Ghost Stories

Andy Nyman has come forward to make a feature length movie based on his stage play recognized with the same name. Thanks to this decision, we've got ourselves a pretty decent horror flick!

Ghost Stories follows a man known as Phillip Goodman (Andy Nyman); a modern day TV show debunker of myth and superstitions who receives an invitation to investigate a series of inexplicable events that would forever change his life. Although we do not know what exactly happened in his adult past, a rough feed of family problems, failed relationships and hard childhood was teased a little in the beginning. This did help us get behind, if not fully understand, his motivation for the job he's having right now.

Before digging into the story and issues, let's take a moment to appreciate the absolute merit of a filmmaking prowess displayed by the duo directors here. The crystal clear sound design could literally crawl under your skin! Sometimes, the film was suffocating in pitch blackness but overall, Ole Bratt's camerawork had expert lighting techniques to simmer audiences in darkness with nothing but flashlight. Watch out for all the tricks it can play on your eyes! The steely and grimy tone plus colors were fantastic too. No complaints on the performances but if we were to point out the flip side, the prosthetics makeup looked fake and the little girl's gooey hand appeared as a result of weak computer graphics.

The scares here weren't false! Be it the little girl dressed in yellow, spotting a reflection of oneself in a car, fabrics flying off shelf, floating blanket sheet or the goat-horned demon in the woods, things were sheer terrifying! Even Simon Rifkind's (Alex Lawther) wall-staring parents and house environment were extremely unsettling. It's evident that a lot of practical effects were employed in bringing the scares to life. However, the fast-forwarded ghost drift in Mark Priddle's (Martin Freeman) crib turned out cheap.

Writing wise, yes, the screenplay's designing principle was innovative and smart. Going through three separate cases in a journey of self-discovery rendered Ghost Stories as a part anthology. Furthermore, since the protagonist has a television show of his own, it allows him to break the fourth wall and supply necessary exposition to the audiences in a manner that's organic. While Tony Matthew's (Paul Whitehouse) narration was interesting, all the talkie leading up to it was a fat bore. But, the biggest gripe with the motion picture has definitely got to do with the ultimate letdown of an ending!

As soon as Mark Priddle unearthed himself off the mask, the story took a hard left turn that crushed the final product to be honest. We're given a taste of an important history pertaining to the main character and how it has affected him ever since. We also learnt that he has been in vegetative mode all this while, with traces of events and emotional baggage found in said ghost stories having actually transpired in his real life. So if you were wondering how did those narrators escaped from each of their supernatural encounters, it was all imagination from the very start. More than anything, we're left puzzled and bamboozled on how Phillip abruptly ended up in this current state! As aforementioned, very little information was provided on his past except for the key trauma incident. Therefore, we can only ask back the filmmakers: "What on Earth happened?". If anything, this was definitely not the way revelations should be handled.