Review of Ghost Stories (2018) by Toby H — 17 Apr 2018

Having seen this in the West End a few years ago, I know the theatrical production is at its most impressive when it managed to transfer live on stage so effectively what horror filmmakers do on-screen with jump cuts and other CGI or editing tricks, so that you feel like you are actually inside the horror instead of just watching one.

Which is to say when you transfer this back to film, we are once again just an audience to a well executed but rather conventional genre film, and despite the good work from co-writers/directors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, it has lost some of its original novelty and charm.

Essentially a portmanteau film comprising of 3 cases of spiritual sightings that Nyman's Professor Goodman is trying to debunk, the film is spooky but old-fashioned. 3 cases mean 3 familiar faces to co-star with Nyman and while Paul Whitehouse and Martin Freeman both give nice performances, I would single out the frantic and bug-eyed Alex Lawther as the one that catches my attention the most.

With this kind of film, the script, and in particular, the ending is paramount and while it is nicely written with a fine twist, this time round, it feels like it has lost some of its impact - and not because I remembered what happened in the show (as I didn't).

Perhaps, certain elements do not feel as fresh as it once was, but more likely, the impact of a live performance should not be underestimated and it just worked better in that format. Here, it feels more like a half decent feature length episode of Inside No.

9.