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94 comments in total

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22 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
A fun, spooky tale that showcases some classic film stars, 22 September 2003

Author: FilmOtaku (ssampon@hotmail.com) from Milwaukee, WI

I watched this film with a friend who described it as `one of the scariest movies he had ever seen.' I will agree with this assessment because the thrills are not cheap ones – they are genuine scares. Ghost Story stars Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Melvyn Douglas as members of the `Chowder Society' a group that gathers around the fireplace to drink brandy and tell ghost stories. The problem lies in the fact that they also share a long-kept secret that is now coming back to haunt them.

While it was novel to see these great actors in action, particularly in a genre where they are not normally known, this film is great because it does not rely on gore or special effects to scare the pants off the viewer. The horrors come from lower scale thrill, like a spooky house, an eerie soundtrack and quick flashes of horrific images that are sudden and impactful enough to make your heart leap into your throat.

This is a small, fun movie that isn't without its faults; (you can see the `secret' coming from a mile away) but the buildup to the unveiling of this secret is pure fun.

--Shelly

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19 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
An Interesting Offering, 7 November 2002
Author: Tom Fowler (tom@tomfowlerwritings.com) from Overland Park, KS

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The cast alone makes this film worth viewing at least once. It is always pleasing to see distinguished veteran prayers get together for an effort such as this one. In this sense it reminds me of 1982's House of the Long Shadows. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Melvyn Douglas, John Houseman and Fred Astaire are the aforementioned players and Craig Wasson, Alice Krige and Patricia Neal are among others in a first rate cast. Taken from a novel by Peter Straub, Ghost Story suffers the fate that many ghost stories put to film do in that it has lost much of the mood and nuance of the written word. Still, Ghost Story is a fine film and very enjoyable if you remember that it is not a masterpiece and do not expect more than it can deliver. Four elderly gentleman, the entire membership of the Chowder Society, get together periodically to share ghost stories. It is indicated early on that these gents have been doing this for a long time and quickly we learn there is a sinister reason why. We do not learn until well into the film what that reason is, and the leading up to it is the meat of the story. Set against a wonderfully atmospheric New England backdrop, it is revealed too late for the distinguished membership of the Chowder Society the four had accidentally murdered a young girl they were all smitten with 50 years earlier. The girl, brilliantly played by the enigmatic Alice Krige, has come back in the form of a ghost to exact terrible revenge. Ghost Story ends with several of the Chowder Society members dead and the secret of her death revealed.

It is a pity that this film cannot be viewed as Straub wrote the story, but that is the chance one takes when producing a ghost film, the main reason why there are precious few truly good ones. Ms. Krige, more than any woman I have ever seen on screen or indeed, known personally, combines an earthiness and elegance in her being that is fascinating. It is she that establishes the mood of this film and that is saying a lot, considering who she was cast against. Ghost Story is almost biblical in it's vengeance to the second generation, Craig Wasson as the son of one of the society members. It is interesting to note the presence of Melvyn Douglas, who starred in horror films such as The Old Dark House and The Vampire Bat in the early 1930's and in 1979's The Changeling in addition to Ghost Story. What a way to bookend a rich career! We didn't get to see enough of Doug Fairbanks, as his character died early, and John Houseman added his usual solid performance. Fred Astaire had the most screen time and his character added much needed touches of light comic relief. Patricia Neal as his wife had little screen time. It was Ms. Krige who carried the film and if you are not familiar with her or her body of work, you should be. She is unique and vastly underrated.

Catch this one on video late on a cold, snowy night, best with a tumbler of brandy in hand. Expect an interesting if not great film and savor the screen presence of the performers. When a group such as this comes together for any kind of film, it is worth viewing at least once. Ms. Krige makes many of the scenes truly frightening, but mainly Ghost Story is to be appreciated for what is, a tribute and last hurrah for several screen legends.

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21 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
"An intelligent scary movie, a classic treasure, worth your time.", 20 March 2005

Author: victorsargeant from United States BOULDER COUNTY COLORADO

I just finished viewing this film, sadly a faded print, little treasure for the fifth time, since its release in 1981. Its worth your time and attention. The cinema-photography is excellent. The film's musical score is excellent. Performances are often brilliant, as only seasoned actors can be. It must have been fun to work on this project. The new actors are equally great, especially Alice who plays Alma, the starring role.The young man who is the male lead, went on to become famous, as you will see in the famous faces of the other young men as well. What a great break for them all, to work with such seasoned legends. Alice is a rare flower, English actor who is now a major star.

This film was a work of love and you can feel it. The camera angles make the film spooky and scary. Even after five times, I was still surprised and jumped again. Bravo. Worth buying this film as a classic for your collections. "The Haunting of Hill House" comes to mind here.

