Ghost Stories [thread contains spoilers]

[SpringNowPlease2018]

Anyone want to chat about this? So clever! Amazing writing. I found the preamble a bit long. The night guard story was different than the stage show though...or is it how you remember things?

Me! I want to chat about it! I loved it. I thought it was very well done, lots of bumps and jolts, with an ending that kept me guessing. I also really liked how it built on the tradition of British horror, but respectfully borrowed rather than being derivative.

I haven't seen the stage show. What was different? I guess they couldn't have him wandering to quite the extent that he did on film.

I liked how it didn't rely in random effects or anything like that. Built up a atmosphere for each story. So many creepy moments! Would love to see it on stage.

What was the deal with the parents in the second story? Was that just to add random added menace? It really shit me up. Reminded me of the shining - you know, where he looks into hotel rooms and weird things are going on and you can't work out what they are because it's just a glimpse but you know it's oh so wrong.

Interesting that people loved it without seeing the stage show because I'm not sure what I would have thought.

Keeping in mind lack of reliable memory - especially as I was beyond terrified for most of the stage show!....

Main difference for me is case study 1. In the film, we are told immediately that Tony has stopped visiting his daughter. In the stage show, we aren't....it was a dept store warehouse I think, so the mannequins are there from the very start....and we keep watching them, start to think they're a red herring and maybe something awful will happen to the other security guard....and then suddenly a child mannequin raises her arms to her daddy.....

Case Study 2, yes I think the parents were added for drama! Also on stage, I thought he'd hit a person and thought the person would appear in the back of the car, so I was surprised when a demon appeared. In the film, it's like a demon threw himself at the car in the first place.

Case Study 3 - I kept watching the water feature thinking the poltergeist would jump out of there! On stage I kept watching the crib for fear of whatever horror might be shown....glad they kept the line "daddy's got meow meow" but is it funny now? It feels like a dated joke that might be lost unless you knew about it then?

And on stage, when the poltergeist finally appeared from the curtains, I nearly died of fright. Probably not worth trying to recreate that on film? Just as well really as I probably wouldn't have coped!

Oh and when the chap was peeling his face off, I didn't think he'd be Martin Freeman, I thought he'd be the charlatan from the start of the film.

Astonishing brilliant multi layered storytelling. My friend liked it but preferred the stage show. She wasn't scared at the stage show though either. She's tough.

Where can I see this?

Tiger, it had nationwide release on Friday so hopefully a cinema near you has it?

That's really interesting - it sounds like they developed it using the extra settings that film gives you but broadly kept to the idea. I don't know that having the dummies around all the way through would have worked on film - you'd need to keep panning back to them to keep them in the mind of the audience and that would have maybe given the game away? Whereas if they're on the stage you're seeing them all the time?

I also didn't think it would be Freeman - I thought it'd be his dad! I'm crap at guessing twists which is what makes watching horrors so enjoyable for me - I'm always genuinely surprised.

Hey do you think we should get mumsnet to put SPOILERS in big flashing letters at the top of this?

Sorry I thought this board was for people who'd seen the film! I will report it.

I thought I was fine but actually I'm a bit scared now, im overthinking it!

You're probably right - I don't post on this board much.

Other things I noticed about it: the train journey to out of season seaside place and the sheet (references to MR James o whistle and I'll come to you), the train tracks and the father and "child" towards the end (woman in white - very twisted reference to child I thought), the demon and the tree and the car (old British horror film Night of the Demon), the dummies (several British films feature spooky ventriloquist dummies, although of course they're a staple really I suppose).

Ive reported it
I might have to sleep with a light on

Didn't sleep a wink after the show though. Went to work looking like a ghost myself!! Mum asked me why I'd be mad enough to see the film.....!

Good point re mannequins, couldn't keep them in view on screen all the time.

X post
Harold, I don't know any of these things! I will look them up. Re the parents, when we saw them in the kitchen, I thought that actor was Mark Gatiss? He did a documentary on M.R.James but I've not seen it.

Could you explain the woman in white and child reference thing please? Or will I need a stiff drink after?

Haha yeah it's proper scary! I think films like that prey on your mind much more than the very gory ones because it leaves the worst bit to your own imagination, and most people are way better at scaring themselves than being scared by other people. Just tap into a primal fear and let our own brains take over.

Oh Whistle and I'll come to you is on YouTube I think - at least, it was. It's a short film. Watch it in daylight! Or you could read the short story, which is also terrifying.

I didn't spot Mark Gatiss! Also didn't see his MR James documentary - must watch that. He did a series called A History of Horror a few years ago which was excellent.

The ending of the woman in white is set on a train track and involves among other people a child. Who is not a monster - I meant it was a bit twisted to have a child that is a monster while referencing that.

Here is o whistle and I'll come to you:

Harold, do you mean the Woman in Black by Susan Hill - the film version? Mark Gatiss, could be my imagination, just seems like he might want to do that.

I don't watch anything gory!

Oops sorry yes woman in black! Woman in white is Wilkie Collins !

Somehow a scaredy cat like me has read Woman in black, seen the stage show and the film.

I need to go and watch funny clips of stuff on YouTube before I go to bed or I'm going to triple my grey hairs

Thank you for chatting, I hope we get more
MNers on this thread. Don't have nightmares....!

Sorry just noticed it’s a film thread d’oh!

Lovely chatting to you too.

Just think of kittens, daffodils, sheep gambolling through the fields - find your happy place. 😀

Still up and thinking about it
Harold, why is the train track scene, if a reference to Woman in
Black, a bad thing? Because the same thing that made the train track scene a positive scene in Woman in Black could apply here?

Or the train track might not be a reference it WIB anyway?

Saw it tonight. Loved it. Bloody terrifying.

And the end is genuinely unsettling. I keep thinking about it and shuddering. No spoilers but.....what a horrible thought 😲

Jiminy, did you see the play?

The end bothered me much more this time, but that's probably because I had spent most of the live show jumping out of my skin so I was mostly just relieved the show was over!!!