I love physical effects. No knock on CGI, which can be done well, but tactile objects on the screen usually work better for me.
Even better are effects that aren’t even effects. In Ghost Story, for example, there’s a neat moment where a ghost descends a staircase where a large portion of the stairway is missing. All we see is the lower back of an old wedding dress as the figure descends the stairs. We don’t even see the gap in the stairs until after they have traversed it, which is a good a good reveal.
The other effects in the movie are of the more conventional variety. As one expects of horror pictures of the time, you get an oozing corpse, which is well-made and well-used. Overall, however, this isn’t an especially gory film.
But this level of gruesomeness is surprising given the pedigree of the cast. It was pleasantly surprising to have a movie in 1981 where the top-billed actors are Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and John Houseman. All are in fine form here, with Astaire especially noteworthy in one of his best performances outside of a musical.
The real star of the movie, in my opinion, is Alice Krige as the title ghost. She is in command of the screen in every moment she appears. And in another aspect that is shocking, given the advanced age of the four leads, Krige spends a lot of time sans clothing, earning the movie a surprisingly hard-R. Let’s just say the 20-something Krige was very comfortable with her body.
I understand the screenplay was excavated from a fairly dense tome written by Peter Straub, sacrificing a great many characters and subplots. Which may explain two characters that contribute so little to the movie that I wonder why they were included at all. This is unfortunate, as Miguel Fernandes and a very young Lance Holcomb, play an intimidating duo of escaped metal patients who do some of the murderous bidding of Krieg’s ghost. Since the ghost is repeatedly shown to be all too effective at dispatching people, I never understand the necessity of these accomplices, especially when they are so little used.
There are some other problems with the film, but I feel singling them out would be nitpicking, as I enjoyed the movie overall. I must have enjoyed it more than the last time I saw it decades ago, as my own recollection from that viewing is I wasn’t engaged by it. This time I enjoyed it, and can mildly recommend it. It is a decent way to pass a cold winter’s evening.
Dir: John Irvin
Starring Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, John Houseman, Alice Krige
Watched on Shout Factory blu-ray