Holstra
Boring, long, and too preachy.
Maidexpl
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
lucyduecey
I can upon this tv show by accident, never heard of it or Harry Price. I read the reviews, some negative and a few positives. I'm glad to say I'm glad I watched it. The story is not based on Harry Price life, it's not a biography. Writers used his character and wrote a story for entertaining purposes. Would have liked to see this made into a TV series.
Tom Dooley
Rafe Spall plays 'ghost hunter' Harry Price. In the wake of World War I many people had lost loved ones and could not reconcile the senseless waste that had occurred and wanted to be able to speak to them beyond the grave. This included the very high and very low in society. In order to fill the void a mini industry took off of mediums and psychics who used all manner of tricks and scams to exploit their grief. Harry Price is in this field and is contacted by a high profile MP whose wife has had a bit of a 'turn' and come over all unnecessary; she in turn claims that their new home, an erstwhile 'workhouse', is haunted. He is called in to investigate and prevent the poor woman from being hauled off to the sanatorium – posh word for mad house.Now this is a TV film but has very high production values for the most part. There was some wobble camera at the beginning but that seemed to calm down – much to my relief. The acting is all top notch and a real chemistry builds between Price and the maid Sarah played by the wonderful Cara Theobold. There are some really spooky bits but this is essentially a detective story with psychic overtones and I must say I greatly enjoyed it. I hope they make some more - recommended.
journalist1
Superb, thought-provoking period piece with contemporary and feminist undertones; and there's the rub, in that, usually, I have little time for entertainment projecting contemporary liberal ideology onto period pieces, which, by dint of chronology makes a mockery of us all. However, due to the consistent quality and interesting plot I was able to set my misgivings aside and thoroughly enjoy the film. Following World War 1, known as the the Great War, most British families had lost close family members, many, more than one. As a result there was extensive interest in the afterlife, the spirit world, in that, many people wanted to reach out to their loved ones because for many, they never have had the opportunity to say goodbye, subsequently, the fad produced so-called supernaturalists, deceitful men and women keen to cash in on grieving relatives. Into this environment comes Harry Price, 'ghost hunter', a modern scientist aghast at witnessing these parasites prey on grieving families and seeks to expose both them and their methods. However, Harry, played brilliantly by Rafe Spall, succumbs to 'evoking' the spirits on behalf of a grieving soldier but the well-meaning deceit goes dreadfully wrong and his 'victim' commits suicide leaving Harry bereft. Months later, we find Harry morose and drifting, somewhat hangdog and unemployed. Into this environment arrives a senior opposition politician with an urgent need for Harry's particular skill set; it seems a promising politician's wife is being troubled by the dead and only the Ghost Hunter can help. On Harry's journey to unmask the perpetrators or confront the dead he is ably assisted by Downtons Abbey's Cara Theobold as Sara Green who puts in a marvellous performance as the hard put-upon maid of the haunted household. The supporting cast, Zoe Boyle, Tom Ward and Richie Campbell are competent as well as confident, typical of a quality British production. In closing, I believe there is, within this film the promise of a great TV show if the ITV network which produced the show demonstrates a little vision and courage. All in all a spooky 8/10.
l_rawjalaurence
One of the delights of coming to a series "cold," so to speak, without any knowledge of who the "real" Harry Price, is that we can approach it on its own terms as an example of a mystery thriller without speculating about whether it is "true" or "untrue" to the historical past, whatever that means.This is certainly the case with HARRY PRICE: GHOST HUNTER. The real Harry Price (1881-1948) gained a reputation as someone using the then innovative sciences of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to understand the human mind as well as expose fraudulent mediums who spent a lot of their time touring music-halls and playing on ordinary people's gullibilities. Alex Pillai's production includes one such sequence where our eponymous hero (Rafe Spall) interrupts a performance given by Monsieur Lutrec (Simon Gregor), and ends up hitting the fraud on the chin backstage.Yet the historical material should not be allowed to obstruct a good story. As with most investigator-heroes, the television Harry has a past; haunted by the specter of his dead spouse, he spends most of his evenings dreaming at his dreary home. İt is only when he encounters spry ladies' maid Sarah Grey (Cara Theobold) that he decides to slough off his depression and look forward once more with fortitude. Having himself been involved in fraudulent activity, he decides now to devote himself to the cause of truth in unmasking other frauds.The production manages some side-swipes at manipulative politicians such as Sir Charles (Michael Byrne) who is so preoccupied with getting his protégé Edward Goodwin (Tom Ward) elected as the new leader of the Liberal Party that he is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve his aims. The fact that Edward turns out to be a sleazy character whose faults are unmasked at the end is simply poetic justice.As with most period dramas, the settings of early Twenties London are meticulously recreated, even though it seems that every sequence - whether interior or exterior - seems to have been shot using a smoke filter. The story is little slow to get going, with perhaps too many swooping pans and unexpected zooms at the beginning designed to create a spooky ambiance. On the other hand the ending is cleverly staged through Sarah's point of view as she recovers consciousness, having been ruthlessly felled by Edward. MPs will do anything, it seems, to assert power over women.