The music is first rate and added so much to the plot and its eerie story. With the camera work, clever original shots, the story takes on a great level of artistry. BRAVO on the little jewel. SARGE IN Colorado

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18 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
I Wanted to Know What They Did, 19 April 2006

Author: Hitchcoc from United States

I read Peter Straub's book and was quite pleased with the result of the movie. First of all, like many, I loved the cast. They are all great men of the world cinema and the pull off the story with great aplomb. The movie is about something someone does in his or her youth and then must live with forever. In a good ghost story, the characters get no points for being once youthful and reckless. The fact that they meet and share their stories means that they never seem to intend closure. They never allow themselves to face the music and, hence, the revenge of the spirit is acceptable in the world where they find themselves. I just thought that a society devoted to the telling of ghost stories was a great idea. Anyway, while the plot does wander around a bit and it takes time to get to the point, it still works great. It was nice to see that Fred Astaire could still act (because he was such a great dancer we forget that he had a great comic talent and, in this case, a dramatic talent). The others are equally formidable. There are also some pretty slimy, putrid visions that appear and make for a pretty good rank on the jump scale. The actually scene that explains everything (I won't spoil it) is both sad and revealing. While not the greatest movie, it works very well and I would recommend it.

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14 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Good ghost movie., 9 August 2006

Author: DisgorgedMenstrualSludge from Hell

I was actually surprised at how good this movie was. It is based on the book by Peter Straub (which I have never read) about a society of four old friends who all share a dark secret concerning their past. They begin experiencing haunting dreams and visions that soon lead to them dying one at a time. The four old farts who star in this do a very good job (including Fred Astaire - this being his last film) and the effects are fairly nasty and well-done. Not much gore, but it has it's share of creepiness and dark atmosphere that make up for it. I would say this movie definitely worthy of checking out - it is an entertaining "Ghost Story".

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12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
The most dreadful thing that ever happened to me was..., 27 March 2004

Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada

Film adaptation of Peter Straub novel in which four elderly New England gentlemen (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and John Houseman) are haunted by memories of a tragic event in their long-ago past that may have something to do with the strange and eerie things happening in the present day.

"Ghost Story", the movie itself, is certainly okay but it wouldn't probably make a list of the "best" horror pictures. I was never scared watching it, but I was intrigued. The story is reasonably interesting and the movie is subtle compared to many a 1980's horror film (although the film-makers do create some genuinely ugly apparitions), for one thing - and the casting of four highly enjoyable acting legends in the leading roles lends it a degree of class.

The problem that I've heard some people have with it is that it is nowhere near as good as the novel, which was supposed to be more complicated. Someday I'll read the novel myself and I'll be able to make my own judgment. For now, I consider it entertaining on its own.

7/10 (Cast gets 10/10)

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Great cast saves uneven film, 26 October 2003

Author: rosscinema (rosscinema@cox.net) from Oceanside, Ca.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

While this is not considered one of the better horror films ever made it none the less is a fun one to watch and it's because of the great actors that lend their craft and screen persona. Story is about four elderly gentlemen in the New England area and they share a 50 year old secret that continues to haunt them. The four of them have formed a private club called the Chowder Society and they have known each other most of their lives. The four are Sears James (John Houseman), John Jaffrey (Melvyn Douglas), Ricky Hawthorne (Fred Astaire) and Edward Wanderley (Douglas Fairbanks jr.) and Edward has a son named David (Craig Wasson) who mysteriously has died from falling out a window. Edward's other son Don (Wasson again) comes to the funeral and he thinks his brothers death is too strange to be an accident and he heard that David was involved with a woman that Don also knew. One day Edward dies from falling off of a bridge and now Don is convinced that the woman is responsible. Don gets with Ricky and tells him of his affair in Florida with a woman named Alma Mobley (Alice Krige) who acted very strange and this was why he would not marry her. Ricky gets John and Sears and the three of them tell Don of what happened 50 years ago. The four of them met a woman named Eva Galli (Krige again) and they would all get together and have fun. Eva and Edward have a more intimate relationship but one night they have a fight and Edward pushes Eva who falls and hits her head. They all think she's dead and decide to hide the evidence. They put her body in a car and push it into a lake but as the car starts to sink they see Eva still alive and trapped in the backseat. None of them can swim and are too drunk to save her so she dies trapped underwater. After Don hears this and presents a locket from Alma the four of them are sure its Eva who has come back for revenge.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

