James Berardinelli review - **1/2 out of ****
https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/ghost-story
1981’s Ghost Story, based on the bestselling novel by Peter Straub, is not a bad movie, especially for a horror film released into an era that was increasingly dominated by slasher movies. However, there’s a sense that the production not only could have been better, but should have been better, especially considering the talent involved. With the exception of a few jump scares, Ghost Story isn’t especially scary, and the condensations necessary to cram a 500-page movie into a 110-minute movie leave little room for character development and cause the occasionally borderline-incoherent plot to feel rushed.share
To this day, it’s unclear how representative the theatrical cut is of director John Irvin’s vision. Rumors of studio interference abounded at the time, with one significant role – the one played by Patricia Neal – nearly eliminated entirely in the editing process. (Neal’s final contribution feels like a glorified cameo.) Straub was publicly vocal about his displeasure although, over the years, his view softened. By the 2010s, he admitted to admiring the atmospheric creepiness but remained displeased about the liberties taken with the story.
The central conceit, that of a group of four old men who regularly meet to tell each other ghost stories, feels forced from the beginning. The “Chowder Society,” as they call themselves, is comprised of a quartet of New England gentlemen who have known each other since college. They are a businessman, Ricky Hawthorn (Fred Astaire); a lawyer, Sears James (John Houseman); a doctor, John Jaffrey (Melvyn Douglas); and the town’s mayor, Edward Charles Wanderley (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Early in the film, we are briefly introduced to one of Edward’s sons, David (Craig Wasson), as he becomes so frightened by the sight of a ghoul in his bed that he stumbles backward and falls to his death. Edward’s other son, Don (also Craig Wasson), returns home for the funeral. He and his father are not on the best of terms but they attempt to remain civil toward one another.
The bulk of the story focuses on a secret kept by the members of the Chowder Society regarding their culpability in the death of a woman, Eva Galli (Alice Krige), who has supernaturally returned nearly a half-century later to exact her revenge not only on the four old men but on Edward’s sons, both of whom she seduces under her new guise as secretary Alma Mobley. Although Krige’s performance is creepy, her character is not well-served by the choppy screenplay, which never fleshes out Eva/Alma. The flashback sequences are inadequate (both those that transpire in the 1920s and those that detail her present-day relationship with Don) and it’s never explained why it took around 40 years for the specter to return to corporeal form.
Most of the film’s problems are story-related, which is perhaps not unexpected considered the herculean task undertaken by Lawrence D. Cohen in trying to make a movie out of a novel that would have been a challenge even if accorded the running time of a mini-series. Major changes from the book were necessitated and the domino effect results in various plot holes and dead ends. The flashbacks serve their expository purpose but do little to develop the characters and feel shoehorned into the overall story. The climax is nonsensical, with back-and-forth cutting between an injured Don confronting Alma while Ricky, having improbably survived a car crash without a scratch, completes a series of tasks that couldn’t likely be done in days let alone hours.
In making Ghost Story, the filmmakers relied on a casting approach that had become popular during the 1970s and early 1980s when it came to horror: hire respected veterans to entice older viewers to attend films whose nominal appeal was to a younger generation. This had been done with Max von Sydow in The Exorcist, Gregory Peck in The Omen, and Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasance in 1979’s Dracula (with Pleasance also appearing in Halloween and its sequels). With Ghost Story, Irvin and his producers scored a coup by luring three icons out of semi-retirement; only John Houseman was still active at the time. This was the final film performance for Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.