GHOST STORIES
UK, 2017, 98 minutes, Colour.
Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther, Paul Warren, Kobna Holdbrook Smith, Nicholas Burns.
Directed by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman.
The moral of this story, these stories, is that the mind sees and hears what the mind wants. (Perhaps?)
In fact, there are three case studies to be examined in this film but, the film takes us beyond, into the world of the investigator of the cases, quite sceptical, ready and eager to explain every case in ordinary language, in psychological terms.
The investigator is played by actor Andy Nyman who, along with Jeremy Dyson, wrote this piece originally for the stage, for the theatre. They have now adapted it for the screen. Which means then that they can go into all kinds of realistic times and places, into the world of the case studies.
In fact, the film opens with Andy Nyman as Philip Goodman, exposing a mind reader on stage. Philip is also in admiration of another debunker of such ghost stories, Charles Cameron, who is seen showing an episode to be fake. But, Charles Cameron, seems to have disappeared and nobody knows where¦ When suddenly, Philip Goodman, receives a communication from him, summoning him to his smelly and old caravan. Goodman expects some praise but instead is criticised by Cameron and given the folders for three cases and a challenge to solve them.
So, off the audience goes with Goodman, to examine the three cases.
The first concerns a security guard played by Paul Whitehouse, a tough man who nevertheless is terrified by an apparition, the presence, of wife and daughter. Into flashback, into eerie atmospheres of an abandoned site at 4 o'clock in the morning, power going out, doors slamming, connections being pulled, and a man convinced that he has had a ghostly experience.
The second concerns a young man, Alex Lawther, bullied by his mother and father, keeping his door locked – and with all kinds of photos and posters of sinister and demonic presences. Into flashback, his driving along a country road having failed his driver’s test, his father phoning him continually, a sudden crash, fleeing into the forest, ominous presences.
And the third. Martin Freeman is a somewhat suave businessman, taking Goodman on a hike up a country hill. Into flashback, this time a rather spacious and wealthy mansion, the story of the businessman and his wife and her business competitiveness, becoming pregnant at 40, the call from a hospital, ominous.
So, there are the stories, with Goodman and his rational explanations, going back to Cameron who pulls quite a surprise, unmasking himself.
That isn't quite the end of the film there had been home movies at the opening with Philip Goodman and his family, his Bar Mitzvah, his bullying father, and a visit to him in the home for the elderly. And then there is a story about Philip being bullied at school, a simple boy persuaded to go into a stormwater channel with some dire results, especially for Phillip himself who professes that he was helpless to do anything to help the boy.
Actually, the film is not over by any means and to go any further would be an abuse of spoiling the outcome, but, it does have a twist!
1. The film living up to its title? The three cases of the ghost stories? The overall ghost story?
2. The film based on the stage play, opened out?
3. The Yorkshire settings, theatre, television, exposes? The three cases: the building and security, the dark corridors, power failure? The family, the house, the car at night on the road? The walk on the hill, the shed, the mansion, the hospital? The musical score?
4. The focus on Philip Goodman, the importance of the initial sequences of him and the Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish background, the pressures from his father, his place in the family, the later scenes of his going to school, his being bullied by the locals, the simpleton boy and his going into the stormwater channel? The consequences?
5. Philip Goodman and his exposes, going to the theatre, the mind reader and the microphone and the information, the stress of the woman and her story? On stage and the exposure?
6. His admiration for Charles Cameron, Cameron going to the house, the susceptible woman, her story, the breaking of the plate and his engineering it? His later disappearance? Speculation about where he was?
7. The theme of the mind seeing what it wants to see, the consequences? As illustrated by the characters?
8. The summons to Charles Cameron, in the caravan, the number 79, his ailments, his despising of Goodman, yet giving him the three cases to solve?
9. The case of Tony Matthews: the interview with Goodman, visiting the site, security guard, middle-aged, the effect of the experience, his wife, his daughter and the locked-in syndrome, the flashbacks and the story of the haunting, on guard in the early morning, contact with the other guard, noises, power going out, doors banging, the torch, the sense of presence, the effect on him? Goodman and his response, concluding that there were natural explanations, psychological explanations?
10. This case of Simon Rifkind: his being seen at home, his caution, locked doors, the glimpse of his parents in the kitchen, then knocking at the door? The posters and photos on his wall? Diabolical horror? Age, young, timid? The flashback to his driving, his father's anger, the phone calls, the demands? The crash, the mysterious presence on the road? His rushing into the forest? The sense of presence? In the car, the car door? Goodman explaining Simon and his also having natural explanations, psychological?
11. The case of Michael Priddle: the successful businessman, dapper, speech, manner, rifle, climbing the hill, the hut? The flashbacks, his mansion, his wife and her business success, her age, wanting to be pregnant, the hospital, the birth of the child, the mother's death? The continued discussion, the banter with Goodman, brittle suddenly getting the rifle and shooting himself?
12. Goodman, going back to the car, the ghostly glimpse of his face in the car window? His return to Charles Cameron, Cameron denouncing him, removing the mask, the fact that he was Priddle? The defiance? His collapse, taken away, waking in hospital?
13. Hospital sequences, Goodman in bed, the locked-in syndrome, everything happening in his mind? The doctor as Priddle, Simon as the attendant, Tony Matthews and his
cleaning the wards, turning the mirror for Goodman to see?
14. The ultimate ghost story with Goodman, the background of the past, his being bullied, the simpleton boy going into the stormwater channel, counting the numbers, asthma, collapse, his death? Goodman being challenged about what he did, doing nothing, blaming others and his sense of guilt and the reappearance of the hooded boy at various times?
