Ghost Stories

Written and directed by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, Ghost Stories focuses on a certain Professor Goodman (portrayed by Andy Nyman himself), a man who has found some level of career fame in exposing and debunking the work of fraudulent so-called psychics.

The arrival of a mysterious package one day from a famous TV psychic investigator from Goodman's own childhood era, Charles Cameron (Leonard Byrne) - a man thought to be long dead and whose own disappearance years before had been shrouded in mystery - soon changes the course of Goodman's future work, dramatically.

It transpires that there are three ghostly mysteries that Cameron himself had wrestled with throughout his life, yet they remain unresolved to this day. It is Cameron's wish, in his old age, that Goodman should now investigate them and bring some much needed resolution to proceedings.

Armed with each of the case files, Goodman sets about tracking down the three key proponents, upon whose testimony these apparent other-worldly happenings are based.

Though somewhat shaken by his findings, Goodman's own innate scepticism leads him to believe that each of these cases can easily be explained away through the simple application of science and logic.

But sometimes it's the psychological uncertainties of our own minds that can provide the biggest clues when we seek to make sense of the seemingly inexplicable.

Dyson and Nyman's Ghost Stories works effectively for much of its duration as an apparently straight forward, slightly hammed-up spook-fest, though there is little by way of conclusions that can be garnered on face value from any of the three tales.

But alarm bells should begin to ring for the viewer when one considers that the first two tales are told from the perspective of a couple of characters who, despite ultimately finding themselves cornered by forces of evil and in apparently terminally hopeless predicaments, both still somehow manage to live to tell the tale. And it's only once the third tale reaches it's climactic 'conclusion' that events really start to take a peculiar twist, and Ghost Stories slips into an even more intriguing dimension altogether; one whose narrative slips and slides between apparently random events of varied illogic, yet one which ultimately helps to tie the film's pieces neatly and cleverly together.

There are a few passing parallels with landmark horror films of yesteryear. Elements of Poltergeist and The Blair Witch Project are apparent in places, but curiously it's a sort of tongue-in-cheek, 'hammer house' atmosphere that is most prevalent here. And although admittedly bearing little resemblance, content-wise, Roy Ward Baker's 1981 ghoulish and very British, twist-in-the-tale offering, The Monster Club, with its own lightly comical regaling of three haunting tales - is for me, somehow the film that I am most reminded of.

Certainly, within their own film, Dyson and Nyman are unafraid to administer generous doses of gallows humour in just the right places, and the casting of two chiefly comic actors in Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse - both of whom are excellent here - in two of the film's key roles, certainly helps with regard to this, whilst Nyman's own rather more straight portrayal of a man with an emotionally-scarred past, is equally impressive.

Whether it's to be considered a mysterious cognitive thriller or simply a ghostly shocker, either way, Ghost Stories is highly effective, lingering on in the memory the way all good cerebrally-challenging psychological horrors should.

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A cut above the usual skeptic vs supernatural movie, necessarily episodic, with a good vein of comedy and a strong sense of dread. Like the rest of its little genre, it has interesting things to say about the social role of the paranormal, but it comes alive when it turns its attention to its protagonist.

I loved this movie up until the last, oh, maybe 15 minutes or so.

The film is an extremely interesting series of ghostly investigations that force a haughty paranormal skeptic to question his life's work. Its premise is executed perfectly, and sent chills down my spine so many times (the security guard). The special effects are mostly unreliant on CGI, and that use of what's real makes the viewer feel the fear of the characters. I was able to put myself in the characters' shoes many times, experiencing their fear.

Martin Freeman gives a unique, and wonderful, performance in here. That's always to be expected out of him. He could turn dirt scripts into gold. This script was already well written though. Andy Nyman is pretty good, never seen him before this one, and I was impressed. He's good at being full of himself.

The ending is what severely weakened this. Can't believe someone would try something that's been done so many times, and went out of style back in like 2001. The ending makes sense, yes, but like... we've seen that 87 times before man. Imagine if a writer tried to use the same twist from Sixth Sense in today's age. You just can't. Overall, still a really enjoyable movie despite this flaw, and a good addition to your list of worth-watching scary movies.

It's difficult to review Ghost Stories without giving spoilers away, so I'll be very careful in what I say. If you're after some good jump scares and some nervous laughs, then it executes those beautifully. Also, Alex Lawther should be praised for a performance that knocks it out of the park. It's a good cast, but he outshines them all. However, I do have issues with the story itself. Initially the plotting teases a new post-modern take on portmanteau horror, with the individual cases not resolving in the usual way, but building to something more climatic. But the story constructs its final act by falling back on a trope that we have all seen before and this left me disappointed when the credits rolled. From Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman you might expect something else. Something different. Something new. It's very well-made, but it's not different or new.

British horrors are hit and miss with me, some are excessively uneasy to watch ('Eden Lake') whilst others are suitably atmospheric ('The Descent'). So when I saw the trailer to Ghost Stories, I immediately tempered expectations but what I saw increasingly intrigued me. The end result...was not what I predicted. A professor who takes pride at debunking psychic frauds, is given a task by his role model. He must investigate three unexplainable cases that challenge the existence of supernatural entities. An intriguing premise that will appeal to many, its execution however may not. Structuring its narrative through three short stories, each with a paranormal theme, whilst intertwining the cases into a coherent investigation. Combining real life conditions, such as stress, depression and loneliness, with a ghostly undertone certainly translates "the brain sees what it wants you to see" theme very well. The three cases themselves were convincingly atmospheric as they injected much needed chills and thrills to this horror flick. The main story itself, although basic, was ambiguously surreal and will leave you guessing right up to the final reveal. The acting was splendid from the whole cast, particularly Whitehouse and Lawther, hosting an array of British accents. Was it scary? No. Every single scare was accompanied with a piercing loud noise to ensure that you jump. That's not frightening, that's damn irritating! The makeup effects of the poltergeists were lacklustre. The second case should've been much scarier, but instead was rather hilarious. "Staaay!"...yeah, I wished you did. Could've enhanced the horror some more. Then we get to the ending, which is possibly one of the surrealist safest endings I've ever seen. The breadcrumbs throughout the film were intelligently positioned, but I feel it followed the same premise as an all too famous 1995 film (I won't say the title, it'll spoil it). The film is intelligently creepy, it's just not scary and it's conclusion didn't deliver any impact for me.