parts with some wonderful acting in particular from incredible young actress Worthington-Cox who has star written all over her,her Janet is a funny,confident though only round her family,caring and complicated girl who we feel for when the nasty entity seems intent on attaching itself to her,i have to say her acting will blow you away and her sweet friendship with Maurice will break your heart and her bickering with sister Margaret and the bullies upsetting her at school means her story is possibly the strongest element of this story,one of the finest child stars in quite sometime and though I wasn't that keen on her to start with her performance was just shy of amazing. Timothy Spall as ever is brilliant and leads this show supremely well and his back story is as tragic as Janet's poltergeist struggles with a very emotional story about the death of his daughter who was also called Janet driving this story from just a set of jump scares and his ongoing battle with his own demons like his wife maybe playing around and a angina problem means we have two stories rolled into one. Others like Macfadyen as sceptic Playfair who doesn't do much to start with but gets to shine as it goes on and Stevenson as Maurice's grieving wife Betty support the two leads well along with the Hodgson family who don't know whether to believe things or not but come together to fight evil and the sisters bond builds as it goes on.
This show has to have some great scares and it never goes over the top with them and throw them up when its needed.The scariest moment for me was when Janet is looking through a viewfinder and the man who seems to be following her appears suddenly in one picture,it really makes you jump out your skin.Other memorable scenes include the very first scene with Margaret telling Janet a scary story,the poltergeist throwing things round the room,Guy telling Maurice of a creepy case in Brazil,Janet's bullying by a nasty group of girls at school,a chilling sequence where Janet walks through the house at night(where we see the man following her out the corner of our eye)and finally a gripping final scene where both Janet and Guy feel the full force of the entity that is haunting them,this bar far out scares many recent Hollywood horror films and these jumpy moments are needed not just put in there just for the sake of it.
The next two episodes might of slightly lost the power of this opener but this series has a top cast especially Worthington-Cox and Spall,some very emotional moments and some truly terrifying sequences that put some horror films to shame.
When young Janet Hodgson(a outstanding Eleanor Worthington-Cox)and her family(mum Peggy,sister Margaret and brother Billy)experience terrifying encounters with a supposed poltergeist they call in paranormal researcher Maurice Grosse(wonderful Tim Spall)and sceptical but curious Guy Playfair(Matthew Macfadyen)to help but as the happenings become worse and young Janet seems the focus of the activity can Maurice and Guy get rid of this evil before it destroys lives,there is another problem too as Maurice has his mind on his crumbling marriage with wife Betty(Juliet Stevenson)after the tragic death of their daughter also called Janet.
This was a excellent first part and the strongest of the three parts with some wonderful acting in particular from incredible young actress Worthington-Cox who has star written all over her,her Janet is a funny,confident though only round her family,caring and complicated girl who we feel for when the nasty entity seems intent on attaching itself to her,i have to say her acting will blow you away and her sweet friendship with Maurice will break your heart and her bickering with sister Margaret and the bullies upsetting her at school means her story is possibly the strongest element of this story,one of the finest child stars in quite sometime and though I wasn't that keen on her to start with her performance was just shy of amazing. Timothy Spall as ever is brilliant and leads this show supremely well and his back story is as tragic as Janet's poltergeist struggles with a very emotional story about the death of his daughter who was also called Janet driving this story from just a set of jump scares and his ongoing battle with his own demons like his wife maybe playing around and a angina problem means we have two stories rolled into one. Others like Macfadyen as sceptic Playfair who doesn't do much to start with but gets to shine as it goes on and Stevenson as Maurice's grieving wife Betty support the two leads well along with the Hodgson family who don't know whether to believe things or not but come together to fight evil and the sisters bond builds as it goes on.
This show has to have some great scares and it never goes over the top with them and throw them up when its needed.The scariest moment for me was when Janet is looking through a viewfinder and the man who seems to be following her appears suddenly in one picture,it really makes you jump out your skin.Other memorable scenes include the very first scene with Margaret telling Janet a scary story,the poltergeist throwing things round the room,Guy telling Maurice of a creepy case in Brazil,Janet's bullying by a nasty group of girls at school,a chilling sequence where Janet walks through the house at night(where we see the man following her out the corner of our eye)and finally a gripping final scene where both Janet and Guy feel the full force of the entity that is haunting them,this bar far out scares many recent Hollywood horror films and these jumpy moments are needed not just put in there just for the sake of it.
The next two episodes might of slightly lost the power of this opener but this series has a top cast especially Worthington-Cox and Spall,some very emotional moments and some truly terrifying sequences that put some horror films to shame.
