| The Ghoul | |
| Director: | Gareth Tunley |
| Producer: | Jack Healy Guttmann Tom Meeten Gareth Tunley |
| Cinematography: | Benjamin Pritchard |
| Editing: | Robin Hill |
| Music: | Waen Shepherd |
| Studio: | Ghoul Film |
| Distributor: | Arrow Films Cartilage Films |
| Runtime: | 85 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $18,460 |
The Ghoul is a 2016 British psychological crime thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Gareth Tunley and starring Tom Meeten. The film was released on 14 October 2016 at the London Film Festival and received good reviews from critics.
A detective decides to go undercover to investigate a psychotherapist who, he thinks, is responsible for a murder.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Ghoul has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .[1] Stephen Dalton from The Hollywood Reporter gave it a good review, writing: "A British micro-budget nerve-jangler that keeps viewers guessing to the final frame, The Ghoul is a noir-flavored mood piece with grand ambitions beyond its minimal means".[2] Peter Bradshaw writing for The Guardian gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, stating: "Initially interesting but heartsinkingly pointless, this brooding Brit indie takes us on a journey to nowhere".[3] Catherine Bray from the Variety liked the film and said: "The Ghoul isn't the midnight horror romp its title may suggest and as such might disappoint a crowd with an appetite for shock and gore — it needs to be positioned subtly by distributors and festival programmers who may wish to lean more heavily on the apt Lynch comparisons from early reactions. Its twisty-turny psychological gymnastics should satisfy fans of oblique, Lost Highway-style material more than full-on horror-heads".[4]
The Ghoul was nominated for the 71st British Academy Film Awards in the category of Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. However, it lost to I Am Not a Witch.[5] The film was also nominated for a "Discovery Award" at the 2016 British Independent Film Awards, but lost to The Greasy Strangler.[6]