Ghost Story (film)
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| Ghost Story | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Irvin |
| Produced by | Burt Weissbourd |
| Written by | Novel: Peter Straub Screenplay: Lawrence D. Cohen |
| Starring | Fred Astaire Melvyn Douglas Douglas Fairbanks Jr. John Houseman Alice Krige Craig Wasson Patricia Neal Jacqueline Brookes |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Editing by | Tom Rolf |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 15, 1981 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 110 min. |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Ghost Story is a feature film based on the book of the same name by Peter Straub. It stars Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Melvyn Douglas, Alice Krige and Craig Wasson (in a dual role). The film was rated R for scary images, nudity, sexual content and violence. It was directed by John Irvin and released in 1981 by Universal Pictures. It won the 1982 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. It was the last film to feature Astaire, Fairbanks, and Douglas. It is available on DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
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[edit] Plot
The plot is taken from the novel of the same name by Straub.
A group of elderly gentlemen in their New England hometown have formed a group called "The Chowder Society". Together, they spend their evenings telling ghost stories to one another. However, they begin to experience an actual ghost who wants revenge. The members of the group start dying in mysterious ways, as does the son of one member, who falls to his death after seeing his new bride's face as she really is. His brother attempts to prevent any more deaths. As the story progresses, the audience learns more about the mysterious woman and her relationship with The Chowder Society members.
[edit] Reception
The movie has garnered a B rating from Yahoo! Movies and a 5.7 out of 10 rating from users at the Internet Movie Database, while users at AOL Moviefone gave it a 4 out of 5 stars. The film earned a respectable $23,371,905 at the US box office. It was the third highest grossing horror film of 1981 and the 34th highest grosser of the year.[1]
It only sports a 38% approval rating on Rottentomatoes.com, effectively certifying it as "rotten". One of the common complaints many had was that they felt the filmmakers had overly simplified Peter Straub's highly detailed novel. Roger Ebert was one of the few leading critics of his time who gave the film a favorable review, awarding it three stars out of a possible four.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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