Most people are probably familiar with the infamous series of occurrences in the sleepy working-class residence of 284 Green Street, Enfield, England. Within the very ordinary dwelling, a family was being terrorized by intense poltergeist activity. Furniture would go flying, Lego bricks whip across the room, and even physical attacks plagued this single mother, her daughters, and her young son. If this sounds like the plot of a scary movie, then you are no doubt thinking of The Conjuring 2, which loosely recounted these events. However, for those wanting a complete, non-fiction account, Apple TV+ has you covered.
What makes the Enfield case so special is it’s the most documented case of poltergeist activity ever recorded. Not only were numerous hours of material collected, but the sheer number of creditable witnesses, including two police officers (who went on record), makes it hard to dismiss out of hand. At the center of this story are the colorful Maurice Grosse, a brilliant inventor turned paranormal investigator, and Janet, the girl in the now infamous and hotly debated levitating photos, who is theorized to be at the center of the activity. The documentary does a great job at painstakingly recreating the key locations of the haunting using photos taken by Grosse and his partner, Guy Lyon Playfield.
The normal talking head interviews are ingeniously mixed with actors reenacting events in the aforementioned recreated locations. The actors then lip-sync to real recordings from the Endfield case. The result is an engrossing and immersive retelling that aims to set the story straight. As entertaining as The Conjuring 2 may be, it doesn’t come close to capturing the horror and at times harrowing accounts of what this family went through. In four parts, the series does a fantastic job of breaking down the timeline of events in a streamlined way yet never at the expense of fleshing out everyone involved.
The dynamic between Grosse and the other members of the Paranormal Society, for example, is very interesting and showcases how, even in this field, poltergeist phenomena are extremely rare. Thus, some were skeptical. Anita Gregory, one of Grosse’s biggest critics, was a strong-willed character like Grosse, and the two butting heads make for a fascinating layer. Having the perspective and taking the temperature of where paranormal studies were at this time further adds to the understanding of these events. The filmmakers give us a brief but much-needed historical context of what Janet and her family would have been struggling with, living during Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister. Without this, it would be harder to fully understand and even relate to the families’ circumstances, outside of the supernatural.
Taking this even further is the addition of rare interviews including relatives of Grosse and Janet herself, who rarely do interviews. All this easily makes this the best documentary on the subject by a mile. By the end of The Enfield Poltergeist, you cannot help but feel connected to this story and the people in it. This is the hallmark of rich and detailed storytelling at its finest.
Whether you believe that a poltergeist terrorized a family in Enfield or not, you cannot deny that this documentary is gripping. The filmmakers went to great lengths to reenact the events and help provide the most comprehensive picture of this case. Thankfully, the material gets the respect and nuance it deserves, without any of the cheese that some documentaries serve up. We may never actually know the entire truth about the Enfield case; however, this may be the closest we will ever get.
The Enfield Poltergeist is currently available to stream on AppleTV+.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncN8o_LfRlY]
By the end of The Enfield Poltergeist, you cannot help but feel connected to this story and the people in it. This is the hallmark of rich and detailed storytelling at its finest.
Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMC’s The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.
