Film - Ghost Stories

Three characters plus three stories with a fair few clichés I know from the horror genre that I ordinarily never watch but I can see it is done so well here.Professor Philip Goodman has spent his life disproving that the paranormal. Indeed, the film opens with him making a documentary showing the simple tricks physics pull to fool the crowd, just like his hero did before his disappearance. Until one day, his hero contacts him from seemingly beyond the grave and tasks him with solving three mysteries.So, in a stage play style, we meet each of the three people who have been changed by witnessing unexplained activities. I (sort-off) watch from behind my fingers as I would have done seeing telly I shouldn’t have as the youngest sibling not wanting to miss out.All the creepy stuff happens where we expect it, in a yet-to-be occupied nursery and down dark corridors in empty warehouses. In fact, there is a severe shortage of lights being switched on but even the pub with one punter in the middle of the day, the top floor of a family home and a caravan are eery. However, the darkest part of this film is a tunnel and that bit is just so incredibly sad, not funny and quite horrid actually.Of course at the end, all is not as it appears to be.I don’t like horror and if you do, this is pretty tame but brilliantly shot and funny in parts. The message on the other hand, is very serious indeed.6½/10