E's Reviews: Ghost Stories

“The brain sees what it wants to see...”

Ghost Stories is a British psychological thriller/horror film starring Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, and Alex Lawther and is about a professor who makes a living debunking supernatural things like psychics and ghosts and ghouls, who is given three cases to investigate that may not be as easily explained as he first thinks, and is directed by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson. They also co-wrote the film. The film is also based on the West End play by League of Gentleman writer Jeremy Dyson, which I am told is very very spooky and very very entertaining.

Now, my first reaction when I went in was that the theater was practically empty. My wife and I were lucky to even get into a screening, since the film plays either very early in the day or very late at night, and is a very limited release. I love movies like this. Sure, I’m a huge fan of blockbusters and major films (in any genre), but when a small budget indie title actually gets a release, I want to be there to experience it. What an experience Ghost Stories was... Each case that was being examined was done in segments, much like an anthology of sorts, and each case gets creepier and more disturbing as it goes.

From the opening titles (and logos...there are lots of them) we’re treated to a score that sets the terrifying tone of the film. In my research of it for this review, I discovered that the production logos play over the sound of dripping water and someone struggling to breathe. I found that pretty interesting. Another interesting thing was that the posters for the film were found to have a spelling error in the name of the film as ‘Ghost Storeis’ which not many people caught. The production company revealed that this goes along with the tagline “The brain sees what it wants to see.”

Let’s start off with the acting, of which the standouts are stars Martin Freeman and Alex Lawther. Freeman eats up every second of screen time, proving that he has come a long way in his career and is exceptional in every sense of the word in this film. He is simply amazing in his segment, and has one of the best performances I’ve seen in film all year. He’s also exceptional in Fargo, season 1 and you guys should check it out. As for Alex Lawther, this young actor put on one of the best performances in the film, almost outdoing Martin Freeman, during his segment. He portrayed someone who was truly haunted, truly emotional, and truly disturbed. He’s also very good in the Netflix The End of the F***ing World, and you should check that out too. The lead, Andy Nyman, was alright. I thought he was kind of weak at first, but as the film progressed he started getting better and better. Paul Whitehouse was the weakest in this film, but it isn’t to say he was bad. He was very good and was entertaining to watch (his segment/case was first up and was truly creepy).

The cinematography was amazing. The angles were great, the scenery beautiful in some cases, depressing and dreary in others, and then absolutely terrifying and claustrophobic in others. The script was excellent, the story excellent, and I felt truly horrible for these characters, I really really connected with them up until the ending (which I won’t ruin). The score was truly haunting and very effective setting up each sequence. Also, the minimal CGI used really really helped this movie along, opting more for using practical effects.

My only gripes with the movie were the jump scares. Now, I do love a good jump scare from time to time, but sometimes all it is is a loud noise made to make you freak out at something spooky, and then nothing is shown. There were a few of these jump scares which made me actually disappointed, but then they counter balanced that with scenes where there’s a jump scare like a door being slammed or a bird hitting a window, and then they continue the scene uninterrupted to something truly frightening...and that scene goes on just to get under your skin. Very effective scares.

In the end, Ghost Stories is a very effective film, with beautiful music, amazing performances (seriously, I cannot rave enough about Martin Freeman...), and an excellent script. The only gripe I really had was the jump scares and loud noises, making things kind of easy to predict when they would happen. But don’t let that detour you, check it out wherever you can!

Final Score: 8.5/10