The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 95 days to go.
Two questions I always get asked as a horror lover and reviewer are why I love horror movies and also when I started loving them. I have no idea on the second one, none. I used to hate gore and dead bodies, and I used to not even be able to watch CSI when I was younger. Shocking, I know. The first question though, I tend to point people towards certain films to help me.
Horror films make you feel things, no emotions are safe during a horror film. Alfred Hitchcock once said that if a film doesn’t make you feel things, it didn’t do its job. Horror films scare you shitless, and that is incredible.
Ghost Stories made me remember why I love horror films. It reminded me of why I love and will always love them and why they are one of my passions in life. If that one sentence there doesn’t make you want to see this film, then you are not paying attention. FYI, I had no doubt in my mind that I was not going off horrors or that I was not enjoying them anymore.
I had fairy high hopes for Ghost Stories. Not only was it three different stories, and I love an anthology, it was ghost stories – and I love a creepy ghost story like no one! I had heard good things about this film, things such as that it was indeed creepy, pretty damn scary and that it was just all round great. And it was. As it is an anthology, I’m going to break each section down, three ghost stories and then the twisty part, but don’t worry, there are no spoilers in this at all.
Tony Matthews
The first story is fairly simple, Tony is working as a night watchman, it’s dark, he’s alone, apart from a fellow watchman on a walkie talkie and it’s damn eerie. Things start going wrong and the power goes off along with strange noises. Being the good watchman, Tony investigates. I would not have investigated anything at all. I hear a noise like that, and I would bolt.
This section is so nerve-racking, it’s the old chestnut of the noises in the dark and lights going out. And it works. It was tense in the house while this was on. Mum and dad were just as tense as me. And Paul Whitehouse is great in a horror – he should do more! This is just a classic, nice and easy story, one that terrifies majority of people, and it started this film up very well. I mean, I was nervous.
Simon Rifkind
This one is a little different. Simon basically drives home from a party, down a very dark country lane, without a license. Something happens and it turns into a little chase in the woods. Again, that old chestnut of a story. Extremely creepy and tense. Even the build up to it is. When Philip first meets Simon, this is one of the creepiest scenes I have seen. His parents are a thing of nightmares, and the fact that most of the house is in darkness – nah.
Don’t even get me started on the random knocking and movements in the other room. “I know you’re still there.” This whole sequence is insanely chilling. Not as scary as the first story, but this still stands ground. The build up to it is like a little horror film in itself.
Mike Priddle
The last section of the film is about Mike. He has a pretty angry poltergeist in his house, while his wife is away giving birth to their son. This one has a few shocking jump scares, especially one part that literally came out of nowhere. It’s great. This section is also fairly common in these type of films, but it still, like the others, feels original. But damn, why do these big houses not have many really, really bright lights?! That is my main question.
Out of all the three stories, the first one is my favourite. But I do just love scary noises and dark places, so who’d have guessed. I did like the build up to the second one, though, a lot more than the others.
Now, Ghost Stories used to be a stage show, and it was known to tell people at the end of it to never reveal the ending. The film does not do this, but I am not a spoiler, and I am going to go with what the stage show says and not reveal anything.
What I will say is, that it is brilliant. It is something that I never saw coming, and it’s so cleverly done. Cleverly done in the way that Fight Club is done, with little hints here and there, and parts added throughout that link to the ending. I have heard that it is amazing to watch it at least twice so I very much plan to. Ghost Stories is a terrific film. And as I said, it makes me proud to have a passion of horror. Bravo!