Ghost Stories

I love a good horror movie. As a teen it was the blood and guts of stuff like Friday The 13th or Demons that would appeal but as I get older it's the spookier stuff that I prefer. The films that create a terrifying ambience that worms it's way into your head and that don't feel the need to splash gore around as a cheap way of scaring the audience. Films like The Witch or It Comes At Night that wrap you up and suffocate you. Even non horror movies like Under The Skin - that beach scene, jeeesus, or We Need To Talk About Kevin can do it for me. They just created that perfect mood. Then recently reviews for Ghost Stories started appearing. A spooky modern anthology tale that didn't rely on the red stuff for it's scares. Oh yes. Count me in please.

Phillip Goodman (Andy Nyman) is a debunker of the supernatural and star of a TV show where he shows up psychics and mediums as the frauds they are. One day a paranormal investigator long assumed dead contacts him and tasks him with researching three cases that he himself could not solve. The first about a man (Paul Whitehouse) guarding an old psychiatric hospital, the second about a young man (Alex Lawther) travelling home at night and the third about an expectant father (Martin Freeman). Phillip dives in and soon finds things getting a bit too creepy for comfort.

A few moments aside I really liked this. It's a film that dredges up old memories of TV shows like Tales Of The Unexpected & Ghostwatch and the horror anthology films that used to abound years ago. It's atmospheric as hell and succeeds in creating a very unsettling feeling as the stories progress. It's set in a strangely drab version of England that oddly feels stalled in time. In some moments you'd be mistaken for thinking the film is set in the 70's or 80's and then all of a sudden a mobile phone appears and jolts you back. It's also filled with little details that you don't take much notice of at the time like crudely scrawled racist graffiti on a tunnel wall or kids playing with a dead seagull, things that only make sense later. All this atmosphere and these little moments have a brilliant cumulative effect as the film moves forward though making it a chilling watch.

It's also a clever and deeper watch than you'd realise. It's a film with interesting asides on faith, belief, unresolved trauma and guilt, things men generally don't deal with (there's a reason this is a very male dominated film). It doesn't bludgeon you with these themes but lines of dialogue and small quiet moments plant these seeds in your head and leave you thinking about them days after you've seen this film. There's not many films, horror or otherwise that can do that. Thankfully there's a smattering of humour around to break up the darkness. A very British smattering. An early mention of John Travolta will force a shocked laugh out of you and a picture of a famous puppet duo on a wall gave me a very nostalgic little giggle. I love when humour in a film like this feels organic and not wedged in as an afterthought.

It's a pity though when it falls back on the old mainstays of modern horror, LOUD NOISES and JUMP SCARES. Cheap scare tactics that the film just doesn't need. Some work (This is the first time a title appearing onscreen ever scared me) but most don't and nearly all are telegraphed by the swelling music. A scare you know is coming will nearly always fail. The creepiness in this film is relatable, being in the woods by yourself, a dark room, creaky noises in the night, that sudden and unexplainable feeling of being watched. Stuff we've all experienced and stuff that will guarantee goosebumps and why the writers felt the need to crowbar in unnecessary scares I'll never know. Some people will have issues with the ending too but for me it worked. It made moments I assumed would be plotholes make sense and it cleverly ties the film together as a whole.

Some cheap scares aside this was a cracking watch. It's cleverly written and well acted. Andy Nyman, who also wrote the film along with Jeremy Dyson, carries the film on his shoulders and does very well but for me Paul Whitehouse was best. I only really know him from his comedy stuff but his role as a traumatised nightwatchman really dug it's fingers into me especially in the scene where we first meet him. This film is clearly a labour of love from people in thrall to the horror genre. Horror fans will enjoy it but there's still plenty here for everyone. 

It's well worth your time and money.