Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Michael Moriarty, Queen Latifah, Diane Ladd and Jack Palance were perfect in their respected roles in Living With the Dead. For a made for TV film, this was definitely over achieving expectations. Mrs. Shullivan and I really enjoy a good suspense film, but eh, throw in some great science-fiction, thriller, and a non-stop "who done it" serial killer theme and you come up with in my opinion a prime-time Emmy winner for any film audience.Ted Danson is the star of this film who plays James Van Praagh, a troubled divorced man whose business is struggling financially, his elderly mother Regina Van Praagh played by Diane Ladd has just been admitted into the emergency wing of the local hospital after suffering a stroke, but James Van Praagh also has demons deep inside his mind from his early childhood memories of seeing and talking to dead people. Jack Palance plays Ted Danson's father Allan Van Praagh, who continually tells his young son well into his adulthood years that he must suppress any visions that his son James might be seeing and disregard them as nonsense. But the young James Van Praagh remembers vividly his mother relying on a composite of drugs to survive and when he is an adult his father tells James that he can arrange for him to receive the same drugs that his mother used to help her sleep. At this point James realizes that his mother must have also had visions of dead people herself, and she was trying to suppress them.Queen Latifah plays a business consultant named Midge Harmon who is called in to help save James faltering business, but she also tries to help James see that both his past and future visions are real so she brings him to a meeting of like minded people where James is introduced to a very calm Psychic named Adrian played by Michael Moriarty. Adrian patiently tries to reassure James that his visions are real and that eventually when he is ready to accept that his uncanny ability to speak to the dead is very real, he will be at peace with himself, and be able to assist people talk to their dead relatives through him. The film moves along at a very even pace maintaining the suspense as James continues to interact with many dead people and a slew of young boys who are trying to instruct James how he can assist in finding their serial killer. There are a number of potential serial killer suspects and you will find yourself questioning who the real murderer is.This is by far a much better suspense film than is generally available on television, and since Mrs. Shullivan and I just watched the film 14 years after it was originally released and it still has great appeal I can recommend to other viewers that it is well worth your evening's entertainment and you will not be disappointed. I give the film a solid 8 out of 10 rating.

This was a good TV movie.It's based on a 'ture' story, but if you believe that or not doesn't really matter.The story is slow paced and well told. The actors are fantastic in all the roles.Danson's turn from comic to dramatic acting was great... you'd forget all about Sam & Becker... he IS James Van Praagh.This movie is a lot more like Stir of Ecos as poised to the 6th sense... as it deals with an adults attempts to tackle his 'gift' and control his 'visions'.I'd recommend you see it if you can.Enjoy the show!

James Van Praagh (Ted Danson) is a weird man who sees and communicates with dead people since he was a child. After the death of his mother Regina Van Praagh (Diane Ladd), he resolves the murder of an old man, and Detective Karen Condrin (Mary Steenburgen) gets close to him. He starts investigating what happened to a dead boy, who insists to try to communicate with him. Later, James and Karen realize that many boys have been murdered and buried in an isolated forest for seven years. There are a few suspects and many mystery to be resolved. This thriller is excellent, having a very tight screenplay. The characters are well-developed, the cast has excellent names, including Queen Latifah and Jack Palance and the direction is good. The plot has drama, thriller, crime and suspense and hooks the attention of the viewer until the last scene. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): `Falando Com os Mortos' (`Talking With the Dead')

I've accidentally found this movie on the Hallmark channel as there's no better choice on HBO and other movie channels that night. Without knowing anything about this movie I started watching it, and thinking that it might be just another horror movie. I must admit that I was kinda disappointed while I saw Ted Danson appeared on the movie cos I never really like Cheers and neither do I interested on any of his movie at all. But now, I must say Thank God I didn't switch to other channel which I almost did that night. This is an excellent movie with great actors, the performance of Ted Danson, Queen Latifah and Jack Palance impressed me a lot, and other actors were amazing in their roles too. I was stupid to ignore Ted Danson's movie in the past, he is really a great actor that acted with his heart and soul. This is not just a horror movie but a movie about forgiveness , understanding and most of all - LOVE!I love this movie very much, so much so that I watched the repeat again the next morning.