History Film / TheGhostAndTheDarkness

* ArtisticLicense: The real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_maneaters Tsavo maneaters]] had no manes. Manes [[RuleOfCool look cool]], though, and the animal handlers tend to complain if you say you want to shave their lions...
** Lions from Tsavo, which is a particularly hot and arid region, generally have little to no mane because it's cooler that way. The particular pair of maneaters aren't special. The reason the mane is so iconic to the lion in general is because [[RuleOfCool that's what zoos want to keep and what artists want to depict.]]
*** Lions from Tsavo are also far more aggressive and unpredictable. The pair of lions known as Bongo and Ceasar who also stared in ''Film/{{George of the Jungle}}'' were much safer to work with.

* CatapultNightmare: Patterson has one (see {{Narm}}).
%%* [[CatScare Zebra Scare]]

%%* DarkestAfrica

%%* TheGayNineties

* ItCanThink: Exagerrated, for the fact the lions can even figure out when you set a trap for 'em.
** TruthInTelevision: The Real-life Tsavo Maneaters were notoriously hard to lure into traps, many times going AROUND the traps set by Patterson and striking at the vulnerable workers.

%%* TheNarrator: Samuel.

* TheWorfEffect: Mahina [[spoiler: is killed off easily]] after being introduced as a badass. This leaves the rest of the men in an understandable state of panic.
** WordOfGod says [[spoiler: Remington's character was intended to be this; someone badass whom the lions could kill, making ]]Patterson [[spoiler: that much more awesome when he survives.]]

* BatmanGambit: Both Patterson and the lions do this repeadetdly. Patterson's trap was assuming the lion would hit the tripwire, and it worked, but then the lion trapped continually moved and roared, deducing the workers would be too terrified to shoot wildly. When Patterson, Sterling and Samuel corner one of the lions, it hinged on the other one leaping when they were focused. The barn also worked, but the lions were quick to see through it.

* IdiotBall: Patterson, an experienced soldier and hunter, decides to change his gun at the last minute and go to hunt the lions without testing it before. Remington calls him on it. Later, all three main characters (Patterson, Remington and Samuel) grab it and decide to party after killing one of the lions, assuming the second will just flee... [[spoiler: but instead comes back to kill Remington.]] The workers assigned to shoot the lion are too terrified when it walks into a trap and then try to say the lion kept moving. Patterson calls them on their bad excuse.

''The Ghost and the Darkness'' is a 1996 American film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Creator/ValKilmer and Creator/MichaelDouglas.

* TheWorfEffect: Mahina [[spoiler: is killed off easily]] after being introduced as a {{Badass}}. This leaves the rest of the men in an understandable state of panic.

[[quoteright:238:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheGhostAndTheDarkness_4333.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:238:[[WagTheDirector He even got featured in front of the]] ''main character''.]]

* {{Badass}}: Not just the main characters but Mahina, the guy that killed a lion ''with his bare hands''. [[spoiler: It didn't help him much in the end, though]].
** The lions count too.

* IdiotBall: Patterson, an experienced soldier and hunter, decides to change his gun at the last minute and go to hunt the lions without testing it before. Remington calls him on it. Later, all three main characters (Patterson, Remington and Samuel) grab it and decide to party after killing one of the lions, assuming the second will just flee... [[spoiler: but instead comes back to kill Remington.]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: One of the most criticized scenes, the one where a lion falls in one of the traps but the three Indian guards fail to kill him until it escapes... not only happened in reality, but in an even more outlandish way. There were actually like 10 men firing on it, who were agents of the Mombasa police (not just railroad guards), and the only one bullet that made target broke the cage's lock [[OhCrap letting the lion escape]].

''The Ghost and the Darkness'' is a 1996 American film directed by Creator/StephenHopkins and starring Creator/ValKilmer and Creator/MichaelDouglas.

* [[FakeBrit Fake Irishman]]: Val Kilmer as Col. John Henry Patterson.

* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire: The movie is set in British East Africa, and the railroad Patterson is building represents the march of progress brought by the Empire.

