First Scream Unseen of the year goes to British horror Ghost Stories. What appeared to be an anthology is our protagonist, skeptic Professor Phillip Goodman, trying to understand three unexplained supernatural incidents.
I will preface this with the fact I'm a fan of horror movies, all styles or various qualities. At the bottom of my list however finds British horrors and ghosts. With that in mind I was still interested in this film. This in part due to the narrative structure and part due to the cast. With the format having 3 unrelated stories it felt like a few short films. The separation meant the didn't have to rely on each other for momentum. Didn't have to have suspense hold for that long, just 20 minutes or so. Having multiple crescendos is kinda of boring, something has to follow it, it's not the end, even the end of the third story, isn't the end. It's hard to managed to pacing on something like that.
It was shot as a horror movie. Lots of shots that linger that second too long. A lot of framing where our character is to one side, leading our eyes to an empty space, encouraging you to brace yourself in anticipation. That sometimes paid off and sometimes didn't. I couldn't count how many jumps there were in this film there were so many. Some people enjoy that, some people think its lazy. I think short films can do that no questions asked, I think feature length films shouldn't rely on it. With this being essentially both, it did feel a little much. Again due to the structure of the film it had some cliches, each story is thematically connected but almost thought of itself as a separate thing so reused old horror tropes. Small girl in a corridor, check, creepy woman running at the camera, check, something coming from a misty forest, open doorways to blackness etc etc check check. Fun, sure but has been done before. The sound was decent, again, done with horror in mind. Same as the locations and behaviours of the characters.
Some of the cast were forgettable for me. Martin Freeman is charming as ever, I enjoy watching him in whatever he's in and this is no exception. I'm also a huge fan of Alex Lawther. He's in Black Mirror's 'Shut up and Dance' episode, Netflix's 'End of the F***ing World' as well as recent release Freak Show (2017). With such interesting character choices I was completely on board to watch minimum his segment. He seems to do desperation and socially inept quite well? These two were the most fun to watch for me. No one was bad but they were the most captivating to watch.
There's some subtle notices throughout that lead you subconsciously to the end of the film though it isn't exactly expected. It's again kind of a cliche and kind of disappointing? No spoilers of course but it wasn't all that satisfying. I find a lot of films have this, horrors in particular, where the ending isn't great but you can't think of a better one. So you just have to accept it for what it is. The lead to the final part is good and you do notice the breadcrumbs after the reveal but it kind of says, what's the point. You don't feel like you've achieved anything.
Haven't seen the play to compare but the feature would probably better if it were just released as 3 separate shorts. I'm not sure the few impacting moments would maintain on a second viewing. Watch for curiosity but don't expect too much of a lasting impression. 5/10
CINEMATES - A
You might have read other reviews where I've mentioned Odeon Screen Unseen, but let me remind you. Once every month or two Odeon previews a film at a discounted rate. For the second time this year they had Scream Unseen, a preview of a horror movie. That is how I saw The Ritual, completely blind, no trailer, no idea.
I think that made it better, watching the trailers now it feels a little try hard. So the story follows 4 friends camping in Sweden as a send off to the 5th friend who was killed before the trip was booked. British lads, British film, European location, our man Andy Serkis producing this adapted novel by Adam Nevill.
If you can, go in without seeing anything. The murder of one of the friends happens almost immediately and is just the crutch to start the journey. That scene was jarring, maybe more so to me because the trailers hadn't ruined the visuals for me. But it was abrupt in a normal everyday setting and I think the contrast is a bit shocking. Soon after we're thrust into the woods. And it's the best part of the film. The first and second act are captivating. Then like many horrors, especially ones with a hidden monster when the monster is revealed it goes downhill a little.
Cinematography was what it needed to be. The shots made me nervous. The gorgeous woods with long thin trees covering darkness. It slowly zooms as if to direct your eyes to something hidden, you find that you brace yourself, getting tense about something you may or may not even see. The aesthetic is somewhat interesting with the heavy use of wood and folklore. The main character Luke, has dreams mixing the woods with his memory of his deceased friend. We get some great images of a convenience store dripping into the woods, fluorescent lights against the natural woods, the tiled floors with the dirt on the ground. Quite interesting to see, great symbolism for Lukes growing guilt with his increasing fear.
The cast is great, natural as mates, Luke played by Rafe Spall, is the protagonist. I feel he has a good balance of showing his guilt and not wanting to admit there's a reason to be guilty in the first place. He remains somewhat level headed as things get stressful. There's a creepy scene in which each of the characters wake up all of which in peculiar ways and they each deal with it differently. Poses the question of, how would you deal with this, how would I deal with this situation? Good British ensemble, can't say how it relates to the book, whether the characters are brought out well enough, whether they match how they're written.
The tag line 'they should have gone to Vegas' seems an odd tone to me, the film is funny, but not overtly. It's an odd angle to sell as it's definitely not prominent in the story. It does have it's scares, it does get uneasy. The sound helps this, as you can imagine in a forest lush with trees and a possible monster the silence was imposing. Nothing but cracked sticks under feet and grown men chatting. Both the shots and the sound leave empty space and let you build your own expectations as to what may fill it.
As I mentioned before the first two acts are very good, the final act is kinda whatever. Once the mystery is gone it's kinda meh. The risk is a little less though a they try to have little moments of what's next but it doesn't have the same oomph. And the end is also rather lackluster, though I will say it's a beautiful shot though abrupt.
Good film, worth a watch but it feels as if the small marketing matches the quality, can't decide how funny to be but the cast are natural together 6/10
