A delightful and diabolical British horror movie. Ghost Stories, adapted from the West End play of the same name (the playwrights, Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, serve as directors), is in the grand tradition of Dead of Night and the original Tales from the Crypt film with Joan Collins and Ralph Richardson. It presents a triptych of eerie, campfire-ready yarns loosely threaded together by an overarching story involving a skeptical academic. The morbid atmosphere is dense. Substantial jolts are delivered at a measured-but-steady interval. And there is a dose of macabre humor, particularly once Martin Freeman is introduced as a nervous stockbroker plagued by an apparent poltergeist while his pregnant wife is hospitalized. And despite a slightly hoary conceit (it was all a...), the twist ending is an appropriately ghastly final turn of the screw and rings true on an emotional level.

Really enjoyed this film. British horror can be very hit and miss with me, but this is definitely one of the best one's I've seen in a while. Loved the way it was shot and the acting is more than solid, especially from Nyman as the lead and Martin Freeman. I even liked the dude who played the Rifkind character. I also thought all the scares with the ghosts were chillingly effective as well and the way this movie incorporates dark humor is really clever and brilliant too.

B+

This is a fun and eerie -almost anthology- horror-comedy. It's not particularly scary, safely hovering in Goosebumps/Eerie Indiana/Tales from the Crypt-for-adults territory, and you could tell immediately that the old guy Cameron is actually Martin Freeman (for some reason filmmakers still have not made prosthetic skin look authentic), but it is still an entertaining watch. There are many little one-liners that will make you smile. And it zips by at only 97 minutes. B