AITH Recommends: GhostWatch on Shudder

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I don't know if you've ever seen the infamous "faux-paranormal" documentary GHOSTWATCH, from the BBC, but if you haven't, I suggest giving it a watch asap. 

Until today the flick has been next to impossible to find. But now horror-streaming site SHUDDER has just added the flick to its line-up. Now you can check out the flick for the first time ever in the U.S.!

GHOSTWATCH was produced as a part of a BBC anthology series called SCREEN ONE. It was presented as a live television investigation of paranormal activity and was banned after the premiere because it disturbed viewers so intensely.

The broadcast provoked an estimated 30,000 panicked calls to the BBC in a single hour. The broadcast thus was never re-aired on television and has never been made available in the U.S.

About GHOSTWATCH’s release on Shudder:

GhostWatch has never aired in the United States, nor is it been made available on home video in the U.S.

Aired once on BBC1, on Halloween night in 1992. Presented as live television and not a horror mockumentary, it resulted in an estimated 30,000 calls to the BBC switchboard in a single hour. It has never re-aired on UK television and was banned in the UK until released on DVD by the British Film Institute in 2002.

Features actual BBC personalities playing themselves, adding to the confusion for an unsuspecting audience.

A clear precursor to The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and the found-footage genre GhostWatch has a cult following: An annual event, known as National Séance, occurs every year on Halloween night at 9:25 PM (the original broadcast time of Ghostwatch), where fans are encouraged to hit play on their own personal copies of Ghostwatch and live tweet the special.

For those somehow unfamiliar, SHUDDER is a horror movie-streaming service that boasts an untouchable selection of flicks. Hard to find stuff. As a fan of foreign horror flicks (especially Giallo flicks), SHUDDER is my go-to. Most other services and physical copies of my favorite foreign flicks get the subtitles and/or the dubbing all wrong. My copy of DEEP RED is laughably bad. Shudder is on top on their game in this regard.

Shudder streams for $4.99/month or $49.99 with an annual membership. That said, you can try out SHUDDER free for 7 days HERE.

Now, where's my free year's membership, Shudder-peeps? I'm kidding!