[Once
again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for
the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The
Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded (usually with the
help of a few other writers). Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can
pull it off this year.]
Despite being an avid, long time horror fan, the truth is
very few horror movies scare me. Like anyone, a good jump scare can startle me,
and some of the more boundary-pushing films out there most definitely disturb
and/or disgust me. But in terms of shivers-down-the-spine terror, not much gets
to me.
GHOST STORIES got
to me. More than once.
Written and directed by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dawson, GHOST STORIES is a British horror
anthology film. It’s in the tradition of similar films that were in their prime
in the 1970’s when Amicus studios released such titles as THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD and DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORROR. But with its subtler brand of ghostly
thrills and chills, it owes more of a debt to 1941’s DEAD OF NIGHT.
The obligatory framing sequence centers on paranormal
debunker Phillip Goodman (co-writer/director Nyman). We first see Goodman at
work exposing a John Edwards type spiritualist (modeled after a real case in
which skeptic James Randi exposed faith healer Peter Popoff). We also learn
that Goodman embarked on this particular career in part because he felt his
father’s strict Jewish faith, which he regards as superstition no different
from belief in ghosts or psychics, was responsible for breaking up his family.
The story proper begins with Goodman being contacted by a once
famous seventies debunker named Charles Cameron (Leonard Byrne), one of his
heroes. Cameron tells Goodman that both of their work has been a waste, and to
prove it assigns him three cases he claims are impossible to explain. Determined
to prove Cameron wrong, Goodman sets out to do his own investigations.
Anthology films can often be uneven, but all the tales
presented in GHOST STORIES are
equally strong. Each is a symphony of shadows and the supernatural, and taken
at face value, leave little room for prosaic explanations. Nonetheless, Goodman
tries to assure himself that the motto he learned from Cameron, “The brain sees
what it wants to see”, is explanation enough. But of course, in keeping with
the formula for horror anthologies like this, there’s a twist. One that makes
the terror Goodman has dismissed all too personal.
This is an expertly crafted film. Although adapted from
their stage play, Nyman and Dyson’s direction never feels stagey. They have a
sure command of the camera, and are adept at hiding important and frightening
details in the background or in the corner of the frame. They’ve also assembled
a first-rate cast, including Martin Freeman (THE HOBBIT, ‘Sherlock’), Alex Lawther (‘End of the F***ing World’, GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN), and a number
of other fine British thespians.
I don’t have a lot of negative things to say about this
movie. The framing sequence is perhaps a bit clunky, and as a nonbeliever in
all things paranormal myself, it’s kind of annoying that skeptics are always
portrayed as wrongheaded pompous asses in movies like this. Especially when we
see in the early scene where Goodman exposes the psychic fraud just why
skeptics are valuable. But whatever, it works in the context of the film, and
the way things play out it’s entirely possible the main character was right in
his outlook, even if he was a dick about it.
Regardless, the individual stories that make up the film
(and eventually prove to be more interconnected than we first realize) are all
stellar and genuinely scary. And if the film can work that well for someone
like me who doesn’t believe in ghosts or the supernatural at all, I can only imagine
how effective it would be for a believer. You may want to leave the lights on
for this one.
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