A Brilliant Conflict

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is one of my favorites. My first apartment, my first year on my own, my first HBO subscription. I watched this movie over and over again. Ghost Story is very atmospheric. Dark, dismal weather in the form of downpours and never ending snow. The weather was the perfect backdrop for the mysterious Eva Galli. Houseman, Astaire, Douglas,and Fairbanks, Jr. slip effortlessly into their roles as small town figureheads and Chowder Society members steeling their nerves with brandy in the coziness of their studies, trying to hold back the cold, the darkness, and Eva Galli's pent-up fury. Choate, Chamberlin, Johnson, and Olin play the Chowder Society's younger selves in the sweetness of their youth. Eva Krige plays the dual roles (or are they?) of Alma Mobley and Eva Galli, exhibiting a perfect blend of innocence and sensuality. The tragedy of Krige's Eva is inescapable. Craig Wasson also has a dual role as twin brothers Don and David Wanderly who become the avenue of attack for Eva Galli's vengeance against the Chowder Society. Ghost Story has few in-your-face shocks. Instead it is a slow simmering of genuinely creepy moments climaxing with Galli's rustling walk down the hall of her decrepit house to meet the trapped Don Wanderly. Will Eva have her revenge?

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)

I will take you places you've never been. I will show you things that you have never seen and I will see the life run out of you. ~ Eva, in the film Ghost StoryThe movie centers on a group of elderly men who have formed an exclusive story-telling group called The Chowder Society. The men meet regularly, sit around a fire in a dark room and share their best ghost stories. Under the surface, however, lies a ghastly secret they all share - a real life, true ghost story of their own that they dare not speak of.When one of The Chowder Society member's twin sons dies in a very strange and inexplicable accident, the other twin returns home to mourn with his father. That is when a series of horrifying events begin to unfold, forcing the men of the Chowder Society to come to terms with the shocking and dreadful event that has haunted them for the past 50 years.I personally love these types of stories. They do not feature masked- maniacs hunting down unsuspecting teenagers and hacking them to death. (Although there are a few good ones in that category!) What this story does provide is a genuine chill-running-down-your-spine sensation that brings you to a terrifying place without ever forcing you to close your eyes. A star-studded cast includes Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Houseman and Patricia Neal, Jacqueline Brookes, Craig Wasson and Alice Krige. Having a cast with such experienced and talented actors creates a believable and authentic film making it a worthwhile, scary little gem of a movie.If you like genuine ghost stories, watch this movie. Based on the novel by the gifted Peter Straub and skillfully directed by John Irvin, this film is a top pick for me.

I initially wanted to rate "Ghost Story" a fine 7/10, but I figured since I (voluntarily) had to endure watching such heavy rubbish earlier this week, I'd just chip in an extra point. I feel no shame about this, as the film is actually very good. At the start of the '80s, the horror landscape was changing. Films got a lot crazier, partly due to many great sfx artists rising to the scene and otherwise because of the mindset of that era (fashion, trends, etc). Often filmmakers cared less about telling a coherent story and more about making their films go over-the-top in any way they'd see fit. So in a way "Ghost Story" really feels like if it was one of the last 'classic' horror movies at the time. From the orchestrated soundtrack over the slow pace of the film, relying more on mood, tension and atmosphere to the splendid performances of our veteran foursome Fred Astaire, Melvin Douglas, John Houseman and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The film is ingeniously structured, with various stories within the main story, nightmarish dream sequences and a great flashback story to the 1930's era. The settings provide some classic horror elements too, like the isolated snowy town, grisly frozen lakes and an old ramshackle haunted mansion. Sporadically, the film is also injected with some amusing scares provided by ghostly rotting appearances and the special visual effects by master matte artist Albert Whitlock are outstanding. Gorgeous actress Alice Krige has that icy cold mysteriousness over her that is fitting for her role. On top of that, she has more scenes with her clothes off then on. There are a couple subplots that could have been altered to make it an even better movie, but these are only minor problems. If you want a decent scary movie double bill with a classy feel to it for a dark & stormy night, I think teaming up John Irvin's "Ghost Story" (1981) with Peter Medak's "The Changeling" (1980) might work wonders.