Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn) is skeptical of the supernatural, yet
he is invited by elderly Nanny Tess Webb (Anna Massey) to investigate
paranormal goings-on at her country estate. When Ash arrives, he meets
her three adult children (Kate Beckinsale among them, who becomes his
future love interest) and the family doctor (John Gielgud), all of whom
deny anything is going on and claim that Nanny Tess is merely
hallucinating. Yet after spending some time there, the professor begins
experiencing unexplainable visions that only Nanny Tess, and often only
he, sees. Furthermore the ghost of his sister, who died as a child in a
drowning accident, begins to roam the estate. Is he imagining it and
going mad? Or is the house truly haunted? Adapted by Tim Prager from
the James Herbert novel, Lewis Gilbert's highly memorable film is a
brilliant haunted-house tale with chilling scenes and an exceptional
plot twist.