InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Nigel P A small town in the grip of winter. Four seasoned gentlemen delighting/torturing themselves by telling ghost stories by the fire-side, under the aegis of The Chowder Society. A mysterious young woman whose face is a blur in any photograph. And then the mysterious deaths begin … This film is based on the novel by Peter Straub and has a glittering cast of veteran entertainers – Fred Astaire (as Ricky), Melvyn Douglas (John), John Houseman (Sears), Douglas Fairbanks Jr (Edward), and comparative youngster Craig Wasson as both David (who dies early on after the girl he's sleeping with turns into a rotting corpse) and Don Wanderley, Edward's two sons. Wasson is excellent throughout and makes a real impression, not easy in the company of such great performers.To join the ranks of the Chowder Society, Don tells a ghost story of his own. He talks of a girl, Alma, whom he was seduced by. This girl, played with brilliant eccentricity by Alice Krige, displays increasingly erratic behaviour until Don tells her he wants to end their relationship. A month later, Alma strikes up a relationship with his brother David. Shortly after, David is dead.This story seems to resonate with the old men, and they have their own tale to tell. 50 years earlier, the four of them got together with an upper crust 'good time girl' Eva. Petty jealousies, alcohol and general immaturity turn events nasty one drunken evening, and Eva's toying with their collective affections and egos seals her fate. By accident she is murdered, and in panic, they bundle her into a car and drive it into a river. As the car slides beneath the water, she moves, her hand scrambling to find an escape from her inevitable doom.This is what the Chowder Society have been living with all these years, and it becomes apparent that Alma is somehow a physical manifestation of Eva as she was back then. Why she has waited 50 years to exact her revenge is unknown. As the car is at last dredged from the water, her putrefying corpse lumbers out and collapses, dead one final time: very effective but after all the build-up, rather too brief.The film is too long. Some pruning would have helped, especially an unexplored sub-plot concerning two low-life red herrings who serve no purpose, other than to look conspicuous in the modern setting. And yet the effects, used very sparingly, are excellent and there are moments of real tension. Equally, the town in the icy grip of winter is extremely well achieved and makes the closed off community look particularly inescapable.

utgard14 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.

Vomitron_G 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.

Coventry 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.