Famous for its geriatric cast of renowned Hollywood stars and story based on a popular novel by Peter Straub, "Ghost Story" didn't quite satisfy me personally as a spooky experience, but it does have attributes I appreciated. The terrific Alice Krige offers plenty (not just her fine body in the buff) in the way of creeps and seductive power as a woman four old timers, members of the wealthy "Chowder Society", once knew as young men (and harbor a horrifying secret involving her that has started to haunt them in nightmares). She "surfaces" in a relationship with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr's son (s), played by Craig Wasson (Body Double; A Nightmare on Elm Street III) as twins (one of whom is frightened by the naked corpse of a woman that sends him falling out of a window of his swank apartment stories to his death). The other son, who had started a teaching position which offered a promising tenure, meets Krige (as a secretary to the principal), and he's never the same. He soon realized just how dangerous she was, even though he found himself smitten with her. Seeing Fred Astaire in a film like this was just compelling to me. He is as sweet- natured and genteel as ever. He does show how a mistake from the past involving him leaves a lasting ache he is unable to alleviate. In the bottom of a local river could be the answer to absolving him (as it would Fairbanks, Melvyn Douglas, and John Houseman), but will any of the Chowder Society (or Wasson's teacher, for that matter) get the chance? Houseman gets to tell a ghost story (always a pleasure to listen to that rich voice; but his work at the beginning of Carpenter's The Fog was superior, in my opinion), Douglas (looking quite tired and weary in old age) remains a tormented mess just wanting to confess their sin, and Fairbanks never gets his chance to fish with Wasson. Wasson has a pretty good, star-making role here, but Krige is really the actor that walks away with this film. She owns the screen every time she is featured.
Miguel Fernandes has a bizarre role as an occult obsessive, latching on to Krige's promise of eternal life if he (and his animalistic little brother who is basically a wild animal in kid's clothes) will help her bring her killers to justice. Two flashbacks reveal Krige in different time periods...this does kind of provide two instances where her character is identified as a threat and a victim. The bonding between her and the Chowders when they were young adults does fuel a real sense of tragedy. Krige's nakedness in the same film that Fred Astaire appears is kind of surreal, I felt. Good make-up effects for the slimy, rotted corpse that appears at the end. The cast has the kind of name value this film certainly benefits from. Patricia Neal and Jaqueline Brookes have small parts that don't really demand much except their concern for the men they love. There's a lot of story and not enough ghost for my liking.
Miguel Fernandes has a bizarre role as an occult obsessive, latching on to Krige's promise of eternal life if he (and his animalistic little brother who is basically a wild animal in kid's clothes) will help her bring her killers to justice. Two flashbacks reveal Krige in different time periods...this does kind of provide two instances where her character is identified as a threat and a victim. The bonding between her and the Chowders when they were young adults does fuel a real sense of tragedy. Krige's nakedness in the same film that Fred Astaire appears is kind of surreal, I felt. Good make-up effects for the slimy, rotted corpse that appears at the end. The cast has the kind of name value this film certainly benefits from. Patricia Neal and Jaqueline Brookes have small parts that don't really demand much except their concern for the men they love. There's a lot of story and not enough ghost for my liking.