Ghost Stories

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As an avid horror fan, I found this movie to be boring, extremely dull and not effective, at all, in terms of being scary. It was, honestly, difficult to endure it till the end.

I was really hopeful for 'Ghost Stories.' For some reason, it seemed to have a lot of publicity here in the UK for a 'home grown' spooky tale, plus it had Martin Freeman in, fresh off the back of his turn in 'Black Panther.' It opens well, with a kind of 'found footage' approach to it, by interviewing our protagonist (Andy Nyman) as he's a 'professional debunker' who goes around Britain 'exposing' supernatural tales for something mundane and ordinary. However, this style of film-making is quickly dropped in terms of a more 'conventional' form of story-telling and that's a shame because - for once - the 'found footage' element appears to be the best bit! I haven't really seen our protagonist, Nyman, in much else (or rather noticed him in anything I have seen!) and I got the feeling from the beginning that he just didn't really have the screen presence to carry a full-length feature film on his own, even one with a low budget and non-mainstream appeal. He just didn't look comfortable in the role. Once the 'found footage' segment ends, Nyman receives a message from the paranormal investigator who inspired him. Now retired, this old Scottish man hands him three case studies that he was never able to disprove during his active work-life. Therefore, the movie is basically an anthology of three different ghost stories, told by three different characters (Freeman is last, so you're going to have to wait for him to show up!). The next problem I had with the story is that all the actors seemed to be putting on (forced) regional accents for their characters. Plus a couple of the characters looked like they were wearing prosthetic make-up to alter their appearance. The fake make-up, combined with an over-the-top accent, made the film appear like an episode of 'Little Britain,' only without the laughs. Any tension from the three main stories is taken right out of the equation as, because the stories are being told by the person in them, we - the audience - know full well that they are going to survive their ghostly encounter! However, perhaps the worst part of it all, was the 'rise and repeat' factor regarding the 'jump scares.' What happens is that, in every 'scary' scene you get about 10-20 seconds of silence while the character creeps through a dark and deserted place, followed by a screeching noise accompanying something on-screen that moves suddenly. This happens again and again, until you can almost count to thirty and then get what you're waiting for. I always try to stay positive when it comes to British (and foreign) films which can't compete with the Hollywood budgets, but I couldn't get behind this one as it was just badly acted, predicable and even laughable in some places (for all the wrong reasons).

It's really hard to understand how this ended up getting made. It's three clichéd and unsatisfying stories wrapped up in another clichéd and unsatisfying story. There are a few nice moments, but what a mess of a film.

Clever, but not overly clever. Not so clever that you want to punch the writer(s) in the face. I was very surprised and satisfied with the ending of the film, and thoroughly enjoyed the path the storytellers took the viewers on to reach the conclusion. I watched it multiple times after renting in order to locate the delicious little hints that pointed to what was actually going on in the film. My first viewing was obviously the most satisfying: sitting alone in my lil' house in the woods, late at night, with all the lights off. The silence and darkness of my surroundings definitely added to the overall experience. I also really enjoyed the subsequent viewings, which helped me understand reasons behind certain shots, bits of dialogue, etc. And it was still scary the second and third times around! I thought each paranormal case presented in the film was uniquely frightening. The filmmakers made effective use out of many different types of scares. It isn't overly gory, which I appreciate because I am not really into blood and guts. There was a lot of suspense and eerie sounds, which I love. And some spooky critters, which I also love. The lighting (or darkness, I guess) in the first scenario was really unsettling. And then...the soul horror. Lawd have mercy. Thought Martin Freeman stole the show, but then he usually does. Really enjoyed the 3 or so minutes with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as the priest. His dialogue was beautifully written and performed. Alex Lawther is always creepy. He could do a sweet-as-sugar romcom with Emma Watson and he would still freak me out. Love the cover art/film poster/whatever you call it as well. All in all, I found it really enjoyable. Classically spooky with modern twists. Good times.

It was so stupid and so random. You're confused throughout the entire thing, which is only a bad thing when it doesn't explain anything that confused you (which is what happened). Why was his dad even featured in this when it legit had nothing to do with him? "Our family was torn apart by religion by our father"- that was the only reference to religion and his dad, the rest of the movie had basically NOTHING to do with it. Why did it matter that his sister was dating a non jew? She wasn't even a part of the plot. Also the devil baby????? You never let us look at the thing, why even make it a part of the movie?! Why did he try and kill himself this many years later after leaving a boy to die? Why was he dreaming about weird shit all the time? None of it matters. It's all stupid and there is no connection to anything. Also what is up with the girl in the yellow dress? She wasn't the devil baby and the finger in the mouth thing? Was that just a reference to the ventilator because if it was, then that is beyond stupid. Horrible movie, don't see it.

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.

Please ignore the positive reviews on here. I was fooled by them and the cast to thinking this was going to be a great movie about ghost stories. I feel was was misled and cheated. The movie started well and I cannot fault the actors or even the scares (loved the face in the car window) but near the end it seemed like the plot got lazy and decided to just end the movie rather than make something goof out of it. Like when you were a kid writing a story at school and said "and they woke up and it was all a dream" The ending was very poor and it seemed to me like they were trying to hard to justify it. Do yourself a favor and give this one a miss