The Enfield Haunting Review

5 stars of fabulously scary British drama.

The Enfield Haunting is a British three part mini-series, based on the true events laid out in the book by Guy Lyon-Playfair, This House Is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist. It is directed by Kristoffer Nyholm (The Killing, Endeavor).

It deals with an alleged (and well documented) series of events which took place in an ordinary family home in Brimsdown, Enfield from 1977-1979.

The Hodgsons appear to be a perfectly normal family. The mother Peggy (Rosie Cavaliero – Jane Eyre, Scoop) is doing the best she can looking after her four children after her husband (Nick Bartlett – World War Z) left. The family’s problems seem to centre around the two daughters, Margaret (Fern Deacon – Underdogs, The Secret of Crickley Hall) and Janet (Eleanor Worthington-Cox – Maleficent, Cucumber), who are both entering their teens, prime age for poltergeist activity.

There are numerous strange occurrences, including banging, doors opening and closing, writing on the walls and items being thrown. This leads to interest from the press and eventually the Society of Psychical Research.  Help arrives from there in the form of Maurice Grosse (Timothy Spall – Blandings, Harry Potter), a psychic investigator who immediately sees what is happening and wants to help.

Maurice however has problems of his own. His daughter, also called Janet was fairly recently killed in a motorbike accident and his wife Betty (Juliet Stevenson – Bend it Like Beckham, Truly Madly Deeply) just doesn’t understand why another family should take priority.

Undeterred he moves in with the Hodgsons and commences his investigation. He is soon joined by fellow member of the Society of Psychical Research, Guy Playfair (Matthew MacFadyen – Anna Karenina, Ripper Street), who is at first skeptical but soon comes round. Together they must find the truth behind the phenomena and try to save this family from the entity which plagues them.

The Enfield Haunting is a fascinating story, very disturbing in places and all the more so for being based on a true story. The script is well written and the acting superb, especially Timothy Spall and Eleanor Worthington-Cox who made a formidable team in the lead roles.

The sets are also brilliant, it is set in the seventies, and it feels as if was filmed then too, the attention to detail is brilliant and transports you right back there.

The Enfield Haunting is thoroughly gripping from start to finish and I would very much recommend adding it to your collection.

“I get tight in my chest sometimes. Like there’s a scream inside that can’t come out.”

The Enfield Haunting is available to order now on DVD and will be released on 19th Oct 2015.