270. Ghost Stories; movie review

GHOST STORIES
Cert 15
96 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong horror, language

That makes a change - two films which I hadn't seen were offered by British Airways on our flight back from San Francisco to Heathrow.
And one of them was this adaptation of the play, Ghost Stories, - hailed as one of the best British horror movies in years.
Well, it ain't anywhere near as good as The Woman In Black so it rather depends how many years to which the critics are referring.
Of course, I realise that a plane is not the most conducive environment to elicit scares unless the engines fall off or cabin crew lose control of the tea or coffee pot.
However, both Mrs W (who also watched Ghost Stories during the flight) and I expected a little more from Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman's movie.
It focuses on spirit-debunker (Nyman) who is challenged with explaining three separate horror stories.
In the first Paul Whitehouse plays a nightwatchman who faces a terrible fright during an early-hours shift.
The second stars Alex Lawther as a wayward teenager who pinches his dad's car and finds himself in a haunted wood and the third focuses on a city financier (Martin Freeman) who is plagued by a poltergeist during his wife's childbirth.
The movie's concept is strong enough and the premise of a debunker having to prove his points could have been engaging but failed to resonate with us.
This may have been down to the power of its effects being diluted on a plane but also because its makers seem to have been bogged down by their keenness on quirkiness.
Indeed, it wasn't too clear whether they were designing it to be a comedy or horror.
The result is that it is neither funny enough nor thrilling enough to heighten the already dulled senses on a transatlantic flight.
That's a shame because there are quality ingredients in terms of cast and backdrop (the English countryside is used to great effect as is a disused mental hospital).

Reasons to watch: High-quality British cast
Reasons to avoid: Neither made me laugh and only elicited one jump

Laughs: None
Jumps: One
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Director quote - Andy Nyman: "It feels very different from the play but somehow exactly the same. We got to dig into the emotional world a lot more in the film than the play. There are shocks and surprises in the play which aren’t in the film and vice versa, so they both remain as stand-alone things."

The big question - Do ghosts exist?

Share this post