Wraith

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Lore & Background

The film opens with the Roanoke Colony, a 16th-century island colony in North Carolina. A settler is killed by a ghostly figure, and another hangs himself. English settlers arrive by ship with an Indian escort, finding the colony abandoned except for one body. John White, the English governor, dismisses the corpse as Spanish intimidation. He returns to England, naming his son-in-law Ananias Dare interim governor, backed by George Howe. Settlers begin dying in the woods, crops won't grow, and no animals are in the forest. Eleanor Dare has disturbing dreams revealing that the island was the site of a brutal execution of an innocent woman and men by Vikings. The souls of the evil Viking men and the other men and the single woman are trapped on the island between life and death. Ananias must work with Manteo, a local Croatan Indian chief, to send the wraiths to hell.

In Their Own Story

Eleanor Dare, pregnant wife of Ananias, has a gruesome dream that her nightgown is covered in blood and her baby taken from her womb. She runs into the town square and finds a ghost with her baby. She wakes deeply shaken and warns Ananias they should return to England, but he dismisses it. Eleanor mysteriously gives birth prematurely to a baby girl named Virginia, born safely. Thinking the Indians are behind the killings, a colonist leads an attack on the Indian village, but most men are killed; he is put in the stocks. Later, wraiths suck out his soul and attack the colonists. It is revealed the wraiths feed on souls and need an innocent soul—Virginia—to pass on to the afterlife. Their weaknesses are fire and water. The colonists set up a raft with wood and hay, waiting for the moon. The wraiths attack; only Eleanor, Ananias, Virginia, and Howe survive. Eleanor is killed attacking a wraith. Howe and Ananias are mortally wounded; Ananias lures wraiths onto the raft with baby Virginia. Howe fires a fire arrow onto the raft, setting it aflame. Ananias sets Virginia adrift and dies. Virginia is found by the Indians and raised as one of their own; Manteo orders the tribe to bury the colonists and burn the colony.

Reader's Guide

The film features a cast including Adrian Paul as Ananias Dare, Rhett Giles as George Howe, Frida Farrell as Eleanor Dare, George Calil as Thomas Stevens, Alex McArthur as John White, Michael Teh as Manteo, Doug Dearth as Gregory Hemphill, Mari Mascaro as Elizabeth Viccars, Suzette Kolaga as Emme Merrimoth, Atanas Srebrev as Samuel Fillon, Hristo Mitzkov as Ambrose Viccars, Rafael Jordan as Christopher Harvie, Jonas Talkington as William Stark, Dessi Morales as Viking Woman, Velislav Pavlov as Gaius Callis, Ivo Simeonov as Lee Bamber, George Zlatarev as Simon Fernandes, and Terence H. Winkless as Father Jacob. The film was released on DVD by Allumination on May 20, 2008, and later by Phase 4 Films on May 3, 2011, as part of the second volume of their 'Horror 4 Pack'. Critical response has been mixed to negative. Dread Central rated it two out of five, calling it 'lifeless yet inoffensive' and 'well made yet still resoundingly uneventful'. Justin Felix of DVD Talk also gave it two out of five, criticizing cheap production values, acting, and special effects, but calling it the best of SyFy Channel's Made-for-TV films and 'mildly amusing'.

Did You Know?

• The film premiered on the Sci Fi Channel on October 13, 2007.
• It is also known as Lost Colony or Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoke.
• The film was directed by Matt Codd.
• The baby in the film is named Virginia Dare, after the real-life first English child born in the Americas.
• Critical response was mixed to negative, with Dread Central rating it two out of five.