‘Ghost Stories’ Features A Recent Entry For The Short List Of “Scariest Scenes Of All Time”
By Meagan Navarro/Sept. 22, 2020 10:00 am EST
(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror. In this edition: Ghost Stories used sound and shadow to build up unrelenting tension for this utterly terrifying scene.)Few things frighten and fascinate as well as a good ghost story. The supernatural taps into fears of the unknown, but it more directly ties into the concept of an afterlife. Nothing inspires obsession and conversation quite like death and beyond. An “existential terror,” Ghost Stories’ Charles Cameron (Leonard Byrne) explains why ghosts are such a draw for many. In the film based on the 2010 stage play of the same name, it’s existential terror and the pursuit of disproving supernatural phenomena that drives the narrative forward in this unique spin on the anthology format.Directors Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson waste no time plummeting everyone into the deep end of fear, creating separate vignettes that work to build momentum in both narrative and scares. It’s the first that sets the high bar, creating a disconcerting atmosphere that systematically ramps up the tension at a steady pace then yanks the rug out from under once dread reaches a fever pitch. It results in a nerve-fraying scene that brings maximum chills.
The Setup
Professor Phillip Goodman (Andy Nyman) has dedicated his life to debunking supernatural frauds and psychic phonies, inspired by events from his childhood and childhood hero, paranormal investigator Charles Cameron. Randomly, Goodman receives an invitation from Cameron, who’d been out of the limelight and missing for decades. Cameron, now sick and dying, encourages Goodman to change his perception of the supernatural by tasking him with three paranormal case files that remain unsolved.
The Story So Far
The first case file belongs to Tony Matthews (Paul Whitehouse), a widower wracked with guilt over his continuous failure to visit his daughter, who suffers from locked-in syndrome, in the hospital. At an empty bar, he recounts his tale of being haunted on duty as a night watchman of a derelict building once used as an asylum for female patients. His overnight job has him isolated in a guard shack overlooking the vast, dilapidated building with limited electricity, keeping an eye out for trespassers. The only other person on shift is stationed at an undisclosed guard station at the opposite end of the compound, unable to communicate outside of a walkie talkie.On the fateful night of Tony’s story, he’s lured outside the safe confines of his station by power outages and strange sounds. He ventures out slowly at first, sticking close to his shack, and finds power cords unplugged with strange claw marks over the outlets. He finds personal objects in other places than where he left them. Strange static sounds and eerie echoes in the distance lure him further away from his station and into the bowels of the facility. The overhead lights behind him dim one by one. He turns, and the beam of his flashlight passes over the appearance of a little girl in a yellow dress. Tony flees back to the shack, but disembodied voices over the radio and walkie talkie, followed by groans in the distance, prompt him to head back out into the dark to find the source.
‘Ghost Stories’ Features A Recent Entry For The Short List Of “Scariest Scenes Of All Time”
By Meagan Navarro/Sept. 22, 2020 10:00 am EST
(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror. In this edition: Ghost Stories used sound and shadow to build up unrelenting tension for this utterly terrifying scene.)Few things frighten and fascinate as well as a good ghost story. The supernatural taps into fears of the unknown, but it more directly ties into the concept of an afterlife. Nothing inspires obsession and conversation quite like death and beyond. An “existential terror,” Ghost Stories’ Charles Cameron (Leonard Byrne) explains why ghosts are such a draw for many. In the film based on the 2010 stage play of the same name, it’s existential terror and the pursuit of disproving supernatural phenomena that drives the narrative forward in this unique spin on the anthology format.Directors Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson waste no time plummeting everyone into the deep end of fear, creating separate vignettes that work to build momentum in both narrative and scares. It’s the first that sets the high bar, creating a disconcerting atmosphere that systematically ramps up the tension at a steady pace then yanks the rug out from under once dread reaches a fever pitch. It results in a nerve-fraying scene that brings maximum chills.
The Setup
Professor Phillip Goodman (Andy Nyman) has dedicated his life to debunking supernatural frauds and psychic phonies, inspired by events from his childhood and childhood hero, paranormal investigator Charles Cameron. Randomly, Goodman receives an invitation from Cameron, who’d been out of the limelight and missing for decades. Cameron, now sick and dying, encourages Goodman to change his perception of the supernatural by tasking him with three paranormal case files that remain unsolved.
The Story So Far
The first case file belongs to Tony Matthews (Paul Whitehouse), a widower wracked with guilt over his continuous failure to visit his daughter, who suffers from locked-in syndrome, in the hospital. At an empty bar, he recounts his tale of being haunted on duty as a night watchman of a derelict building once used as an asylum for female patients. His overnight job has him isolated in a guard shack overlooking the vast, dilapidated building with limited electricity, keeping an eye out for trespassers. The only other person on shift is stationed at an undisclosed guard station at the opposite end of the compound, unable to communicate outside of a walkie talkie.On the fateful night of Tony’s story, he’s lured outside the safe confines of his station by power outages and strange sounds. He ventures out slowly at first, sticking close to his shack, and finds power cords unplugged with strange claw marks over the outlets. He finds personal objects in other places than where he left them. Strange static sounds and eerie echoes in the distance lure him further away from his station and into the bowels of the facility. The overhead lights behind him dim one by one. He turns, and the beam of his flashlight passes over the appearance of a little girl in a yellow dress. Tony flees back to the shack, but disembodied voices over the radio and walkie talkie, followed by groans in the distance, prompt him to head back out into the dark to find the source.
