Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Day: Halloween 2010 edition!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf or streamed via Netflix Instant and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
GHOST STORY has been on my radar for a while now. I remember seeing the poster art as a kid walking the horror aisle of the local video store and later I remember reading about Dick Smith’s make-up work (especially his cut creation… more on that later). I liked the idea of this great Old Hollywood cast in a ghost story, but a couple of things kept me from diving in.
Mostly it was that I’d heard it was kind of a boring flick.
This column gives me the perfect excuse to visit the film after all these years. What better time to bring it out and finally give it a spin?
I see the criticisms. GHOST STORY isn’t out to give you an entertaining thrill ride, but exists mostly to let you soak up the atmosphere as we get to know a few central characters. In some scenes that really ups the tension and in others it just makes the pacing feel sluggish.
I like Peter Straub’s collaborations with Stephen King (The Talisman is a fantastic read and would make an amazing adult fantasy mini-series as long as Ehren Kruger isn’t writing it), but must admit to being fairly ignorant of his solo work, so I can’t comment on how faithful this is to his book, but one thought kept occurring to me over and over while watching: This is the kind of movie that could benefit from a remake.
The basic structure is solid. A group of old men share a secret that is literally coming back to haunt them and their grown children. These old men have spent decades reveling in the macabre, gathering together in cigar smoke-filled dens, dressed to the nines, to tell ghost stories as a way of dealing with a real-life horror experienced in their youths.
With a solid structure and a possible vehicle for some great older actors mixed with a more competent director I think this could be an incredibly effective movie.
What we have now is a near-miss. It’s great to see Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Patricia Neal, John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas and Fred Astaire working together and gracing the silver screen in their golden years. Especially Astaire. That is one dude you don’t want to see in a horror movie. With the baggage he brings just by being Fred Astaire you immediately don’t want to see him in jeopardy.
But the whole doesn’t ever click. It’s not a bad movie, it’s not a great movie… it’s one of those kinda good movies, but with the talent involved it should have been a classic.
I can pinpoint one particular failure of the film: the rejection of Dick Smith’s original design for the vengeful spirit.
When the ghost, Eva, shows up wanting to scare the living to death we see a rather bad composite effect of a decomposing woman that feels like an afterthought. Here’s what she looks like:
It’s not a particularly great piece of work and the execution of the effect doesn’t help it at all.
Now, here’s Dick Smith’s original design:
BOOM. You fucked up, movie people.
What makes Eva interesting as a spirit is that while she’s right to be pissed and want revenge, there’s a malicious nature to her persona that would totally conjure a visual like the above to represent her inner hatred.
KNB later worked with Dick Smith to reincorporate this design into THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake. It’s fine in that movie, but if it had been the threat as intended in GHOST STORY that could have been the push that would have taken that film from kinda good to great, I think.
Because right now it’s all build up and character work with a minimal pay off. Without the great casting job on both the older cast and finding young Alice Krige to play Eva in the flashbacks (and in ghostly form later on) this would be a wholly unremarkable film.
Final Thoughts: GHOST STORY is a mixed bag. There are horrible pacing issues, bad choices apparent in almost every scene, but still the overall story and casting helps elevate the movie to a slight recommend. Also, Alice Krige has never been more innocently beautiful in one scene and sinisterly creepy in the next. And young and nekkid for you more base constant readers.
Currently in print on DVD: YES
On Netflix Instant: NO
Here are the next week’s worth of AMAD titles:
Sunday, October 3rd: TWO ON A GUILLOTINE (1965)
Monday, October 4th: TENTACLES (1977)
Tuesday, October 5th: BAD RONALD (1974)
Wednesday, October 6th: THE ENTITY (1983)
Thursday, October 7th: DOCTOR X (1932)
Friday, October 8th: THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X (1939)
Saturday, October 9th: THE TENANT (1976)
I’ll be back tomorrow for my thoughts on TWO ON A GUILLOTINE, a remastered shocker from the Warner Archive starring Connie Stevens, Dean Jones and the great Cesar Romero! See ya’ then!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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