Ghost Stories (Review)
Despite Its Boring Name, Ghost Stories Manages to be Anything But.
Personally, I love ghost stories. There’s something terrifying about the unknown that comes after death and what might be lurking beyond. Luckily, Ghost Stories manages to give audiences some pretty creepy tales that will make you think twice about turning off the lights at night.
Ghost Stories is the tale of skeptic Professor Goodman, a man who prides himself on debunking the paranormal (played by Andy Nyman). The good professor has a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to his investigations and maintains a none to subtle approach when he yanks away the curtain to reveal the truth. However, he’s given three tales to investigate and finds himself a bit out of his depth and starts to question his stern disbelief in the supernatural.
I’ve never been much of a fan when it comes to horror anthologies. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly appreciate a good scary short film, but I’ve never seen it done in a way that really blew me away. More often than not, they seem like cobbled together movies only loosely managing to tie together certain elements to create a cohesive narrative. In other words, they always seem like more trouble than they’re worth as a filmmaking gimmick. Ghost Stories though manages to have a singular story arc that ties the three tales together. Now, not all the tales are stellar, but all of them are creepy as hell and some are downright frightening. The secret is that co-directors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman know that it’s the suspense before the scare that’s the real pay off. So, they take the time to let the suspense build until it’s palpable and then they unleash the ghosts on their unsuspecting victims.
Overall, Ghost Stories has a lot of ups and downs. For one, Martin Freeman never really manages to fall into his role in the film, despite being the real star power behind it. He’s a bit inconsistent and never manages to become menacing when he needs to. Instead, he comes off more annoyed than anything else. Still, there are moments where his puppy dog charm serves him well, but I can’t help wondering a little about the effectiveness of his casting. That being said, he never turns in a poor performance. It’s just that he doesn’t seem well suited for the role he’s given to work with.
Like Freeman, the tales of terror that make up Ghost Stories are a bit inconsistent as well. They seem to swing a little wild, never really managing to find their focus to tie them together. Despite this though, they do manage to embrace the tagline of the movie, which is: “The brain sees what it wants to see.” The real question is if just because your brain is seeing it, does that mean it’s not real? That’s the question that Professor Goodman has to struggle with, especially as the tales escalate and he finds himself doubting his entire professional career. There’s plenty of creepy happenings that Goodman encounters while interviewing those who experienced these events first hand, Ghost Stories never convinces me that Goodman should be convinced by any of this.
Despite the fact that Ghost Stories isn’t a perfect film, it’s one that I certainly couldn’t help enjoying. The tales are dark and twisted, pushing the limits, but making it seem effortless. I was especially enthralled with the first of the stories that Goodman investigates about a haunting in an old factory. The others are certainly spooky, but that first tale put me on the edge of my seat. The others were certainly fun to sit through, but suffer a bit from a low budget when it comes to the effects. Luckily, the film doesn’t rely too heavily on creepy gimmicks to sell the horror aspect.
The reason why I’m so focused on the flaws when it comes to Ghost Stories is that it’s actually a really good movie and because of that these small flaws are noticeable. The directors don’t mess around when it comes to their stories and don’t baby the audience. Instead, there’s a sense of respect and that makes it all the easier to get sucked into the film. The stories manage to touch on cliches we all have heard in one form or another from traditional supernatural tales, but they’re hardly lazy. Instead, they manage to bring delightful twists that keep them from being too obvious. While it might not be perfect, Ghost Stories is definitely a refreshing horror film that fans will love.
