Line #26 Film/TheGhostAndTheDarkness


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_ghost_and_the_darkness.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:305:[[WagTheDirector He even got featured in front of the]] ''main character''.]]
3
4	->''"They are not lions, they are the Ghost and the Darkness."''
5	-->-- '''Samuel'''
6
7	''The Ghost and the Darkness'' is a 1996 American adventure thriller film directed by Stephen Hopkins, starring Creator/ValKilmer and Creator/MichaelDouglas.
8
9	It's a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory very loose re-telling]] of the story of John Henry Patterson (Kilmer), a British-Irish Lieutenant Colonel and Military Engineer who was assigned to supervise the construction of the Uganda Railroad in Tsavo, Kenya in 1898. This mission seems easy enough at first, but is soon complicated by the appearance of two relentless [[IAmAHumanitarian anthropophagous]] lions, the "Ghost" and the "Darkness," who manage to infiltrate every part of the construction camp whenever they please to hunt the workers. This naturally spreads panic among the men and makes the threat of rebellion likely, leaving Patterson, with only the help of his African assistant Samuel (Creator/JohnKani) and the American hunter Charles Remington (Douglas), to face the lions and save the railroad project before it is too late.
10
11	----
12	!!The film provides example of:
13
14	* AdaptationNameChange: Notably averted, as this is the only film adaptation of the event so far to not change Patterson's name.
15	* AdrenalineMakeover: Patterson goes from bookish architect to experienced BadassBookworm GreatWhiteHunter as the film goes on.
16	* AgeLift: Mahina is portrayed as a grown African man. In real life, he was an Indian boy.
17	%%* AgonyOfTheFeet
18	* AnachronismStew: Samuel's double-barrelled shotgun is appropriate for the time period...but the red plastic shells are not. It would not be until 1960 that the first plastic shotshells were introduced; before then, shotshells were made of brass or paper.
19	* AnimalNemesis: Patterson becomes obsessed with taking down the two lions.
20	* AnimalisticAbomination: The lions are speculated to be this InUniverse, with Samuel declaring them to be MadeOfEvil.
21	* 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 worriedly looks at the grass, afraid something else might jump out of it.
22	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_Man-Eaters Tsavo maneaters]] had no manes, but audiences would find it strange and less impressive to see male lions without manes.
23	* AxCrazy: The two homicidal lions whose murderous actions goes beyond normal predators' standards. It's also implied that they kill for the pleasure.
24	* BabiesEverAfter: Patterson is reunited with his wife and their newborn baby at the end of the movie.
25	* BadBoss: Sir Robert Beaumont, and he absolutely ''knows'' it. First thing he tells Patterson upon meeting him is that he's a monster and that the latter will grow to hate him.
26	* BatmanGambit: Both Patterson and the lions do this repeatedly. 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 accurately. 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.
27	* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The final confrontation between Patterson and the remaining lion occurs on and around the bridge right after Patterson has set the surrounding grassland on fire in order to drive the beast out of hiding.
28	* BigBadDuumvirate: The two lions.
29	* BloodLust: According to the autopsy once the lions have killed [[spoiler:Mahina]] they licked his skin off and drank his blood once it gets out.
30	* CannibalLarder: The protagonists find the lions' den while tracking them down, and discover that it is littered with bones of the lions' victims, animal... and human.
31	* CatapultNightmare: Patterson has one. It involves [[spoiler:dreaming his wife and newborn child are eaten by the lions.]]
32	* CatsAreMean: The two feline antagonists are vicious, blood-thirsty wild beasts who at times even appear to be humanly-like evil. And that's when they're not being depicted as straight-up supernatural.
33	* ClickHello: Remington enters the movie popping out of a crowd to do this to Abdullah.
34	* CompositeCharacter: In the film, Mahina is an African foreman with a reputation for toughness, [[spoiler: which makes it all the more shocking when he's killed by the lions. In Patterson's narrative of the real events, it was the death of a Sikh jemadar named Ungan Singh that convinced him the lions were a serious threat, while Mahina was the name of Patterson's Indian gunbearer; the historical Mahina survived the lions' rampage and continued to accompany Patterson on his adventures.[[note]]"Singh," as it happens, translates to "lion" in many South Asian languages.[[/note]]]]
35	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Sir Robert Beaumont. The man only cares about the train being made, and to hell with human losses. He even refuses Patterson's request for soldiers, despite over 30 men being killed by the lions, because he only cares about a knighthood for building the bridge and doesn't want the British to seem weak by showing fear of the local wildlife. However he is pragmatic, not firing Patterson because it will take too long to replace him and BringingInTheExpert because a professional lion hunter is more likely to get results.
