Ghostly
yarns are meant to be told, person to person, as indeed happens here. In this case,
they are prompted by a skeptic’s investigation (it still counts) that is rooted
in a dare (which makes it even better). “The brain sees what it wants to see”
is the motto of our intrepid paranormal investigator, but all bets are off during
Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman’s pseudo-anthology film, Ghost Stories (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
Prof.
Phillip Goodman fancies himself a British Amazing Randi, but despite his TV
show, he is not nearly as famous (or respected). His role model actually
happens to be Charles Cameron, a famous TV debunker from the 1970s, who has
disappeared from public sight in recent years. At first, Goodman is thrilled
when the mysterious old man reaches out to him, but the camper-dwelling Cameron
is surprisingly hostile when he pays a visit. Openly contemptuous of the
logical materialism he and Goodman offered people in place of supernatural
mystery, Cameron gives his follower three case files that you could say shook
his lack of faith in the beyond. He challenges Goodman to investigate and
explain them, thereby launching the film’s anthology structure, except there is
rather a bit more to the wrap-around segments, as we will eventually learn.
The
initial “proper” story focuses on an emotionally-broken night watchman, who
reports being haunted on the job by a little girl. The second relates a
pre-teen’s terrifying vehicular mishap along a remote stretch of road (a bit
like Bryan Bertino’s The Monster, but
more demonic), while the final tale relates the very personal and tragic
hauntings experienced by City investment banker Mike Priddle. However, things
are not precisely as they seem, but telling would be a shame.
Ghost Stories is based on Dyson &
Nyman’s long-running play, which must have featured some inventive staging, judging
from the film version. Even American horror fans who learn its secrets from the
film would probably enjoy seeing it unfold on the boards. In large measure,
this is because the framing narrative is so inventive—so much so, it eventually
takes precedence over the constituent stories.
Co-writer-co-director
Nyman is absolutely terrific as Prof. Goodman. He is a real character, with
real flaws—and not just a device to introduce the next haunting. Martin Freeman
similarly makes Priddle seem very real, but he also helps facilitate some big
surprises (again telling would be telling). Yet, perhaps the rawest, most
wrenching work comes from Paul Whitehouse (much better known in the UK), who really
kills it as Tony Matthews, the literally and figuratively haunted night guard.
To
put Ghost Stories into context, many critics
and fans have invoked the name of Amicus, the Hammer-like studio that
specialized in anthologies (like Dr.
Terror’s House of Horrors, which featured Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee,
and British jazz musician Tubby Hayes). However, you can also taste some of the
flavoring of the decidedly existential British horror exemplified by Ben
Wheatley and Gareth Tunley, but that rather makes sense, since producers Robin
Gutch and Claire Jones performed like duties on films such as Kill List, Berberian Sound Studio, A Field in England, and Sightseers.