'Ghost Stories' Trailer Released

Horror movies have always been their own type of ghost story, relaying horrifying information to audiences to create nightmares that last long after a viewer exits the theater. In the upcoming horror film Ghost Stories, a paranormal investigator will have a hard time shaking the stories he's heard about haunted places, no matter how cynical he may be. Check out the film's trailer above.

In the film, "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."

The film's co-director, Andy Nyman, stars as Goodman. The actor also starred in the original stage production of the story upon which this film is inspired.

Horror films have a long history of exploring the idea of paranormal investigators attempting to find rational explanations for seemingly supernatural events, such as films like The Legend of Hell House and Poltergeist. In recent years, this trend has gained even more popularity, possibly due to a variety of reality TV series that depict these investigators.

Two of the biggest franchises in the horror world at the moment both incorporate paranormal investigators, The Conjuring and Insidious. With The Conjuring series, we see iconic real-world paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) attempt to bring families peace who claim to be haunted by spirits. The Insidious series uses investigators as surrogates for the audience, regularly being surprised by the horrifying events happening around them.

Ghost Stories also has the benefit of acknowledging that the events a character recounts to the investigator is a subjective experience, creating a surreal sense of storytelling as each of the three sequences plays out.

Ghost Stories is slated to hit theaters this spring.

[H/T YouTube, LionsgateFilmsUK]