‘Spooky’ horror film with ‘plenty of jump scares’ | Films | Entertainment

A British horror film lauded by fans as “worth rewatching” and an “understated horror” has landed on BBC iPlayer. The film, which hit screens in 2017, is a British horror anthology centred on Professor Phillip Goodman, a resolute sceptic who exposes fraudulent paranormal claims.

His unwavering rationalism is put to the test when a former mentor presents him with three chilling, unsolved cases. The tales feature a night watchman tormented in an asylum, a teenager’s sinister encounter during a car accident, and a banker terrorised by a poltergeist. Helmed by directors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, the film features Nyman alongside Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther and Martin Freeman.

Ghost Stories is a wholly British production, filmed across various Yorkshire locations including Leeds, Saltaire, Harewood Estate, Harrogate and Hornsea.

One reviewer commented: “This is a good mystery/horror film. It remains interesting till the very end. Much better that some big budget productions. The cast is great. The script and the direction are strong points. Nice.”

Another wrote: “Spooky, unsettling and impeccably staged. Ghost Stories is a great British horror film that does invite a few rewatches, but the ending is sure to be polarising.”

“Ghost Stories is a mostly entertaining horror movie. Essentially an anthology made up of short horror stories of varying quality with an overarching premise, with none of the stories being subpar. Good performances all round, with some very creepy moments. Well worth watching for fans of more ‘understated’ horror,” added a third.

Another wrote: “Great movie. Loved the stories and direction. The characters were outstanding especially the lead actor. Plenty of jump scares that got me every time.”

A fifth commented: “This is a reasonably spooky film, in a traditional supernatural way. It’s more of a creepy film than it is an outright scary one as such, but I like that it comes from an angle of wanting to de-bunk fake stories. Just to clarify, its not a documentary but a horror-drama film.

“The plot is quite good and there’s a good cast, with Paul Whitehouse and Martin Freeman among the bigger names. It’s certainly got a surreal side to it, present in some scenes, although for most of the film, which is set/filmed in the UK, it seems pretty realistic. There are some sudden events that might make you flinch a little but it’s not what I’d regard as an overly bloody film. I thought the musical score wasn’t too bad either.”

However, some viewers weren’t particularly impressed, as one criticised: “I’m surprised how many people liked this movie. I thought it was really, really bad. Low budget, terrible soundtrack and editing, not scary, insipid. The longer I watched, the more frustrated I became. Part of me wanted to quit it whilst another part kept hoping it would get better; it never did.

“I do like twist endings, which this had, but not good enough to justify the journey getting there. Although many people apparently enjoyed it as other reviews here attest, I would not recommend it to any horror movie fan. This is one to skip; I only wish I had.”

Another commented: “Like a lot of ghost movies, it just didn’t make a whole heck of a lot of sense.

“It’s an OK movie. There were few ‘scary’ moments. I barely felt any tension throughout. Just wondered how the three stories connected. It shows you in the end, but it’s not the most original idea,” said another.

Ghost Stories is now available on BBC iPlayer.

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