Ghost Story (1981)

If you think because this features some classic movie stars (Melvyn Douglas, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) that it's going to be a classy affair, think again. It's tawdry, exploitative, and not at all scary. The mystery is predictable and uninvolving. The music is overbearing and kills any chance of building suspense. People with eyes beware: Craig Wasson has a full-frontal nude scene in this. Don't say you weren't warned. The opening scene with John Houseman appears to have been done just to rip-off the similar opening Houseman did the year prior in The Fog. I haven't read Peter Straub's novel but I'd be surprised if it wasn't better than this. Just awful.

While my summary above may sound facetious, I am not exaggerating. I don't like ghost films at all (they just don't interest me)--I simply saw it for the elderly actors making their final appearances (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.)! And so, for me, it was worth seeing--even though it did seem odd to have these actors from Hollywood's golden age in a film so atypical of their other films.The film is at times like two different films intertwined. For most of the film, Craig Wasson played a guy who fell hard for a pretty and VERY horny lady (Alice Krige). Wasson and the audience see A LOT of Krige and over time, it becomes clear she ain't no ordinary horny lady. She appears to be, in fact, a ghost--a ghost using him for revenge. As for the revenge, that's where these old-time actors (as well as John Houseman) come into the story. You see, she's REALLY mad at them and has lots of reason to be. But why? What have these men done and what have they been hiding all these years? As I said above, this sort of film isn't really my thing. So keep this in mind as you read. The story was pretty good but the combination of drippy and gooey stuff and a lot of nudity made me feel odd as I thought about Astaire, Douglas and Fairbanks being in the film. They must have been pretty comfortable with this--I just felt it wasn't the way I wanted to remember these guys (though fortunately, they DID keep their clothing on!). A decent film but just my cup of tea.By the way, if Alice Krige seems oddly familiar, among her many roles was the Borg leader in "Star Trek: First Contact" as well as Harold Abrams girlfriend in "Chariots of Fire".

Somewhere along the way, you have to at least watch a movie that stars veteran actors like Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. They were all, of course, rather elderly when this was made, but certainly not over the hill and, if lacking a little bit in energy, they all made up for that with screen presence, and brought an overall feeling of credibility to a movie whose story I found to be somewhat lacking. The four, along with John Houseman (who also directed) made up what they called the "Chowder Society." They had been meeting together for half a century, meetings that apparently revolved (for some reason) around the old men telling ghost stories to each other in darkened rooms. Suddenly, into their midst comes a real life ghost story, revolving around a deep, dark and tragic secret that the men had managed to keep to themselves for that half century, but which now was threatening to take their lives as their past comes back to haunt them.Eventually, the story becomes essentially a flashback move as we trace the tragic events that happened fifty years before, revolving around the relationship the four developed with a young woman named Eva (Alice Krige) and with the young woman's death, and its cover-up by the four. Krige was fine in the role of Eva - a seductress who led the boys on. Be warned that she has a number of nude scenes, so if that sort of thing isn't to your liking, then this movie will not be for you. Krige pulled off the necessary mysterious (and perhaps even vaguely creepy) personality of Eva quite well - in the "modern" scenes, she is, after all, playing a ghost! I wondered a bit about the character, though. Why return at exactly that moment? I wasn't especially clear on that. And why "recruit" the ex-psychiatric patient, whose role in Eva's plan wasn't entirely clear to me? I finished this with a number of questions about plot points that didn't seem to make a lot of sense.Personally, I didn't find this to be an especially frightening movie, nor was it something that really held me enthralled. It's certainly not one that I would consider classic horror, or even a classic ghost movie. To me, it's more of a curiosity because of the bringing together of the veteran cast, but the story overall was a disappointment. (3/10)

You know, "Ghost Story" certainly may not be the best horror movie ever made, but that doesn't matter and I'm still rewarding it with at least one additional point. Why? Just because it feels tremendously good again to see an old-fashioned scary tale that is all about atmosphere, settings, scenery and characters. The accentuation in "Ghost Story" lies on unsettling winterly Vermont landscapes, dark secrets buried at the bottom of grisly lakes, moody musical tunes and terrifying ramshackle mansions in remote neighborhoods. The movie handles about elderly men that are still experiencing nightmares and feelings of remorse for the mistakes they made over half a century ago and deadly curses that are inflicted upon innocent and unwary kin. In short, this is the epitome of horror and – whether or not 100% successful – something every self-acclaimed fan of the genre has to appreciate. "Ghost Story" is based on a novel by author Peter Straub. I haven't read the book, but at least I can very well assume that director John Irvin and the producers perfectly captured Straub's intentions. His story introduces four prominent, respectable and charismatic elderly men and Irvin managed to cast the ideal actors for these roles. Just the fact that "Ghost Story" gathers Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and John Houseman in the very final phase of their long and triumphant careers is reason enough to consider the film as a semi- classic already. The four live together in a town where they are still influential society members. They formed the so-called "Chowder Society" and regularly meet up to drink expensive bourbon and narrate ghastly stories. This is how the movie opens, by the way, with an eerie story in the vein of Edgar Allan Poe, and it immediately sets the ideal creepy tone for the rest of the film. But really these men formed the "Chowder Society" for another reason, namely to oppress the fact that once, approximately fifty years ago, they committed a vile crime together and closed a pact never to talk about it again. Now, the ghosts from the past return to haunt them – literally – and vengeance gets extracted through the twin sons of Mayor Edward Charles Wanderley. The film is reasonably well-paced and unfolds an engaging structure of flashbacks, narrated stories and events occurring in the present time. The sequences in the present are terrific, because the veteran actors truly depict their characters as fatigue and petrified people that struggled with their consciences and emotional burden throughout their entire life. Also, the atmosphere and tension level are spotlighted through the continuously depressing weather conditions as well as the uncanny scenes in the since 50 years abandoned horror house. My absolute favorite part of the film, however, is the flashback to when the protagonists where young and stupid, and committed the crime that would impact the rest of their lives. Those sequences take place in the 1930's, and I happen to be a huge sucker for grim tales taking place in this particular era. The period details are exact and wonderful, with a lot of vehicles, costume details and behavioral patterns that are typical for the timing. The actual events that eventually led to fifty years of nightmares, which I will not reveal here in order to increase potential viewers' curiosity, are definitely intense and horrifying indeed; especially the climax. Unfortunately but almost as a matter of course, I cannot deny that "Ghost Story" also features a handful of senseless sub plots in the script (like the irregular appearance of two religious freaks) and some of the ghostly elements become quite weak if you contemplate about them. Still, in spite of these and a couple of more minor defaults, "Ghost Story" absolutely remains recommended viewing if only for all the reasons highlighted in the opening paragraph of this review. Apart from the classy veteran actors in the lead, there are also terrific roles for Craig Wasson, Patricia Neal, Jacqueline Brookes and last but certainly not least the astonishing Alice Krige, whom you might remember as the crazy mother in "Sleepwalkers" or as Borg Queen in "Star Trek: First Contact". If you still aren't convinced to check the film out, maybe it helps to add that the lovely Mrs. Krige appears more naked than dressed.