36	* CulturalTranslation: The (Southern) American hunter Charles Remington played by Michael Douglas is entirely fictional and was probably introduced to appeal to American audiences. See also ExecutiveMeddling on the Trivia page.
37	* DeadpanSnarker:
38	** A trait of Abdullah's.
39	---> '''John:''' I will take care of the lions. You will be safe.
40	---> '''Abdullah:''' About that, I will choose to remain dubious.
41	** Samuel delivers most of his lines this way.
42	--->'''Preacher:''' I will not rest until you are all safely in the fold!
43	--->'''Samuel:''' (blandly) I have four wives.
44	* {{Determinator}}: The lions, who in turn to fail to realize that when Patterson says he's never not finished a job, he ''means it''.
45	-->'''Patterson:''' "I'm going to sort it out." BLAM "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I'm going. To sort! IT OUT!!]]"
46	* DidIMentionItsChristmas: At one point, apropos of nothing at all, Remington wishes Patterson a merry Christmas.
47	* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Given the fact that everyone is already well aware of the lion problem, Samuel, as one of the in-house protectors, seems woefully unprepared during the attack sequence where Angus is killed. We see Samuel haphazardly clutching a shotgun bandolier with his pump hand, letting it dangle loosely and interfere with his weapon's function. Several seconds later, ''he starts loading his shotgun,'' revealing that he'd been walking around as part of the strike team with an unloaded gun: possibly, and hopefully, due to a massive adrenaline dump.
48	* EpicFail: The workers that try to shoot one of the lions when it falls in Paterson's trap only damage the cage [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace and themselves]] with their panicky fire, even if they're standing three to five feet away, ''and'' set the device aflame when they kick over a lantern is said panic. It was a whole lot worse in the real events -- not only were the shooters experienced policemen instead of rookies Paterson taught in an afternoon, but [[FreakierThanFiction in a twist that wouldn't have made it into the film because it's too crazy to believe]], one of the bullets [[ShootOutTheLock hit the cage's lock]], letting the lion escape.
49	* EurekaMoment: Patterson's nightmare of the lion jumping out of the grass and killing his family inspires him to burn the grass to flush out the remaining lion.
50	* EvilColonialist: Beaumont might not be bloodthirsty like the typical example but he ticks all the other boxes. Racist, apathetic, condescending, egotistical and overall a strong believer in the British Empire and its “supremacy”
51	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The lions do seem to care about each other. When one of them is killed, the surviving lion seems to star hunting humans even more to avenge his companion's death.
52	* ExploringTheEvilLair: Patterson and Remington when they enter in the lions' cave.
53	* FangsAreEvil: Just like any normal lions, the Ghost and the Darkness have very sharp-looking fangs which only make them look more scary and ferocious.
54	* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Samuel serves as the story's narrator.
55	* ForTheEvulz: Implied that's the reason why the lions do their killings. Remington also suggest this when he and Patterson explore their lair full of bones.
56	--> '''Remington:''' Lions don't do this. Lions... never had a lair like this. They're doing it for the pleasure.
57	* TheGayNineties: The film takes place during this decade, but given that it takes place in Africa, none of the standard tropes of the setting are in effect.
58	* GiveMeASword: [[spoiler:Patterson (who is unarmed) and Samuel (who has a double-barreled rifle) climb separate trees to escape the pursuing lion, which then starts climbing after Patterson. Samuel can't shoot it because the lion is shielded by the tree trunk, so he throws the rifle to Patterson. The rifle bounces off a branch and falls to the ground, so Patterson leaps down after it, grabbing the rifle JustInTime to shoot the lion.]]
