Review – Ghost Stories (2017)

Made in 2017, Ghost Stories is a British spookfest with more than a passing nod to the classic Amicus anthology movies of the 1970s, including Tales From The Crypt and From Beyond The Grave. It stars Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse.

Professor Phillip Goodman has devoted his life to debunking phony psychics, ghostly sightings and fraudulent paranormal antics. His natural skepticism soon gets put to the test when he receives news of three chilling, unsolved and totally inexplicable cases, involving disturbing visions in a long abandoned asylum, a car accident deep in the woods and the spirit of an unborn child. Even scarier though, is that each of these frightening tales seem to have an unsettling connection to the professor’s own life.

Ghost Stories started off brilliantly. It had just the right amount of chills and jump scares to keep me on edge. The first two stories were genuinely quite creepy and to me a bit unnerving, so everything looked promising for a cracking final act. It had me gripped, but then with the final tale, the whole thing became very confusing. Maybe it’s just me. Perhaps i just prefer my horror movies to be very old school and straightforward nowadays, which this was up to a certain extent. Problem was i didn’t understand the ending completely. It’s more than likely me being old and a bit dim, but i ended up scratching my head, and feeling completely lost by the end of it. Shame, as what came before was brilliant. It did redeem itself in it’s dying moments though, by having The Monster Mash by Bobby Picket and The Crypt Kickers, playing over the end credits, haven’t heard that for years. To round up,  the critics mostly loved Ghost Stories so i can’t really give it too hard a time, and to be fair, if i accidentally bumped into it late one night on the Horror Channel or suchlike i would more than likely watch it again, so i’m guessing it can’t have been that bad. If you get chance, have a look and maybe let me know what you thought of it. Perhaps you can explain the ending to me………