Ghost Stories, a British horror film from co-directors and writers Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, is an interesting case of art moving between mediums. Nyman and Dyson’s Ghost Stories has been running as a theatre production for over 10 years, and part of the original idea for the play was to transpose some of the techniques of horror cinema onto the stage, thus reinvigorating them. The play has been well received and widely seen, and so it is interesting that the directors took on the challenge of moving those horror tropes back into their original setting, as it were; i.e. the big screen.
As somebody who has not seen the stage play, but has watched a fair amount of horror cinema, it’s pleasing to say that while some of the elements of Ghost Stories do feel traditional, particularly with regard to the way it produces its scares, that is not inherently a bad thing, and Nyman and Dyson have enough wit and obvious love for the horror genre to make Ghost Stories not only function as a film, but succeed as one.
Nyman stars as Phillip Goodman, who specialises in debunking tales of the supernatural, but whose hardened exterior begins to crack when he’s invited to investigate three separate cases of what appear to be supernatural goings on.
The film cleverly plays with Phillip’s, and our, perception of what is going on. It’s clear from pretty early on that while Phillip claims to be steadfast in his disbelief, there’s more than a little doubt lurking in his subconscious. Although the story is episodic in one sense – we see the three stories one after the other – the audience naturally begins to look for parallels or connections between them, and there is fun to be had in doing so.
That sense of fun is helped by the performances, and by the film’s adept juggling of the registers of horror and comedy. Film critics often say that horror and comedy are difficult things to get well in the same picture, and it’s true, although the two are closely linked, and in the right circumstances can complement each other greatly. Ghost Stories is not afraid to inject laughs into even scenes of high tension, and it is testament to the quality of the writing, direction and performances that the film manages to create tension, even when it’s intentionally diffusing it with laughs.
Of the three stories Goodman investigates, the first, which stars a very good Paul Whitehouse as a night watchman, is the strongest. It’s also given by far the most screen time, which feels natural as the introduction segues into the stories, but does mean that stories two and three feel a little less developed, although that’s not to say they aren’t successful in their own right. The middle story has a brilliant introduction but the tension created therein is slightly dampened by the fact that it becomes the most overtly comic part of the film, which for me was a little disappointing, but in general these are compelling mini-arcs that successfully complement the wide whole.
It’s worth mentioning that while the middle section of the film is a tad uneven, it all comes together thrillingly in the final movement, which closes things off with a bang and, as with so many good horror films, makes you rethink what you’ve seen, and want to watch again.
Some of what Ghost Stories does may well hark back to the pantheon of horror cinema, but so does most horror. What Nyman a nd Dyson have done is mould their inspirations into a successful, affecting horror picture that is capable of drawing both laughs and shocks, which is an achievement to be commended.