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March 29, 2024, 12:39:25 PM

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(Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman's) Ghost Stories

Started by Blue Jam, March 28, 2018, 06:43:48 PM

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Blue Jam

Blimey, I have no idea the play had been adapted for the big screen until I saw it advertised on the side of a bus just now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvng3piq-pU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5-S3djB44

Andy Nyman stars as one might expect, and Nicholas Burns also returns from the play's original cast. They're joined by Paul Whitehouse and Martin Freeman, and Derren Brown also pops up (though I'm wondering if that's a cameo):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5516328/fullcredits

I saw the play's original run at the Lyric before it went to the West End and I really enjoyed it at the time, but I'm wondering how it will work as a film- the play works because of the atmosphere and the sense of dread from knowing anything could happen, there might be some scary audience interaction, etc. I'm not sure how that will work in a cinema... but at the same time, I have said before that I think Jeremy Dyson would do better with a horror anthology series than Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have with Inside No. 9. I've forgotten most of the plot/three sub-plots now so I could enjoy reliving the experience to some extent, but I remember the Hellion dropping from the ceiling (and how hilarious tha was) and I'm not sure how that will work. Also, it was advertised on the side of a bus, which usually isn't a good sign...

Original thread on the play here:

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,22891.0.html

BritishHobo

I saw this at Odeon's Screen Unseen the other week and I've been bursting to talk about it, but really wary of spoiling anything given few other people have seen it yet. Needles to say it's fuckin cracking, absolute marvel of a horror.

surreal

I saw the ad on the side of a bus but the thing that stood out to me was that they seemed to have spelled it incorrectly, as it said "GHOST STOREIS".  I'm going to assume that was whichever idiot put the poster up but the rest of it seemed ok so I'm not sure...

Jerzy Bondov

No I saw a trailer on All4 and as it goes on the spelling starts shifting. Playing mind games with us

Mini

I loved the show and like the people involved and enjoy a good anthology horror movie so I'm excited.

niat

Quote from: surreal on March 29, 2018, 09:40:00 AM
I saw the ad on the side of a bus but the thing that stood out to me was that they seemed to have spelled it incorrectly, as it said "GHOST STOREIS".  I'm going to assume that was whichever idiot put the poster up but the rest of it seemed ok so I'm not sure...

There are a few deliberate misspellings on the bus posters. The tag line (which I can't remember) alludes to this. Something like "not everything is as it appears."

Edit: It's "The brain sees what it wants to see."

All the misspellings are ones that you might miss on first glance, switching the letters "M" and 'N" etc.

I pulled alongside a bus on the way home from work yesterday and noticed a few of these.

Noodle Lizard

#6
I liked the play well enough.  I think I saw it three times.  Towards the end of its run at the Duke of York, you could get tickets on a whim for next to nothing and see a matinee with maybe 15 other people in the audience.  As another poster mentioned, without the live audience response, it was significantly less impactful, and the "big scares" that made the larger audiences scream got little more than a chuckle out of the smaller ones.

That said, it's a well-written and interesting anthology, but only when held together by the framing narrative, and I'm not sure that will translate to a screen version (things like Nyman dropping the pen at the start, weird little quirks which tie into the ending).  I hope they've figured out a good way to make that stuff translate, because it really is the best thing about the show itself.

The trailer is promising though, and about as good a cast as you could hope for.  Looking forward to it.

BritishHobo

CAN IT BE OUT NOW I WANT TO TALK ABOUT SPOILERS. I don't even want to talk about how close or different it appears to be to the details in the play thread, because I already got bollocked on Facebook for saying I gave Murder on the Orient Express one star because I remembered halfway through that I already knew how it ended. Not even true.

Fuck it was good though. Alex Lawther smashing it yet again, I'm absolutely loving him at the moment. I don't know why but his performances always make me think of a CaB user.

Neomod

I remember seeing it at The Duke of York but for the life of me can't remember a thing about it apart from the bed and "daddy".

Theremin

I also cannot wait for this, and second the Alex Lawther love. He's been smashing it recently in the excellent 'The End of The F***ing World' on that Netflix.

