EXCLUSIVE: First Look at Horror Anthology ‘Ghost Stories’ is Creepy AF

Kim Taylor-Foster
Movies Movie Trailers
Movies Movie Trailers Horror

This exclusive first look at Ghost Stories is a spine-tingler. Focusing on the three main characters from the individual stories within the anthology, there’s a hint that all three are actually threaded together by a common theme.

The teaser trailer puts Andy Nyman’s Professor Goodman character front and centre. He introduces the three stories to camera in grainy footage. “I’m here to share three apparently supernatural incidents with you, all of which seem deeply troubling,” he says. As he faces the camera, he holds up a sign that says: “The brain sees what it wants to see.”

First, there’s a look at Paul Whitehouse’s character Tony Matthews. He seems to be working the night shift in some kind of dilapidated warehouse. The power goes down, before coming back on again as he steps out of his office to investigate.

Next up is Martin Freeman’s Mike Priddle who glimpses a ghostly figure in a child’s cot. The footage cuts to Goodman again, this time seemingly immersed in the narrative. We see him walk towards a couple in a kitchen with their backs turned to him.

Finally, a close-up of Alex Lawther’s terrified face flashes up before we see his character Simon Rifkind standing by a door in what looks like a home office. We hear a voice say: “You don’t believe do you?” He’s looking at Nyman’s character who’s surrounded by papers and demonic pictures attached to the walls. We’re then back with a super-scared — and wheezing — Paul Whitehouse.

Theatrical Origins

The film began life as a stage show and was a huge success. Written by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson of The League of Gentlemen, the production was nominated for two trophies at the 2011 Olivier Awards, which recognises professional excellence in the theatre. The same team is behind this big-screen adaptation, in which Nyman also stars.

As well as writing and directing, Andy Nyman leads the cast, reprising his role as Professor Goodman alongside Paul Whitehouse (Alice in Wonderland, The Fast Show), Alex Lawther (Black MirrorThe Imitation Game) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit franchise, Fargo, Sherlock). Check out the thoroughly creepy synopsis:

Phillip Goodman, professor of psychology, arch-skeptic, the one-man ‘belief buster’ – has his rationality tested to the hilt when he receives a letter apparently from beyond the grave. His mentor Charles Cameron, the ‘original’ TV parapsychologist, went missing fifteen years before, presumed dead — and yet now he writes to Goodman saying that the pair must meet. Cameron, it seems, is still very much alive. And he needs Goodman to find a rational explanation for three stories that have shaken Cameron to his core. As Goodman investigates, he meets three haunted people, each with a tale more frightening, uncanny and inexplicable than the last.

Ghost Stories hits UK cinemas on April 13, 2018.

Kim Taylor-Foster
Kim Taylor-Foster is Entertainment Editor for Fandom in the UK. She was raised on an unsteady diet of video nasties and violent action flicks.