Nice effects though.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This 3 part series has arrived on the TV channel Pick recently, not long after I went to watch The Conjuring 2, which is based on the Enfield poltergeist. However, it is important to point out that, if you enjoyed The Conjuring 2 or not, this series is played out very differently and made to entertain you more than terrify you. The characters are portrayed very differently to the film, so much so, you need to see the stories as completely separate. Timothy Spall is genius as can be expected and the story line is based more around him than the family. Very enjoyable short series and definitely worth a watch. I've recorded all three episodes and will definitely watch them again.

THE ENFIELD HAUNTING is a three-part miniseries dramatisation of the famous real-life poltergeist case from 1977, in which psychic investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair researched the plight of two sisters who were being haunted by a ghost in their own bedroom.It was a hugely influential storyline and one which still sends shivers up my spine; to date, the BBC mockumentary GHOSTWATCH has been the best adaptation of the material despite making up its own storyline. Sadly, this version of events is heavily fictionalised, and too obsessed with having the main characters emotionally involved with the storyline.It seems you can't just have characters investigating a ghost anymore. There have to be back stories, emotionally wrought moments, and family scenes for the investigators (Juliet Stevenson is a good actress but her character is entirely redundant here). I don't think any of it actually happened in the real case, but if that's what viewers want, right? Well, not this one. Although Playfair himself was involved in the script, I blame Joshua St. Johnston, whose track record is hardly appropriate for horror-themed fare.Although the 1970s setting is an effective one, too much of this show feels like an EXORCIST clone at times. The possession scenes are often repetitive, and the visions of the old man are cheesy rather than scary. Sadly the filmmakers today feel that more is better when it comes to ghost stuff, so you get ridiculous films like INSIDIOUS filling cinemas and inspiring others to approach material in the same way. A subtle approach instead would have worked wonders. What you're left with is a pair of excellent performances from the completely reliable Timothy Spall and Matthew Macfadyen, and not a whole lot else.

After a strange series of incidents in their home, a family's seemingly unending attacks by an unseen force attacking them for a special secret involving their sordid past and try to find a way of ending the threats before they continue.For the most part this here was quite the problematic and disappointing miniseries effort though there's still some rather enjoyable elements here. Among the biggest problems here is the fact that this one here is really just way too long for what it should be, taking up a large section of the film with just absolutely inane series of scenes here that take up plenty of time here. The incessant way it goes about featuring the family squabbles that go from their being absolutely at each other's throats for infidelity or incestuous issues, to being at odds with the group of paranormal investigators one minute to actually believing them the next and then being absolutely overwhelmed with their past issues which all manage to hold this one down by being stretched out in terms of it's pace for far longer than it really should. This one really could've told many of these issues in a far shorter space of time, while also managing to display that absolutely irritating British manner of feeling so drawn-out and lagging with it's tempo that the pace is even further dragged out here. While the last-half twist of being trapped in the asylum while undergoing tests manages to feel quite logical, the fact that this seems far too ill-placed in here and just feels out-of-place in here. These issues here drop this one while the one thing this one does get right in here involves the film's actual haunting attacks. These are quite fun with the usual floating bodies, distorted voices and discharging projectiles around at the family where it gets quite chilling in the brief spurts where they get featured in this. They do lift this up out of the doldrums that the rest of the film features.Rated Unrated/R: Language, Violence and children-in-jeopardy.

Between 1977 and 1979, a council house in Enfield, England, was supposedly the home to a poltergeist, a ghost that can move objects, and even cause bodily harm to the living. The focus of the activity was towards Janet Hodgson, giving some credit to the belief that poltergeists hone in on pre-pubescent teenagers......Based on the book 'This House Is Haunted', The Enfield Haunting is a TV miniseries that first aired on Sky Living back in May 2015. And obviously because it's a Sky production, like Jurassic Park, they have spared no expense on the production values and garnered a wonderfully impressive cast with Spall, Stevenson, and Macfayden.With mini series, they follow the same pattern with narrative, and here there is no change. The first episode focuses on character build up and leaving you with an immense cliffhanger, so you have to go back for more.The second gets right into the 'action' as we learn more about the history of the story, and we find out others problems who are not directly involved with the protagonist, who in this case is young Janet, even though the majority of the narrative is focused on Spall and his characters loss.The third episode usually tries to wrap everything up, but not before throwing in a swing all for good measure, and this is the problem with the third episode, at the beginning, she is supposedly exorcised, but things just become so absurd with character revelations, you can't help but balk at the episodes progression of the adaptation, and then you begin to realise that Spalls lost puppy look that hasn't changed throughout the whole series, is really starting to grate.But the attention to detail is wonderful, from posters on the wall, to simple decor like coffee cups, this has a typical late seventies household down to a tee.Up to a certain point, the programme is spooky, very sinister, and characters visions are very visceral and leftfield, and then we hear the poltergeist speak, and it's unintentionally hilarious to hear a ghost moan about losing ten pound on a football match.But the cast are great, and despite the final episodes shortcomings, it's quite the gripping watch.