Ghost Stories - review

Ghost Stories is *not*, as some may wonder, a sequel to David Lowry's A Ghost Story from last year. It is an adaptation of the theatre play of the same name, written and directed by Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen) and Andy Nyman (Derren Brown), who also stars as Philip Goodman, a debunker of the supernatural and paranormal.
Goodman is contacted by a former paranormal investigator on his death bed who needs Goodman to tell him that three cases he struggled to explain are in fact not evidence of the paranormal.
Goodman proceeds to interview the three men who had these experiences; A nightwatchman (Paul Whitehouse), a student (Alex Lawther) and a smarmy businessman (Martin Freeman). While initially they seem like separate tales, certain details start to crop up that suggest something more sinister is at play here.
As mentioned earlier, this is based on a play (which this reviewer saw twice and was chilled to the bone both times) and the plot is very similar although the framing device is slightly different (In the play, Goodman was delivering a lecture to the audience).
Given the previous work of the writing and directing duo, one can expect a reverence for British horror, a macabre sense of humour and a film where everything is not what it seems... despite the existence of the lead character.
Shot in the style of Seventies British horror films; static cameras, long shots where your eyes move around the screen looking for something evil, 8mm sequences; the stories are put together deliberately to slowly crank up the dial of terror before releasing all that tension with a jump scare. And it is to their credit that the finished product has the desired effect.
A lot of this comes from the performances from the men reliving these terrifying encounters.
Paul Whitehouse is superb as the angry, bitter, broken Nightwatchman who is plagued by mysterious noises and visions during a late shift in the single most effective sequence. He is best known for his comedic roles but he is even better at the portraying the drama and horror he feels.
Alex Lawther is once again incredibly effective as a young man scared to the point of insanity by something he encountered in the woods but he is in danger of being typecast as the troubled youngster that he has previously played in Black Mirror and It's The End Of The F**King World.
The final tale introduces us to Martin Freeman's smarmy character who is able to get under Goodman's skin to the point that it makes him question his own experiences that leads to a final act that pulls the proverbial rug out from under the audience.
There might not be anything too original in any of the individual stories and the scares are signposted (along with hints and visual clues that will become clearer on second viewing) to anyone who knows their horror but the film plays with this knowledge and subverts these expectations.
Nyman & Dyson clearly know their horror and know exactly when to hold back and when to push the button and execute the scare, resulting in a wonderfully delivered ghost story that will chill you to the bone.

4 stars

Gone Girl - review

How do you solve a problem like reviewing Gone Girl? A film that is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible going in... unless you have read the book of course and then the whole thing is spoiled for you!

So how do you review a film where you are scared that talking about any particular aspect or plot point could potentially spoil one of the many, many twists and turns that this film takes along the bumpy road that is the marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne.

What I can say is that is very pleasing to have such a great movie made for grown ups. It has adult themes and at no point does it dumb down to the audience in terms of its ideas or execution. And much of that will be down to the director David Fincher.

It was perhaps initially surprising to see Fincher follow his super but ultimately superfluous English-language Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with another adaptation of a best-selling novel but Gone Girl finds him at his most playful since Fight Club, delivering an incredibly effective mystery that will pull the rug out from under you just when you think you have things figured out (usually accompanied by a crescendo in Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's terrific score).

But it also works as a dark and vicious satire on the media and their fascination with misery and murder, plus it has a lot to say about the modern day institution of marriage... and why do the call it the institution? Because you'd have to be insane to join it!

The film even opens on a shot of Affleck's character stroking his wife's hair as she lies on his chest as he remarks how he would like to crack her skull opening to find out what she was thinking.

Whereas before, in the likes of Se7en and Zodiac, Fincher has followed the police and the procedural nature of the investigation. Here he stays with the couple in question; murder suspect Nick and his missing wife Amy (through flashbacks and diary entries) but who's telling the truth?

The ambiguity is helped by standout performances from the two leads. Ben Affleck underplays it beautifully, with his genial nice, laid back attitude masking a layer of nastiness and contempt. Rosamund Pike however is simply a revelation in a role that people would kill for... Literally? Who knows *strokes beard*

In a story where it is impossible to know who or what to trust, trust me when I say that Gone Girl is one of the best films of the year. Everything else is background noise.

4 stars

The Giver - review

The Giver is the story of a society that following a non-descriptive event known as "The Ruin" live in a Utopian community where there is no war, pain, suffering or choice due to them erasing the memories of the past and living by a series of rules which include "don't lie" and "use precise language" which presumably means no txt speak.

The eponymous Giver of the title is played by Elder Jeff Bridges who is The Keeper Of Memories, the only one in the community to have knowledge of the past, and is tasked to pass on the truth behind the society and his Dude-like wisdom to The Receiver via a series of unintelligible grumbles and vivid flashbacks.

The film might be based on a 1993 novel but suffers from a lack of originiality as it comes across as an amalgam of other science fiction stories and films like The Island, The Village and Logan's Run.

They say it is always better to give than to receive so it is recommended that you give this film a miss.

2 stars

Before I Go To Sleep - review

In Before I Go To Sleep, following a vicious attack Nicole Kidman's character suffers from amnesia that causes her to forget everything she has learned that day, thus starting from scratch again each morning.

Her only real source of help is a digital camera in which she records important information.

I bet that Memento's Leonard Shelby is really annoyed they didn't have them back in 2000 when he was stuck using post it notes and tattoos!

The story has a great hook of someone trying solve a crime like to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle when you don't know how many pieces are involved or what the final picture looks like.

However you yourself could be suffering from short term memory loss and still be able to work out the twists and turns that appear during the third act.

The irony is that while the movie is an enjoyable thriller, it is ultimately rather forgettable and will begin to fade from memory as soon as you leave the cinema.

3 stars