Two years ago the British anthology horror film Ghost Stories was released to a limited run the States; a run that my sweetie-wife and I missed. The movie is currently on the streaming service Hulu and last night we gave the horror film a spin.

Written and Directed by Andy Nyman & Jeremy Dyson with Dyson also playing the lead character Phillip Goodman the film is an adaptation of their stage play about Professor Goodman’s investigation of three paranormal events as he tried to debunk them into rationality.

You would not know that this is an adaptation from a live theater event. Nyman and Dyson have done a terrific job of translating the material for the visual media of film. The movie is filled with delicious and unsettling imagery and many segments build suspense masterfully. The framing device of Goodman’s post event investigation is tried and true cinematic method of linking what would normally be three unrelated narratives. In Ghost Stories though it turns out that the three stories are not unrelated but rather share a central narrative that is an outgrowth of Goodman’s own issues, guilt, and motivation.

Sadly, that is where Ghost Stories fails me. While there are others that count this as their favorite horror film of 2018 (or 2017 if you are looking at UK release dates) it falls apart at the ending. Endings are a critical time for all narratives, it is where the point and meaning if the story comes into clarity and conflicting themes are finally resolved. Nyman and Dyson do that but in such a manner that I found it frustrating and wholly unsatisfying. To reveal this exact shape of this failure would require venturing heavily into spoiler territory but I will say that my sweetie-wife predicted the ending a good ten minutes before it resolved. Naturally your mileage may vary on how well the ending does or does not work for you but for me it ruined what had been a very enjoyable ride with a destination that was a thrilling and exciting as depilated bus terminal.