The Dead Files

Started watching this series and wonder, as I do about all these types shows, why do they only investigate at night? I know from experience that spirits come out in the daytime as well. And why in almost every episode is there a spirit who wants to kill people or make people kill people? And why are there Never any nice spirits? Not everyone who passed is evil.

The discussion about this show seems to turn on whether it's "real" or not. I propose that it doesn't really matter. If you think it's fake, pretend that the legal disclaimer at the beginning says that the show is fictional, and enjoy a reality-TV-style drama about a medium and a cop who work together. Personally I think it's (mostly) real, but that's unimportant.

I find this show absolutely titillating because of the excellent storytelling. Most reality TV is carefully edited to make conversations flow just a little better (without necessarily changing their meanings), and they do it quite deftly here, interweaving the two story lines (that is, Steve and Amy) in a way that delights my brain when I want instant gratification. The (writers? producers?) throw down all the pieces of the puzzle in perfect order without quite connecting them; they let your imagination fill in the final, tiny gaps with the kind of lurid details that everyone's thinking but no one can say for sure. Steve gets what essentially amounts to the town gossip on the subject, and Amy embroiders them with colourful, often illuminating, and just a little bit graphic details.

Don't worry about reality. Take the homeowner's story at face value and enjoy the mystery's shocking solution!

Okay-I used to really love this show. But it seems now pretty far fetched that Amy recommends stranger and stranger folks to help homeowners out. Seems leaning towards the Voodoo and witches a lot lately. I think each show should have a documentary style follow-up. How hard was it to find a Shaman to get rid of evil beings? Where do you find a white witch or a Voodoo priestess? Where do these Catholic priests come from to perform exorcisms on a home or property? What kind of financial ruin would be caused by an open gateway letting demons in? Could they sell a house without disclosing? What does it cost? Or would s show pay for those blessings? What liability is involved? Curiouser and curiouser.

...on TV. Whether you believe in the paranormal, or you believe that Amy is a physical medium, it's entertaining. There is no middle ground. No gray area since there are no stories like this on other shows. They've even been to places that other paranormal shows have explored and Amy comes up with a different take on the nature of the haunting. Like the episode where she investigated the Lizzy Borden home. I like the cast for this show and I believe them. I might be gullible and proven wrong, but I believe in the afterlife as well. And that's what this show is all about. I've always been a skeptic regarding the paranormal, but they make the subject interesting and thought provoking. I respect people of faith, agnostics and atheists.

I watch all these paranormal shows but I think this is probably the worst I've seen.

Amy Allan walks around a location she knows "nothing" about making faces that have an animatronics look about them. Then she reveals some uncannily accurate information. Notably more accurate information than psychics ever give outside of this format, which has been used on shows like haunted homes etc. She's joined by a retired detective who does a great "I'm surprised at that!" face.

The first thing I find unconvincing about her is the way she'll tell you there's a dead person stood right in front of her but she barely gives it a second glance. If you really could see dead people wouldn't you be slightly more interested in looking at that than the camera?

Then there's the Lizzie Borden house. She tells a little girl in a previous episode that she was obsessed with that house as a child yet, the very next episode claims to have no idea where she is. Did she get there by rendition or what? That bears some explaining I think.

I gave up watching this one. I like ghost hunting shows but this just seems very phoney to me. Also, just as an aside I looked into the helicopter crash she described. The victim wasn't spinning around as she suggests, it clipped a hill and exploded instantly. The sensation of spinning around is just the kind of thing a bogus psychic would slip in because it sounds fitting.