Ghost Stories

theoldbreed

Went to see this film Friday Night. I must say I really enjoyed it, I'm a big scary movie fan and this ticked all the boxes for me. It was something a bit different. What did ye think?

El Duda

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]Ghost Stories - 8/10[/font]


[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]A well written, finely crafted British horror film which is genuinely creepy. It feels like such a long time since we've had a film like this. I think any horror enthusiast who grew up on 70's/80's horror will enjoy it.[/font]

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]There are a few splashes of dark humour here and there and the casting is superb. Paul Whitehouse was a particularly inspired piece of casting. He is such a talented character actor. I would love to see more of him.[/font]

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]The film uses some expert cinematography and lighting to 'trick' you into seeing things. At one point I was freaked out by what turned out to be car seat. It is atmospherically creaky and rusty. Jump scares are kept to a minimum and they are fairly effective. It doesn't fall into the trap of becoming an overly loud, obnoxious 'Conjuring/Insidious/IT' style horror film.[/font]

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]It almost felt like a feature length episode of Inside No. 9 at times and it was co-written by Jeremy Dyson who worked on League of Gentlemen. It's relieving to finally see a properly spooky film in the cinema after what feels like a long time.[/font]

theoldbreed

El Duda wrote: »

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]Ghost Stories - 8/10[/font]


[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]A well written, finely crafted British horror film which is genuinely creepy. It feels like such a long time since we've had a film like this. I think any horror enthusiast who grew up on 70's/80's horror will enjoy it.[/font]

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]There are a few splashes of dark humour here and there and the casting is superb. Paul Whitehouse was a particularly inspired piece of casting. He is such a talented character actor. I would love to see more of him.[/font]

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]The film uses some expert cinematography and lighting to 'trick' you into seeing things. At one point I was freaked out by what turned out to be car seat. It is atmospherically creaky and rusty. Jump scares are kept to a minimum and they are fairly effective. It doesn't fall into the trap of becoming an overly loud, obnoxious 'Conjuring/Insidious/IT' style horror film.[/font]

[font=TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, serif]It almost felt like a feature length episode of Inside No. 9 at times and it was co-written by Jeremy Dyson who worked on League of Gentlemen. It's relieving to finally see a properly spooky film in the cinema after what feels like a long time.[/font]

Well said, I agree! I am a fan of Paul Whitehouse also, great actor.
Such a genuinely good film and like you said it has been a long time since we've had one like it.

SimonTemplar

I saw this today. I didn't think it was groundbreaking. Most of the set pieces are family horror situations but they were executed very well. I thought the movie peaked at the beginning though with Paul Whitehouse and his situation. As I said, his situation certainly isn't new to the genre but I thought it was very well done mostly due to his performance. I'd give it 3/5. A solid little horror.

Fysh

I caught this last night and enjoyed it a lot, despite the significant number of jump scares used throughout. Consistently good performances throughout helped to raise the standard, as did good production values.

I've seen the original theatrical play years ago and thought it was excellent, with some very inventive tricks to help unnerve the audience and enhance the atmosphere. The film version doesn't manage that level of inventiveness, but is still quite well executed and manages some very tense moments. It also manages a couple of fairly clunky ones, to be fair - I would be quite happy if the lazy horror trope of

a demonic-looking creature dashing towards the camera screaming

were consigned to the dustbin of history, for instance.

Having said that, the most divisive element for the group I saw it with was

the framing story, and specifically the relative lack of explanation of what the various clues in the individual stories were. The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari is one of my favourite films so I really liked the ending sequence with Callaghan's corpse dragging the professor into his hospital bed, but others felt it robbed the film overall of any substance.

As with many horror films, I would be very keen to see a version that minimises or eliminates the jump scares, since the unease and tension in the rest of the film is very effective.

BorneTobyWilde

cool

theoldbreed

Fysh wrote: »

I caught this last night and enjoyed it a lot, despite the significant number of jump scares used throughout. Consistently good performances throughout helped to raise the standard, as did good production values.

I've seen the original theatrical play years ago and thought it was excellent, with some very inventive tricks to help unnerve the audience and enhance the atmosphere. The film version doesn't manage that level of inventiveness, but is still quite well executed and manages some very tense moments. It also manages a couple of fairly clunky ones, to be fair - I would be quite happy if the lazy horror trope of

a demonic-looking creature dashing towards the camera screaming

were consigned to the dustbin of history, for instance.

Having said that, the most divisive element for the group I saw it with was

the framing story, and specifically the relative lack of explanation of what the various clues in the individual stories were. The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari is one of my favourite films so I really liked the ending sequence with Callaghan's corpse dragging the professor into his hospital bed, but others felt it robbed the film overall of any substance.

As with many horror films, I would be very keen to see a version that minimises or eliminates the jump scares, since the unease and tension in the rest of the film is very effective.

Oh I didn't know it was also a play. I would be very interested in seeing that.

Walter Bishop

Saw this last week, really enjoyed it. Good old-school style British horror.

Birneybau

Bump.

On Netflix now and I'd recommend it. Wouldn't exactly say drop everything and tune in but good enough.

As mentioned previously, also thought there was something when it was just a car seat.

s8n

It’s terrible. Great premise and opening 30 mins but descends into a mess

mikekerry

thought it very good up to around 3 quarters in and then it just went downhill ( after the climax to the 3rd story).
the ending was a bit daft .