Posters for this are brilliant too:

http://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3487883/colorful-ghost-stories-posters-enter-unseen-world-terror-sxsw/

BlodwynPig

"The Brain Sees What it it Wants to See"

if you say so, Phil Jupitus

surreal

Quote from: niat on March 29, 2018, 10:49:50 AM
There are a few deliberate misspellings on the bus posters. The tag line (which I can't remember) alludes to this. Something like "not everything is as it appears."

Ah, interesting PR stunt I guess.  I just assumed it was a mistake so I don't know whether it would backfire a bit...

The Giggling Bean

I've been dying to see This for ages. I saw the play twice in Liverpool and once in London. Its one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I'm going to see it on Monday night. Without spoilers, how faithful to the play is it....particularly the Professor Goodman story?


magval



Paaaaul

Me neither.
Other than a reasonable Amicus-style ending, the film relies way too heavily on cheap jump-scares. Even low-end American horror films have pulled back on them lately.

marquis_de_sad

Yes. The Paul Whitehouse section was good until the jump scares started. The other sections were not very good, even with the very obvious theft from homage to Whistle and I'll Come to You. I thought the ending and overall frame narrative was trite.

mjwilson

I don't know anything about the play but the film was pretty dull. Like one of the bad episodes of Inside No 9, but also going on for ages.

SteveDave

The Scotch voice in the trailer is Martin Freeman isn't it?

magval

Quote from: SteveDave on April 09, 2018, 02:00:14 PM
The Scotch voice in the trailer is Martin Freeman isn't it?

Aye, though that contributes to a fairly large spoiler which will be apparent from about ten minutes into the movie onwards.

The Giggling Bean

Quote from: magval on April 07, 2018, 07:56:10 PM
Where was Derren Brown in this?

He was the voice of the possessed woman from the 70s television show Philip Goodman watched.

I've just come back from watching it and I really enjoyed it. I knew I would anyway as I absolutely loved the stage show. I'm pleased how faithful it was to it's original source. I'll be going to see it again at some point.

Sin Agog


marquis_de_sad

The older scientist was played by the ghost of Francis Crick. Spooky.


Brundle-Fly

Watched it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the play and felt this was an admirable adaptation. Can't really say much because I don't want to ruin it for anybody. I found it really refreshing to have somebody like Andy Nyman as the main protagonist than the usual leads.

I don't know why people are so down on jump scares as if they're some fad when they have been a staple of horror since Val Lewton's Cat People.

marquis_de_sad

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on April 12, 2018, 06:30:38 PMI don't know why people are so down on jump scares as if they're some fad when they have been a staple of horror since Val Lewton's Cat People.

Nice try. Just because a technique is done well in one film doesn't make all uses of that technique automatically good. The jump scares in this were not done well and there were far too many of them.

Brundle-Fly

#25
Quote from: marquis_de_sad on April 12, 2018, 07:05:03 PM
Nice try. Just because a technique is done well in one film doesn't make all uses of that technique automatically good. The jump scares in this were not done well and there were far too many of them.

I didn't say all jump scares are good, I just don't roll my eyes everytime they happen in contemporary horror films, any more than I start tut-tutting at any number of cliches that always crop up in this genre. As long as there is some imagination thrown in. Sometimes the old tricks work best, like old comedic devices.

I concede there were quite a few jump scares in Ghost Stories though.



















Boo

Mark Steels Stockbroker

Just seen it. Bloody good fun.

Did you notice all the connections? Here are a few:

1. The pub he meets Paul Whitehouse in is called "The Tenth Number".
2. Paul calls him "Kojak" at one point.
3. Also mentions that a "Professor" is the job-title of someone who runs a Punch & Judy show - see also a comment from Martin Freeman near the end.

Mini

I thought this was great fun too, essentially a feature-length Inside No. 9 as has been mentioned. It was never going to surpass the play but retained that spooky fairground ride feeling.

Brundle-Fly

How many here waited to the bitter end of the film credits expecting the coda of the play version as an easter egg?

If you didn't, don't worry, there isn't one.

Glebe

Saw it last night, very much enjoyed it for the most part, although I kind of wished there was a bit more to the stories and the ending felt a little bit glib. But yeah, nicely done overall, proper scares and a really creepy atmos.