59	* GoryDiscretionShot: Done a number of times either fully or partially, and to great effect; few immediate wounds the lions cause are even given close, focused attention in most of the shots, but provide just enough of a visual to let the imagination do all the grisly work. Notable subversion is the full frontal shot of [[spoiler:Sterling's gaping neck wounds]]. Played completely straight with [[spoiler:Remington's corpse]]; you never even glimpse so much as an appendage - just the horrified onlookers and the large swathe of grass stained crimson. However, given what man-eaters tend to leave behind, the use of this trope is probably for the best.
60	* GreatWhiteHunter: Present and subverted at the same time. Patterson finds his experience as a big game hunter in India to be almost worthless when dealing with the man-eating lions and Remington [[spoiler:is killed by one of them]].
61	* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Not even great badass hunters like Mahina and Remington can compete against the lions.]]
62	* HistoricalDowngrade: While Patterson is depicted as needing help from Remington, all known accounts of the incident describe the real Patterson killing both lions by himself.
63	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: "Tsavo" means "slaughter". It becomes a MeaningfulName when the lions start to kill people, escalating to the full-blown massacre of the site's hospital.
64	* 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 to aim properly when it walks into a trap and then try to say the lion kept moving. Patterson calls them on their bad excuse. The first and third events actually come straight from Patterson’s account, while the second was played up for dramatic purposes.
65	* IronicEcho: "You've just been hit. The getting up is up to you."
66	* ItCanThink: The lions figure out when they're trying to be trapped. 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.
67	* JerkassHasAPoint: Beaumont is a FIRST CLASS DICKHEAD and takes colossal pride in being one but he does have a couple of points. The first is denying Patterson’s request for Soldiers. Even though Soldiers would definitely make Patterson’s job a whole lot easier but Beaumont points out it would be embarrassing for the British Empire to bring in troops because of problems with the local wildlife and that it would make the British appear weak to their colonial rivals( the French, Germans, Belgians and Italians) who are trying to outdo them in Africa.
68	** The second point is pointing out the problems with Patterson’s contraption especially after hearing that the Colonel tried it in India and it failed. He’s proven right when the Indian Marksmen who Patterson hires to kill the Lions fails to EVEN WOUND one of them when he walks into the trap. This of course leads to Beaumont bringing in Remington.
69	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dr. Hawthorne introduces himself as somewhat smug and indifferent to his surroundings, and makes jokes about his own lack of charm and character. However, when the lions attack the hospital one night, Dr. Hawthorne fearlessly engages them in a valiantly futile effort to defend his patients.
70	* JumpScare: When Patterson and Remington hunt the Ghost, an owl flitters in from nowhere as a false alarm. According to Patterson's own account, this actually happened, causing a literal jump scare when Patterson assumed that the lion had just pounced on him. Patterson did not, however, fall from his perch; landing in front of the lion without any Remington to save him would have been fatal.
71	* MadeOfIron: The lions seem almost immortal sometimes.
72	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Are the maneaters merely lions or something supernatural? Working together and hunting for sport leaves some credence to the latter position.
73	* MeaningfulName: Tsavo means slaughter, and it fits all the killing the lions do.
74	* MightyRoar: The lions occasionally do one of these. The result: it's quite scary.
75	* MightyWhitey: Remington, big time. He is an ex-[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Confederate]] soldier living among (and at some point commanding) Maasai hunters, for crying out loud.
76	** Though he seems to be acting more as their agent to English-speaking individuals, as pretty much the first thing Remington does is negotiate payment for the ''Maasai'', not himself.
77	** Patterson himself is sarcastically referred to as one.
78	---> '''John:''' I will sort this out. I will kill the lion, and I will build the bridge.
79	---> '''Abdullah:''' Of course you will. You're white, you can do anything.
80	* NameAndName: The Ghost and The Darkness are the names given to the lions by construction workers.
81	* TheNarrator: Samuel is the narrator.
82	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Remington was inspired by actor Creator/BurtLancaster and big game hunter Charles Ryall, the superintendent of the Railway Police.
83	* NonMaliciousMonster: Subverted, more or less. The lions seems to hunt and kill more for fun than out of hunger. One of 'em even leaves [[spoiler:Remington's]] corpse where Patterson can see him apparently just to provoke him.
84	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Val Kilmer's Irish accent leaves a lot to be desired.
