In 1898 two african lions known locally as the ghost and the darkness killed a number of workers on the east africa railroad at the tsavo river and halted the project until they were hunted. The ghost and the darkness is a 1996 american historical adventure film directed by stephen hopkins and starring val kilmer and michael douglas the screenplay was written by william goldman the story is a fictionalized account of the tsavo man eaters two tsavo lions that attacked and killed workers at tsavo kenya during the building of the uganda mombasa railway in east africa in 1898 the film received mixed reviews and became a box office success it won the academy award . The real the ghost and the darkness by daniel s liuzzi on december 22 2017 in books creature feature movies other true story in 1996 moviegoers evolutionary ancestral fear of humans being prey to an apex predator was put on display in the film the ghost and the darkness a historical action horror film that starred val kilmer as lt colonel john henry patterson