This film was directed by John Irvin who is a competent director but he doesn't lend much to this film in terms of style. There are some genuinely spooky moments but these scenes only come sporadically during the course of the film. The big asset for this film of course is the great cast. But not only are the big four wonderful to watch, it's also a great opportunity to view a very young Alice Krige in a very good performance. There are some gratuitous nude scenes required of her and she exhibits some terrific raw sexuality with Wasson. We understand completely his attraction to her. She's mysterious and wild but we also understand why he won't marry her. She refuses to tell him about herself and he walks away. Krige has always been a terrific actress but she never really had another big role that made people stand up and take notice. The closest she came was in "Star Trek: First Contact" where she played the Borg Queen. One of the reasons this isn't considered a great horror film is that it's hard to swallow the fact that four of the great and sophisticated actors in history are in a film where there is a great amount of nudity. Fred Astaire and nudity, Houseman and nudity...they don't seem to belong in the same film. Another part of the film that was hard to figure was why Alma/Eva pops up in Florida to seduce Wasson. Why does she go all the way there? Why not just kill him? Why not just pop up in New England and get her revenge? And why does her ghost recruit the two lowlifes to help her? It's never really explained and this hurts the film in the way it tells it's story. But I do think there are some effective scenes and it's hard to shake the image at the end of the film where the car is dragged out of the lake and Astaire opening the car door where the corpse of Eva slowly emerges seemingly on it's own and falls to the ground. It's a chilling scene and there are enough of those moments to give this film an eerie atmosphere. Also, actor Tim Choate (The First Time) plays young Ricky in the flashback scenes. Not a classic but with this cast it probably doesn't need to be. Well worth a look by all.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Misbegotten, yet strangely fascinating!, 28 November 2000
Author: Bob Gutowski (rgutowski@nycds.org) from New York, NY

The movie shows signs of severe post-production editing (probably when the studio discovered that the film was something of a mess). There are actors listed in the credits who never appear in the film (the whole poltergeist incident featuring the Dedham sisters - gone! Ricky's parents - gone!). Watch out for the re-use of Astaire's early line to Houseman, "We have to help the boy" in the very late dredging the pond scene (it makes no sense there, but what the hell, they never explain why Astaire suddenly realizes that exposing Eva's body to the light of day will rout her anyway). I just bought the thing on DVD (it was marked down to $9.99!), so I have to admit I love it on some level. Craig Wasson's performance seems to have been sabotaged by editing that places his reactions a beat off every time - either that, or the editors saw no reason to tighten his scenes - in either case, it's an odd portrayal, not helped by a screenplay that makes him the most passive horror hero you ever saw. Aside from the shock cuts to Dick Smith's masterly variations on a corpse theme and Krige's bathtub scream, the movie is eerie rather than scary (see Krige's ghostly wedding dress promenade at the climax). The Gregory and Fenny Bate subplot (Straub's take on THE TURN OF THE SCREW on the novel) should have been handled (or cast) better, or eliminated entirely. In fact, at times the casting seems to be as amateurish as an Ed Wood classic - Gregory, the embarrassed waiter in the restaurant scene, the oddly accented secretary at the school (listen as she turns "Mr. Wanderley" into something like "Wanderlah")- they all seem to be relatives (or dates!) of the production team.

In response to the earlier post concerning Wasson's nude blue-screen jiggling, there was indeed a photo published in CINEFANTASTIQUE documenting his discomfort - and that must be a stuntman who does the naked flop onto the poolside tiles - someone send that man a "Buns of Steel" tape immediately! Phillipe Sarde's over the top but evocative score has, by the way, been turning up on various American soap operas and Spanish telenovelas for years.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
One of My Favorite Movies of Ghost Story, 29 May 2009

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

When his brother David (Craig Wasson) dies on the eve of his wedding, Don travels back to his hometown in New England for the funeral services. He meets his grieving father Edward Charles Wanderley (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), who has a weekly meeting with his old friends Ricky Hawthorne (Fred Astaire), Dr. John Jaffrey (Melvyn Douglas) and Sears James (John Houseman) to tell tales of horror, and together they form The Chowder Society. When Edward and John die in mysterious circumstances, Don sees the picture of Eva Galli (Alice Krige) from the 20's and he joins Rick and Sears to tell a ghost story about his romance with Alma Mobley. Then, the survivors of The Chowder Society disclose a tragic story from their youth, when they accidentally killed their friend Eva, and they conclude that Eva and Alma are the same woman and her spirit is seeking revenge.

Today I have just watched ""Ghost Story", which is one of my favorite movies of ghost story, maybe for the fifth or sixth time and for the first time on DVD. I have never read the best-selling novel of Peter Straub, but I really love this tragic and sad tale. Alice Krige is sexy, hot, beautiful and also scary in her double role of Eva and Alma. It is great to see the veterans Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Melvyn Douglas and John Houseman together in one of their last works. Craig Wasson was in evidence in the 80's and has also good performance. The cinematography is very beautiful and highlighted by the DVD that unfortunately is very poor, without any extra. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "História de Fantasma" ("Ghost Story")

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Fairly good..., 26 May 2000
Author: Michael Rogers (miker@rochester.rr.com) from New York

Atmospheric horror film that doesn't excel, but is worth a view none the less.

This movie must live down a very early scene where a fully frontal nude Craig Wasson plunges out of a high rise window to his death. The scene has a real phony look to it and conjers up images of just how fun it was for Craig to shoot it in front of a blue screen.

The four great and distinguished older actors do a good job in elevating the movie. Alice Krige is great as the tormenting and tormented lady ghost.

The musical score is INCREDIBLE, one of the best I've heard for this type of film.

Makeup artist Dick Smith comes through again with the many visions of the rotted ghost.

A good horror film, give it a shot if you haven't already.

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