Rent Ghost Stories (2017)

A hugely entertaining and enjoyable homage to portmanteau Hammer horror films of the 1940s-1970s - Ghost Stories review by PV

I loved this film - which is based on a stage play, which shows in the clever structure and twists.

Andy Newman comes from a magic production background - he produces many of Derren Brown's stage shows - and Jeremy Dyson who cowrote/produced this with Newman, comes from The League of Gentlemen, so that's a class double act to start with.

Three short stories about spooky goings-on are linked by common threads (no spoilers) and, whilst the increasing tricksiness may pose more questions than it answers and irritate, it keeps the film well-paced and entertaining until the very end.

Paul Whitehouse plays, well, Paul Whitehouse doing his cockney act though makes it more mental than on The Fast Show or his own TV show; Martin Freeman is brilliant as a posho city boy - in fact, he's so convincing that at first I didn't recognise him - his impression is spot-on of that type of person. The middle tale of a teenager is also entertaining.

I do so hope more of these modern portmanteau horror movies get made - I loved the old Hammer horror ones, often featuring Peter Cushing and people like Roy Castle and even Boris Karloff (British Universal horror veteran William Pratt). The first was perhaps the brilliant Dead of Night (1945) which was remade in the early 70s - the ventriloquist doll sequence of the first movie is classic. But also Dr Terror's House of Horror, Torture Garden, Tales from the Crypt, Asylum etc. They died out (pardon the pun) as Hammer went under in the 80s, which is a shame - though TV replaced horror movies really. Now they live again. HOORAH!

These portmanteau films always have a twist at the end which links all the stories, so keep your wits about you during the film as the ending will make more sense then (no spoilers).

I could watch this all over again. Brilliant entertainment and genuinely spooky with some frights and jumps along the way, though the stories are based on old horror tropes such as the haunted house/asylum, a broken-down car, spooky woods, ghostly children etc.

Enjoy the ride! 5 stars!

A great slice of spooky entertainment - Ghost Stories review by Jezzer

I watched this film the way ghost films are meant to be watched, which is alone, late at night and in the dark, and it scared me rigid. I thought I was going to have to turn it off several times. The last film to do that to me was The Orphanage.

The film's moody atmosphere must be due in part to being shot entirely on location in Yorkshire, and I recognised a local pub in one short exterior shot.

I did find the ending a bit disappointing, which is why it only gets four stars. It is based on a stage play, and the ending probably worked better on the stage.

But all in all, a great slice of spooky entertainment for ghost film lovers.

Lazily derivative but worth it for the creepy atmosphere - Ghost Stories review by MB

Okay, I get it. It's difficult being original. And it's even harder in a genre like horror. But still...

I won't include the obvious spoilers, the main one lifted from a famous 1990s crime/heist movie. And if you know Silence of the Lambs well, you'll even hear snippets of dialogue from that movie in Ghost Stories - not as quotes but as, well, dialogue.

So why is this even worth watching? Two reasons: one is its creepy, oppressive atmosphere, beautifully realised by its Director of Photography. When a working men's club appears as a setting it's like you can *smell* the place and I can't recall a movie doing this so well for quite a while. [Actually, I can: the glacially slow but utterly terrifying Italian horror, 'Across the River']

Second reason is a remarkable performance from Alex Lawther, who pretty well steals the movie.

Overall: if you know your movies, prepare to be a bit annoyed. But if you can make a bet on Lawther winning a Oscar one day, you'll eventually win your Cinema Paradiso subscription money back.