Review: Ghost Stories
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I put on Ghost Stories, I knew it was an anthology piece, I knew it had been getting strong reviews and I knew it included Martin Freeman in some capacity but passed that I was unaware of what I was getting into but I had high hopes. It’s difficult to put into words how I feel about this film because while it has a lot of merits in its favour there’s something about the product as a whole that holds it back from being able to call it anything above decent.
The connecting thread of the stories follows Dr Phillip Goodman, a television presenter who exposes fraudulent psychics but has lived a sad, lonely life in the decades since his strict Jewish father kicked out Phillip’s sister for dating an Asian man. Phillip is contacted by Charles Cameron, a former paranormal investigator in the 70s (and Phillip’s childhood hero) who went off-the-grid years ago, Charles has three cases that out of the thousands he’s had over the years, he’s never been able to crack, leading him to assume all three are proof of something supernatural, he asks Phillip to look into the three cases and tell him if he’s wrong.
The first case concerns night-watchman Tony Matthews working as a guard for a disused asylum, while working a shift one night he starts hearing strange noises and seeing fleeting images of a young girl in the dark. The second follows teenager Simon Rifkind who, while driving home one night through a forest, runs over what he believes to be a demonic creature. And the third revolves around city financier Mike Priddle who is attacked by a poltergeist at home on the night his wife is at the hospital giving birth to their first child. While Phillip is able to find logical explanations for all three cases he soon realises that there’s something behind them all, something that concerns him in a much more personal matter.
The film is based on a stage play, one I’ve not seen but it’s a very well-regarded play whose plot is kept severely guarded to avoid anyone getting spoiled on what to expect. With that in mind I think this story would work a lot better on stage where you can get a much more physical reaction, on film we’re getting short scenes of horror that offers very little in the case of new or interesting. Tony Matthews is all torches in the dark with a creepy little girl at its centre, Simon Rifkind had the potential for something interesting with its demonic beast but it’s way too short and sort of just ends without any proper resolution and Mike Priddle (the best of the lot) had this underlying dread but a way too in your face ending that felt a little out of place.
The film’s final act and ending will be divisive, once Phillip is put in the spotlight things are revealed about him that will either bring everything together or leave you feeling cheated with a clichéd twist. Personally I like what the purpose of the twist is and it does leave a chill when you think about it, but it is a very familiar concept that’s been seen far too often.
Due to the anthology nature of the film there was little in the way of standout performances though the small cast help everyone shine through. Paul Whitehouse (an established UK comedienne) felt like an odd choice for a horror movie but he does a decent enough job as Tony Matthews, still reeling from the death of his wife and the guilt over not seeing his daughter in hospital but it’s a fairly basic performance.
Alex Lawther as Simon Rifkind fared a little better, he entered the film antsy and nervous as hell which only increased once the demon comes into play, again his story was way too short to really make an impact but he played into the character’s shredded nerves very well.
Martin Freeman as Mike Priddle is a difficult one to talk about, because while Freeman gives a good performance what makes it good can’t be discussed without spoiling part of the film. When we first meet him he’s friendly but clearly distant, not wanting to discuss what happened to him, but as his story goes on he becomes much more involved and much more sinister as a result.
Main character Phillip (played by co-director and creator of the stage-play Andy Nyman) is a mixed bag, on the one hand we definitely needed to see more him investigating, particularly after the Priddle story he feels like he’s jumping to a lot of conclusion and there’s really not a lot to him so until he becomes the focal point the question his scenes feel superfluous. When the focus is put on him Nyman gives a good performance, a lot of guilt and regret come up and he plays it off well, it just feels like wasted potential that they didn’t do more with Phillip sooner.
As mentioned above, the film is directed by Andy Nyman as well as Jeremy Dyson who also helped create the stage-play. Again I have to imagine their directing skills translate better to stage with a lot of what they show here not hitting the right mark. There’s very much a case of new horror on show here, a lot of showy spectacles but very little in the way of actual scares, it’s all showing too much which isn’t inherently a bad thing, in fact some of the film’s best scenes are because of how in-your-face they are with Simon’s demonic creature and a great camera turn in the finale between Phillip, a ghoul and a hospital bed being two standout moments but they’re small pieces of greatness in a fairly large pool of dullness.
The film just can’t nail that scare factor and in fact it feel like it’s trying to do a little of everything and coming off schizophrenic, there’s elements of slow-burn creeps, of intense visions, of mind-bending reality, even of pitch-black humour in a couple moments but while individually any of these could’ve made for a great horror movie, putting them all together made it difficult to know what the film wanted me to feel or if I was to take it seriously or not. One minute you’re watching a mentally handicapped character die struggling to breath in the dark, the next you’re watching Martin Freeman feed his baby cat-food, it’s not levity it’s just inconsistent.
I did want to like Ghost Stories, the strong reviews had me interested and 2018 has been a great year for horror movies. But sadly while there are great moments within the film – I would love to see Mike Priddle’s storyline bulked up to something substantial – I think something got lost in the translation from stage to screen and onscreen it’s unoriginal and unscary.
6/10