85	* NotEnoughToBury: [[spoiler:Mahina and Remington are eaten to the point of being unrecognizable and the audience doesn't gets to see the worse part of the gore -- and in the case of Mahina, the doctor describes in detail what the lions did to him after an autopsy so we should be thankful we ''don't''.]] In Remington's case, all we get is an overhead GoryDiscretionShot.
86	* PlaceWorseThanDeath: Tsavo, a region deep in DarkestAfrica that is hellish long before the apparently-supernatural man-eaters come along.
87	* RaceLift: While portrayed as African, the real Mahina was ethnically Indian.
88	* RailroadPlot: The obstacle obstructing the railroad is a pair of man-eating lions who are decimating the construction crew.
89	* 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]].
90	** It's worth mentioning also that the real lions were of a rare stock that doesn't have manes, which is difficult – if not impossible - to "respect" in the films. Hence why they are played by normal maned lions in both films.
91	** Creator/RogerEbert defined the film as "an African adventure that makes the Franchise/{{Tarzan}} movies look subtle and realistic". Ironic considering it's still BasedOnATrueStory.
92	** Patterson supposedly killed both lions himself, without the help of any professional hunter. If the story was told as both he and others recorded at the time, people would have been decrying it as a pure ego project on the part of Kilmer, who simply must have forced them to turn the movie into a story about his {{invoked}} GodModeSue status.
93	* RedShirt: Indian and African workers.
94	* SacrificialLion: Many as the film goes on.
95	** [[spoiler:Mahina]], the powerful and loyal foreman to Patterson, is the first to be killed by one of the lions.
96	** After his friendship with Patterson, it's a surprise when [[spoiler:Starling]] is killed in a sneak attack by one of the lions, showing first that there's more than one man-eater and second, AnyoneCanDie.
97	** Due to his helpful and good nature, [[spoiler:when the lions attack the sick and wounded in his new hospital, Dr. Hawthorne goes back to save them before he is killed by one of the lions as they massacre his patients.]]
98	** After the death of [[spoiler:the Ghost]], it seems things are turning around. Not so. [[spoiler:Remington]] is dragged from his tent and killed by [[spoiler:the Darkness]].
99	* SceneryPorn: The movie doesn't shy away from beautiful panoramic shots of the African savannah.
100	* SlashedThroat: Most of the people killed by the lions get this.
101	* SuaveSabre: Remington's large knife/machete is actually a cut-down cavalry sabre, hinting at his DarkAndTroubledPast as a Confederate CavalryOfficer in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar.
102	* SuperPersistentPredator: The lions keep coming no matter what Patterson and Remington throw at them. It is implied that they are hunting humans because they enjoy it, rather than for food.
103	* SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator: One of the many reasons people believe the lions are actually demons.
104	* TitleDrop: "The natives call them [[RedBaron The Ghost and The Darkness]]."
105	* VertigoEffect: When Paterson faces one of the lions [[OhCrap and his gun misfires.]]
106	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: As mentioned above, in many ways the true story was altered to make it ''less'' fantastical and [[RealityIsUnrealistic more believable to movie audiences]].
107	* VillainousBreakdown: It's implied that [[spoiler: the Darkness is going through one after the death of the Ghost. Its roars that he lets out after it's companion death that Samuel claims are of fear could be seen as being of anger instead, and during the final confrontation it quickly gives up any attempts at being stealthy and just start chasing Patterson]].
108	* TheWorfEffect:
109	** 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.
110	** WordOfGod says [[spoiler:Remington's character was also intended to be this; someone badass whom the lions could kill, making Patterson that much more awesome when he survives.]]
111	* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: [[spoiler:Mahina claims to have killed a lion with his bare hands, but while there's no reason to think he's lying, he's the first victim of the Ghost and the Darkness. Remington, an experienced big game hunter, is much more helpful to Patterson and proves invaluable in taking down the Ghost; regardless, he's killed in his sleep by the Darkness shortly afterwards.]]
112	* WrestlerOfBeasts: Mahina claims to have once killed a lion with his bare hands. [[spoiler:The lions killing him shows how terrifying they are, while also suggesting he completely made up the deed.]]

Context Film / TheGhostAndTheDarkness