Dominic O’Neill’s Northern Irish faux-live broadcast horror Haunted Ulster Live captures the essence of 90s UK TV with a Halloween fluff piece gone wrong.
In the same mold as Ghostwatch and the more recent Late Night With the Devil, Haunted Ulster Live twists and shapes a familiar home viewing presentation into something darker and unorthodox. It’s sort of a halfway house between those two reference points as it’s effectively a period piece, taking place in 1998, but has that very British television style of the 90s, right down to a fantastic emulation of those title sequences of the time.
Haunted Ulster Live claims this is footage of a live Halloween broadcast in Belfast in 1998. Veteran TV personality Gerry Burns’ star has faded, but he’s hosting a night inside a home that is apparently the site of a long-standing haunting. He’s joined by a popular children’s presenter, Michelle Kelly, on the night, and the gang is rounded out by a radio DJ playing in the house’s attic, a team of paranormal investigators and a couple of experts.
Together, they seek to help out the family living in the house with their troubling haunting that appears to be enticing the young daughter into the attic at night whilst she sleepwalks.
In much the same way Late Night With the Devil has a cynical side that questions any spooky goings on, the behind-the-scenes moments in Haunted Ulster reveal the entertainment nature of what the TV crew is doing. There’s a typically theatrical pantomime whenever anything possibly supernatural occurs with false chuckles and showy wide-eyed looks. It really gets the ’90s idea of a television presenter in the UK in both the old guard like Gerry and the up-and-coming green recruit in Michelle.
It’s nice to see such a localized attempt at a faux broadcast that naturally connected with me far more easily than a US viewpoint. I can see the underlying details and influences in Haunted Ulster Live because I was in my teens at that time, and it undoubtedly elevated the experience for me, to the point I actually got a wave of nostalgia seeing the advert break bar in the corner of the screen (I don’t really watch television in the traditional sense all that much anymore).
The biggest effect of this was that it made me feel quite comfortable. Now, that could’ve been bad for a horror movie, but it’s actually a massive compliment to what O’Neill and his crew put in. Mark Claney’s performance as slightly wounded veteran presenter Gerry Burns is a subtly sparkling standout, and is well backed by Aimee Richardson’s great turn as the browbeaten younger presenter Michelle. They put a lot into making their roles feel period-appropriate, and they helped me settle into the movie after the opening felt a bit off in presentation terms.
When things started to take a creepy turn, I was a bit worried it was going to head down a familiar route. That wouldn’t have been the worst thing to happen, but it would have robbed Haunted Ulster Live of a bit of its identity.
Well, the turn it takes for its final furlong was a nice surprise, leaning into the folklore and mythology of Britain in a way I hadn’t anticipated. When it comes to found footage and its offshoots, I so fell in love with The Blair Witch Project 25 years ago because of its implied history. The idea it was about something far, far bigger than the people trapped in that moment. Haunted Ulster Live gets that, and I was so pleased it leaned into history.
Dominic O’Neill has bottled something uniquely British in the horror of his film. What could have been little more than a Ghostwatch pastiche stands out in very different and effective ways.
SCORE: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Haunted Ulster Live is screening as part of the Unnamed Footage Festival.
