Ghost Stories
IFC Midnight | Release Date: April 20, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Village VoiceApril WolfeApr 18, 2018
Equal parts spooky and cheeky, this film nails its black humor and finds a bizarre but satisfying conclusion to manage all the loose ends. Read full review
83
IndieWireJamie RighettiApr 17, 2018
The staginess of the source material steeps the film in an uncanny atmosphere, where the secrets of the past bleed into the present. Actual ghosts might not be real, but the memories we repress are, and they can haunt us in ways we might not expect. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 3, 2018
The best thing about Ghost Stories — and there are a lot of good things — is the confidence of its directors. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayApr 19, 2018
Like the films it pays homage to, Ghost Stories is more classy than chilling; but each of its dark, twisty tales is smartly staged. Read full review
80
CineVueMartyn ConterioApr 18, 2018
Ghost Stories is uncomfortably timely, reminding us the haunted past is always haunting the present. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenApr 10, 2018
Its world is weirdly familiar and yet alien. It’s also darn scary. Read full review
80
EmpireAlex GodfreyApr 9, 2018
Not quite a terrifying thrill-ride, Ghost Stories is a creepy, disturbing ghost train with a beefier backbone than its source material, trading on tropes but still making your skin itch. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt GlasbyApr 2, 2018
Bone-chillingly told and beautifully made, Ghost Stories is an expert twist on an evergreen genre. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 15, 2018
Ghost Stories is a barnstormer of an entertainment, a fairground ride with dodgy brakes. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonMar 15, 2018
Ghost Stories is a witty and well-crafted love letter to old-school horror tropes. Read full review
80
Screen DailyNikki BaughanMar 15, 2018
Underneath the entertaining horror, this is ultimately a story of the toxic trappings of masculinity; a world in which keeping a stiff upper lip and resolutely burying your demons can summon the most terrifying of consequences. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonApr 26, 2018
The movie is mostly gore free and tame by the standards of modern horror movies, and some of the familiar visual touches borrow greedily from the James Wan school. But it’s smartly written and well-acted. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubApr 25, 2018
This is a filmmaker who cares less about horror cinema as a theme park ride, and more about mood. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeIsaac Feldberg Apr 25, 2018
This is challenging, almost cerebral horror, infrequently indulging obvious scares when deeper-set ones lurk below. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoApr 20, 2018
Like the subgenre that inspired it, Ghost Stories is just twisted enough to be humorous, but doesn’t shy at all on the creepy factor. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 18, 2018
Few horror movies hold up under close-examination and dissection. But Ghost Stories has the goods to occasionally creep even the most jaded gene viewer out, something each year’s cinematic bumper crop of “Boo” rarely achieves. Read full review
70
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 30, 2018
There’s the phantom of a psychothriller for the ages inside “Ghost Stories” that never quite fights its way out of the film’s tightly structured creepshow homage, but the goosebumps it raises are real, and honestly earned. Read full review
68
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpApr 18, 2018
Ghost Stories’ failure to see its established ideas through to the end doesn’t totally negate the viewing experience. Each segment remains effectively chilling in a vacuum where the movie’s climax doesn’t exist. Read full review
67
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonMar 15, 2018
There’s still a lot of pleasure to be had here, whether from digging your fingernails into the armrest early on, to Freeman’s sly comic performance later. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 24, 2018
These ghost stories, if that’s what they are, aren’t terribly original, or even especially scary — at least, not by the standards of the genre. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJosh WiseApr 16, 2018
In setting their play to film, Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman decide where we look. Any magician would be jealous of that power. But it puts everything at a remove, trapping you in your own head. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 18, 2018
At the end, it’s hard to avoid the sense you’ve watched a grab-bag of horror conceits, a kind of pot-pourri-potboiler with organising principles cooked up to provide a veneer of cohesion. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloApr 17, 2018
Ghost Stories works best as an exercise in nostalgia. Those seeking hardcore, modern-day scares will be disappointed. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiMay 2, 2018
Unfortunately offers up the same old recipe, with a soupçon of variation to make those jump-scares not feel like day-old bread. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyApr 20, 2018
Pretty light on scares and only hangs together with the thinnest (and hokiest) of narrative threads. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisApr 19, 2018
Managing to feel at once painfully slow and bafflingly truncated, this creaky triptych of not-so-scary tales is a tame curiosity of movie nostalgia. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 11, 2018
Most real horror fans, however, will likely be left wondering where the heat is. Read full review
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