* NonMaliciousMonster: Subverted, more or less. The lions seems to hunt and kill more for fun than for hunger.One of 'em even leave [[spoiler: Remington']] corpse where Patterson can see him apparently just to provoke him.

Part because live-acted lions didn't seem much of a threat after theatres had already been attacked by expensive CGI [[Film/JurassicPark dinosaurs]] and [[Film/IndependenceDay alien invaders]], part because the main character (played by the ''goddam Film/{{Batman|Forever}}'') was heavily toned down to [[ExecutiveMeddling make room for the]] [[WagTheDirector originally tertiary character]] played by producer Michael Douglas, the film got mixed reviews and a disappointing performance in the box-office. It also won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing which is [[ConsolationAward pretty much like winning nothing]]. The movie still remains an entertaining adventure movie with that classical feel in it, however.

* ArcSymbol: The beauty of Africa and the dangers lurking underneath is represented by the tall brown Savannah grass. Patterson burns it to flush out the remaining lion. In the ending, he still worrily looks at the grass, afraid something else might jump out of it.

* MightyRoar: The lions occasionaly does one of these. The result it's quite scary.

* NonMaliciousMonster: Subverted, more or less. The lions seems to hunt and kill more for fun than for hunger.One of 'em even leave [[Remington']] corpse where Patterson can see him apparently just to provoke him.

->''" Remember this... even the most impossible parts of this story really happened."''

->''"Now, can you control your fear? Can you?"''
-->-- '''Charles Remington'''

Part because live-acted lions didn't seem much of a threat after theatres had already been attacked by expensive CGI [[Film/JurassicPark dinosaurs]] and [[Film/IndependenceDay alien invaders]], part because the main character (played by the ''goddam Film/{{Batman|Forever}}'') was heavily toned down to [[ExecutiveMeddling make room for the]] [[WagTheDirector originally tertiary character]] played by producer Michael Douglas, the film got mixed reviews and a disappointing performance in the box-office. It also won an Accademy Award for Best Sound Editing which is [[ConsolationAward pretty much like winning nothing]]. The movie still remains an entertaining adventure movie with that classical feel in it, however.

'''''The Ghost and the Darkness''''' is a 1996 American film directed by Creator/StephenHopkins (''Film/{{Predator 2}}'', ''TheReaping'') and starring Creator/ValKilmer and Creator/MichaelDouglas.

* TheBritishEmpire: The movie is set in British East Africa, and the railroad Patterson is building represents the march of progress brought by the Empire.

* MightyWhitey: Remington, big time. He is an ex-[[AmericanCivilWar Confederate]] soldier living among (and at some point commanding) Maasai hunters, for crying out loud.

*** Lions from Tsavo are also far more aggressive and unpredictable. The pair of lions known as Bongo and Ceasar who also stared in George of the Jungle were much safer to work with.

%%* TheBritishEmpire

%%* SuperPersistentPredator

'''''The Ghost and the Darkness''''' is a 1996 American film directed by Creator/StephenHopkins (''Film/{{Predator 2}}'', ''TheReaping'') and starring ValKilmer and MichaelDouglas.

* AdrenalineMakeover: Patterson.
* AgonyOfTheFeet

* BigBad: The lions.
* TheBritishEmpire

* [[CatScare Zebra Scare]]

* DarkestAfrica
* DeadpanSnarker: Abdullah.

* {{Determinator}}: The lions.
** Who fail to realize that when Patterson says he's never not finished a job, he ''means it''.

* TheGayNineties

* JerryGoldsmith

* NameAndName
* TheNarrator: Samuel.

** RogerEbert defined the film as "an African adventure that makes the {{Tarzan}} movies look subtle and realistic". Ironic considering it's still BasedOnATrueStory.

* SlashedThroat
* SuperPersistentPredator
* SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator

* VertigoEffect

** WordOfGod says Remington's character was intended to be this; someone badass whom the lions could kill, making Patterson that much more awesome when he survives.