Good movie but grossly overrated

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The Ghost (1963) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Italian shocker has Dr. Hitchcock (Elio Jotta) dying but his doctor Charles (Peter Baldwin) is battling hard to try and extend his life. So Dr. Hitchcock thinks. In reality Charles is having an affair with Hitchcock's wife Margaret (Barbara Steele) and the two are trying to kill him. Once dead, the new couple feel they have a fortune coming to them but soon they believe the dead man's ghost is after them.After the success of THE HORRIBLE DR. HITCHCOCK, director Riccardo Freda and Steele teamed up for this film. Even though one of the main characters here is named Dr. Hitchcock I don't think they two films are really connected, although some horror fans give some pretty good theories as to why they are. Either way THE GHOST is a great looking picture with a lot of very good things in it but at the same time there are a couple major issues that keep it from being much better.I'll get the flaws out of the way first but there's no question that there's way too much melodrama going on. I say that because there are way too many scenes at the start of the picture where we're waiting on the doctor to die and I personally felt it took too long to happen. Once the two lovers begin to fight I felt there were a few too many scenes that got dragged out without adding much to the picture. The 95-minute running time certainly drags at times due to the slow pacing.With that said, the film does offer up some very good atmosphere that can only be found in these Italian Gothic pictures. Freda does a nice job at building up this atmosphere and he certainly makes a very good looking picture. Another major plus are the performances with both Baldwin and Jotta doing nice work. The real star is of course Steele who steals the picture as the double crossing wife. Add in a couple nice twists throughout the film and THE GHOST is worth watching.

Riccardo Freda's follow-up to his own TERRIBLE SECRET OF DR. HICHCOCK is a ghastly work of Gothic genius that nearly equals his own first masterpiece. THE GHOST is a solid example of the Italian Gothic genre at its finest. Despite the fact that a lot of the scares have become clichéd today, the atmospheric photography and great Italian style counts for a lot and gives the film a superior look to its British and American cousins. While not as strong a film as his first - which controversially contained the subject of necrophilia - THE GHOST nonetheless has a dark atmosphere and a hard edge as it explores the dark side of the human soul. All of the characters portrayed are corrupt in some way, whether it be the greedy, selfish and unlovable Dr Hichcock, the adulterous two-faced doctor, and most of all that Gothic icon, Barbara Steele herself, as the money-obsessed, greedy wife with no moral scruples of note.The slow-paced tale begins in Scotland, 1910, and is off on a good foot with a séance. Quickly we are introduced to the characters, some adultery in the greenhouse between Margaret Hichcock and Doctor Livingstone, and a sadistic, extended murder sequence in which the doctor is slowly poisoned to death. After the funeral is over, spooky shenanigans come to the fore and the film becomes pretty frightening. Gotta love those Italians - in one scene we hear a dog howling mournfully over the grave of its master, in the next somebody shoots it! Margaret is pushed to the edge by all manner of apparently supernatural phenomenon, while searching for her husband's lost treasure which is somewhere in the house. In the film's most gruesome scene, it is discovered that the key to his safe is still in Hichcock's pocket, so his mouldering, slimy body is exhumed in the search! Margaret discovers jewels hidden in the doctor's travel bag and becomes convinced that he has double-crossed her. In a fit of rage she attacks him and slashes him to death with a razor. This is probably the film's most powerful moment and is pretty grisly for the time, with that old trick of blood running down the camera lens in a P.O.V. shot from the victim. At this point the film plays its trump card with a major plot twist which is pretty hard to spot and makes for a nice, unexpected surprise. I won't spoil it, only to say that as the bodies pile up at the film's climax it almost adopts the style of a Shakespearian tragedy, with death and destruction at every turn.Freda once again offers up plenty of shocks and scares, some clichéd (such as the steps sounding in a walking room, dripping blood, the noise of clanking chains), and some not. In particular I liked the scene of a wheelchair wheeling itself along with nobody in it! There's a brief scene of a possessed woman speaking in a man's voice which is pretty disturbing, and of course the setting of the dark and dingy mansion makes for a lot of atmosphere. I also really liked the use of a music box tune which recurs throughout the movie. First its used in a romantic sense, but it quickly becomes an omen of evil and a sinister sound.The acting is spot on and all of the lead performers give strong performances. Although here the (unrelated) Hichcock character isn't given as much screen time as Robert Flemying in the first movie, Leonard Elliott puts in a strong performance and the camera makes good use of his cadaverous looks. Barbara Steele is as good as ever in the lead role, mixing her wide-eyed fear with some cold-hearted moments of greed and creating a convincing character who demands your attention. Peter Baldwin isn't given much to work with but puts in a solid turn as the put-upon doctor. Harriet Medin also deserves a note as the sinister housekeeper Catherine, who has a habit of popping up in unexpected places and also lends something to the film's dark feel. Although not the best the genre has to offer, Freda's offering is still a good movie and a cut above most from the period in terms of style and sheer horror.

Unlike many of Steele's other horror films, this one is in color--and the copy is in generally nice condition. As for the language, it's all dubbed into English and there were no captions. I assume it's been dubbed into other languages as well."The Ghost" is another Italian-made horror film starring Barbara Steele--everyone's favorite 1960s horror queen. The film begins with a rich doctor in intense pain and living out his final days through the use of two poisons which somehow work together to keep him alive. However, his wife (Steele) and her boyfriend (the guy's doctor) can't wait for him to die...so they help the process! However, after the husband's demise, they start to wonder if he's dead or if his spirit has somehow returned. They also discover that much of his fortune is hidden. And, considering that the dead man did experiments concerning the netherworld, you assume he has indeed come back to his 'loving wife'.So is it worth seeing? Well, the film manages to have a nice spooky Gothic look. The story idea also is pretty good and has many creepy moments. I didn't particularly get some of Steele's actions near the end of the film but the overall film is pretty good--and it ended with some nice twists.

Riccardo Freda, an Italian director of skill who directed many Sword and Sandal films of the 60's as well as horror greats like I Vampiri, does a very serviceable job directing this thoughtful, mood-laden sequel of sorts to his earlier effort The Horrible Doctor Hitchcok. One does not need to have seen that earlier effort to follow what goes on here as they are really entities unto themselves with the same characters just going through different circumstances and having different motivations. In this film Dr. Hitchcock(living in Scotland - very implausible given the Mediterranean looks of most of the cast) is bound in a wheelchair and has nothing but sickly pity for himself as he wishes to die. Helping him remain alive is a local doctor giving him some sort of concoction to live and, of course, no love triangle would be complete without the love object of the other two sides - sultry, hypnotic breathless Barbara Steele - the 60's queen of the horror film - particularly the Gothic horror film. Steele is not a great actress by any stretch. She is lovely to look at and has the most impressive pair of - yes, I know where I could go here but really I intended to say eyes the entire time. Freda creates a slowly building tension between the central characters and the story is nothing exceptional in terms of creativity. You have seen this story before in various adaptations. Freda does; however, have a flair with the camera lens, and I was really surprised at how well he, the actors, and the story all combined to make an interesting film experience. The rest of the cast is all serviceable with Elio Jotta as Dr. Hitchcock being particularly effective and Harriet Medin(who was in the previous Hitchcock film also as a maid) doing a nice, creepy job as Catherine the housemaid. There are some very powerfully shot scenes: the tomb scene is genuinely eerie and the final denouement is quite good. Loads of atmosphere make this one of the best of its kind.