Film review: Ghost Stories

Whitehouse puts in a robust turn as pragmatic night watchman Tony, whose unexplained encounter with evil has left him scarred for life and unable to talk freely about the horrors he witnessed one fateful night. Alex Lawther is magnificent as intense teenager Simon, whose illicit late-night drive in his father’s car, without a driving license, leads him straight into the arms of an unknown evil presence. While Martin Freeman’s spine-chilling performance as a former city broker who is haunted by the poltergeist of a dead baby is as brilliantly well observed as it is disturbing.

Despite playing with traditional horror tropes, Ghost Stories offers up more of a pastiche than a straight horror narrative, and manages to raise frequent smiles all the while scaring audiences out of their wits. Nyman and Dyson have devised a fantastically well executed screenplay which touches on a variety of themes from antisemitism to childhood bullying, and while the film is decidedly male-centric, it does however present an alternative to the usual macho stereotype by offering up these men as mostly flawed, and at times tormented by their own fears. 

Overall, Ghost Stories delivers on its promise of pure unadulterated terror and is only ever let down by failing to look as cinematic as its makers might have hoped. With its expertly crafted gothic aesthetic and its beautifully executed scares, the film provides exactly what fans of the duo might have expected and more.