I’m not sure why, but I LOVE a good epidemic story. And this one is about how an epidemic cause an onset of ghost hunters, and subsequently ghost debunk-ers. The protagonist is one of those “science author women” who wear pants that sensible British people are constantly warned about.

The film is set in Britain after the end of WWI and the height of the Spanish Flu. Which had to be a pretty terrible time in Europe. You have like NO friends left. And the ones you did were riddled with survivors guilt and PTSD. No wonder people in America enjoyed the Roaring (Alcoholism) 20s.

Florence is a scientist and researcher who is hell bent on stopping scam artists from taking grieving people’s money for “talking to dead loved ones.” People don’t seem to like her very much, even when she shows them hard evidence that they’ve been taken for a ride. I guess if  you’re already mourning like two-thirds of your family, you don’t want anyone pointing out your also an idiot.

Florence’s un-sunny demeanor aside, news of her aptitude has reached a boy’s school in the British countryside. Apparently a boy died from being scared to death by an entity and Florence is hired by the school’s headmaster and a teacher, Mallory, to investigate. Mallory offers her evidence of a haunting in the form of the school’s photographs. She reluctantly agrees and hops on the Hogwarts Express to Mr. Darcy’s House (I’m not kidding, they used the same sets).

At the school, the matron Maud super fangirl’s on Flo, saying she’s read all her books and just knows she will figure out the mystery. Florence arrives just as the term is ending and the boys will be leaving the school for a couple weeks, leaving her full run of the building for her investigation. A few boys might stay behind if their parent’s are in India (aka, they aren’t loved enough). Another teacher and the headmaster hang out for a bit but soon it is just Flo, Mallory, Maud, and a little boy left in the building.

Now obviously the house (and the exact replica doll house) start to get creepy and continues to escalate the longer she stays. She thinks at first she nailed the scary going-ons on a couple of naughty school boys, but then she sees something in the school’s pond and almost drowns so of course she HAS to stay. This might be because the ride back across the moors with wet hair is just asking for pneumonia.

In addition to hiring people from Harry Potter, some of Game of Thrones cast shows up, because British actors actually just hang around castles in England waiting to be hired for period pieces, the way day laborers hang around Home Depot.

The ending of this movie is more sad than scary. After my run in with The Woman In Black, I didn’t think I could do another British haunted house, but this is a really well done movie. When I realized it was the same screenwriter who did Gothic, I was prepared for some weird drug trip orgy, but it was just another sad English story. And the flu. The flu is actually scarier. Get a flu shot if you’re going to be around pale British children or old war vets.