Ghost in Your Ear Review – Truly Terrifying ‘Headphone Horror’ | platform

THe lets out a warning at the beginning of this “Headphone Horror” that reminds us that his ghost is not real. All we have to do, if we feel tired, is take off the headphones and the ghost will disappear. However, you don’t really want that, because writer Jamie Armitage’s Chiller truly delights in giving you the creeps through sound, words, and innuendo.

The audience enters a dark hall, stumbling up the stairs in my case. Headphones hang on the back of each seat, giving you access to this haunting, speckled take on Mr. James: An estranged man’s father has just died. When he goes to his distant home for purification, he begins to be stirred up by the threat of the past.

As a ghost story, it is full of tried and tested tropes – a house crashes in the night, a restless spirit, creaking floorboards, moving shadows, thumps, knocks, and flashing lights. But they exercise their strength on fairground rides. Also directed by Armitage and produced in collaboration with sound design executives Ben and Max Ringham, the drama takes place in a recording studio designed by Anisha Fields, where an actor (George Blagden) and sound technician (Jonathan Livingston) are recording an audiobook. There is a shakiness between them before the story begins, after which the actor becomes increasingly unsettled by what he is telling, while the escape into sudden, downright terror is effective.

The mix of the everyday and the bizarre is reminiscent of Inside No. 9 and the twist at the end is worthy of that series as well. Although the scare tactics aren’t particularly new, from blackouts to knife-like music and jump scares, they are seamlessly executed and excellently acted by a narrator who is more nervous than ever. What makes it innovative is the emphasis on listening: there is an eerily intimate sense of sound streaming into our ears, from the vibrating windshield wipers on a man’s journey to his father’s house, to his rapid, gasping breathing.

If you feel afraid, you are in the right place. This is a good, old-fashioned ghost train of a story.