The title may lead you into suspecting yet another entry in the urban horror genre, however, Urban Ghost Story is anything but; it is actually a very low-key, brooding horror tale from Britain. Apparently, the film has been getting a fairly good deal of acclaim throughout the British Isles. Now, after six years, it has made its way across the Atlantic. Is this a good thing? It depends on your tolerance for subtlety.

The main flaw with Urban Ghost Story is that it is perhaps a little more vague than it should be. The film opens with basically no prelude, plunging its viewer directly into the story and leaving him to fend for hisself and try to put together the narrative pieces. We first meet Lizzie Fisher (Heather Ann Foster) as she awakens from a three-minute period of death. A shriek of tires that occurs over the title leads the viewer to believe that she has been in a car accident, and this is soon corroborated by a trip to court, where she may be sentenced for vehicular homicide. It seems Lizzie and a friend, both being too young to drive, stole a car one evening and went for a joyride. Since the two did not know how to drive, their crash is basically inevitable. The accident leaves the boy dead and Lizzie stuck with a gimp.

Found not guilty by a rather sympathetic judge, Lizzie returns with her mother and is brought to her family's rather squalid apartment, where she is tormented by phantasmagoric creeks and groans, as well as furniture that tends to shift if not carefully watched. Her mother is at first suspicious that Lizzie is behind these strange events, but it is not long (seriously, we're only like 20 minutes in here!) before she is forced to accept the truth that something other than Lizzie is behind these occurrences.

Unsure of what to do, Lizzie's mother talks to a tabloid reporter (Jason Connery), who quickly begins documenting the strange goings-on in their small Glasgow apartment. (I should note that while sources say the film is British, it is most definitely set in Glasgow, Scotland. Make of that what you will...) Teams of paranormal investigators are brought in, and a variety of tests is performed, from séances to monitorings of Lizzie's brainwaves during REM sleep. All of this provides little information as to what the disturbance is, and ultimately, Lizzie must confront her demons herself if she ever wishes to break free of her torment.

As can probably be told, Urban Ghost Story is not overt in its storytelling. There are no CGI demons wailing across the screen to be found here. This is probably the greatest asset of the film, it is slow and somber in its storytelling and quite good at evoking a feeling of dread. Many of the film's greatest shocks are subtle. A camera will pan with someone, then pan back to reveal that something in the room is now out of place. Every creak and groan of the old apartment begins to inspire a feeling of dread in the viewer. Personally, I found the subtlety of Urban Ghost Story a breath of fresh air from today's mainstream, multiplex FX extravaganzas. It was nice to see a film that could inspire more unease with a simple piece of furniture than most movies can with millions of dollars in their special effects arsenals.

Still, the film is not without is faults. As said, the storytelling is a little vague. A lot has to be inferred by the viewer, which can make for a rather taxing experience at times. Since the story starts with virtually no time for opening viewer-orientation, we are left rather confused as to who Lizzie, our protagonist, is. Her character and motivation are never really explained, and it's almost an hour into the movie before we truly know everyone and what his/her importance is. Still, this is a rather small flaw, as most of the actors manage to come off as fairly personable. I guess it's a testament to their skill at their craft that they were able to create believable and sympathetic characters even when the script seemed to be trying to sabotage them.

Despite its somewhat confusing nature, it seems to me that, in the end, the positives of Urban Ghost Story far outweigh its negatives. I would rather sit through something that is too abstruse than something that is too simplistic, and so I'm willing to forgive the movie's faults because of its noble intentions (i.e. creating the kind of moody, gothic piece that has disappeared of late). Urban Ghost Story achieves its goal of evoking dread through subtly creepy occurrences, and it succeeds so admirably that I found myself willing to cut it a little slack in some other areas. If all of this ghoulishness and foreboding sounds like your cup of tea (remember, it's British; get in the mood!), it can't hurt to at least give Urban Ghost Story a rental. Chances are you might find it intriguing.

As for the DVD, things check out rather well. Video is perfectly acceptable, with the film's muted color palate represented nicely in the transfer, which is letterboxed at a non-anamorphic 1.66:1. As for sound, the official DVD release is supposed to contain a 5.1 track, though mine only came in stereo, so I have little to say.

Extra-wise, the official release is set to contain a nice assortment of features including 3 documentaries, two commentaries and a music track (sadly, none of these were on my review disc, so I cannot address them). One of the few things that the disk is lacking is English subtitles, which would have been nice. At times, the charactersâ heavy Scottish accents can seem a little impenetrable, and I would have liked to have had a subtitle track so I could check the accuracy of my interpretation. Again, however, this isn't the worst of problems, and it can be circumvented by careful listening, so this isn't a major complaint.

For those of you sick of mainstream cinema's hordes of poorly rendered CGI monsters, I would recommend a rental of the subversive and subtly effective Urban Ghost Story. While not perfect, its heart is in the right place, and it makes up with style what it lacks in substance. The next time you find yourself faced with a dark, stormy evening with nothing to do, give this a rental, turn down the lights, and prepare for a fun little chill.