Rating: 
Summary: GREAT LITTLE CHILLER!
Review: People have been dumping on this movie ever since its first release. I think these folks are comparing the film to the book of the same name and not judging the movie on it's own merits. We had the same problem with "The Shining." Well, I haven't read the book and I've always thought that this was a neat little chiller from the first time I saw it on tape years ago. The DVD, in widescreen, looks even better. It moves along quite briskly and the cast do a good job. The plot? Five old men get together from time to time and tell ghost stories....but don't mention that many years ago, when they were young men, they accidentally killed a beautiful woman friend after a drinking binge. Now the girl has come back to get them one by one. I love it! Not big on special fx but what there is is adequate...and the atmosphere is great! So if you like Kubrick's "The Shining", I think you'll like this creepy little gem from Universal Studios.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Sex Scene Ever!!!
Review: I haven't seen this movie since it appeared on HBO in the Fall of 1982 but I have fond memories of it. The scene that stands out most in my memory is the sex scene with Alice Kringe and her boyfriend. FANTASTIC!!!!! I wish this DVD wasn't out-of-print!
Rating: 
Summary: Ghost Story
Review: This is an excellent horror. I've been looking for it for years. More of a good old fashioned horror. I had to own it, there's suspense and the story line is intense.
Rating: 
Summary: stylish, flawed
Review: This is a fine, wonderfully atmospheric movie with a great cast. Alice Krige is just mesmerising as both the beautiful, doomed, Eva and the vengeful Alma. But did they leave a lot on the cutting room floor? I get the sense that Patricia Neal's entire performance ended up there. The problem with the script, I think is that they tried to keep too much of Peter Straub's book, while cutting the heart out of it. (It's a great book, by the way- a real stay-up-all-night read) They lose the central premise of the "ghosts" being supernatural beings of extraordinary cleverness, evil, and humor. But in keeping some of these characters of the novel without explaining who they are, or what they are, you are sort of left saying "huh?" It also means that the four men central to the story are just plain not-very-nice when it comes right down to it. And it makes Eva's desire for revenge understandable, if not laudable But all kvetching aside, this is a beautiful movie. It is shot in upstate New York (ably standing in for Vermont), and is one of the few movies I have ever seen to actually capture the other-wordliness that winter in New England can be. It is a fine musing on old age, lonelines, and regret, and manages dome real jump-outta-your-seat shocks, while making you care not only for the living, but for the dead as well.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: This was made in 81 with a bunch of old Hollywood Actors telling a Ghost Story. Not much that makes a movie worth seeing for me, as there are hundreds of bad horror-films from that period of time in a similar vain ( "Hell House", "Burnt Offerings" ) and I dislike nearly all of them. However, this is different. VERY different. The plot is good and the actors are believeable. Not one scene in the movie that doesn't make any sense. Suspenseful from the first second, the movie captured my attention and destroyed my well-sleeping abilities for almost two weeks. The appearences of the Ghost come completely unsuspected and they are CREEPY AS HELL! ALICA KRIEG'S make up ( if she actually plays the "THING" I mean ) is more than chilling, although you don't get to see her in her whole rotten glory just a few seconds. But this is enough to make you want to turn the lights on and hide in your Bed! Believe me! You remember the End of Psycho- the Discovery of Norman's Mother? These kind of scenes are happening every 15 minutes here, and they manage to be really shocking. All the actors do a great job ( Alica - where are you today? ) , and the direction absolutely succeeds. This is one of the best Horrormovies ever and it is very unfair to put it in one bag with pointless movies like "Hell House". Buy it, and maybe you will agree!
Rating:
Summary: Guaranteed To Keep You Awake Late Into The Night ... ...
Review: Translations of books into film can NEVER satisfy the book purist, so forget it. I read Peter Straub's novel Ghost Story
and thoroughly enjoyed it. But, I can also love the extremely loose film adaptation equally.
To see all these actors from Hollywood's Golden Age together
for the very last time, in their cinematic swan song, is still
really something to see. A little sad ... ... yes.
Alice Krige is genuinely creepy and menacing. Quite Possibly her best film performance. She's still in my nightmares.
This movie has it all. Great acting, a great Dick Smith rotting,
skeletal walking corpse creation, and most important of all,
atmosphere. All good ghost stories need it. So if you are in
serious need of a good scare check out Ghost Story.
Rating:
Summary: Very atmospheric.
Review: This is an old favorite of mine. It's not the scariest of its kind, but it does have some nice spooky atmosphere and eerie moments. -It was also made at a time when film-makers cared more about these things, it seems. This movie is a million times more scary than, say, "Scream" with its awful "shock-a-minute" approach. "Ghost Story"'s tension builds up all the way through it, to a memorable climax. -The sight (and sound) of Alice Krige's "bride of death" walking down the corridor, is truly haunting. -If you don't appreciate something like this in a Horror film, you're pretty lost and probably not a day over 25!. The brilliant Craig Wasson stars as the unlucky man who falls in love with a ghost. I highly recommend this old-style genre movie.
Rating:
Summary: SENIOR SCARES
Review: When I first saw GHOST STORY on its initial release, I found it to be an entertaining, if not faithful, adaptation of Peter Straub's frightening novel. Now, some 20 years later, I found the movie less entertaining. The main problem I think is the enigmatic nature of the ghost, Eva Galli or Alma Mosely. Was she evil or supernatural prior to her death? And why doesn't she kill Donald as she did his brother? Was she really alive when she went down in the car? And what in the world do the Bates have to do with anything? And the classic "I am You" line is powerless without an explanation.
John Irvin's direction is also lackluster and sober. Of all the classic actors involved, none of them showed the power they have possessed in other roles. Although a talented actor, Craig Wasson was woefully miscast. Only Alice Krige as the ghostly Alma and Jacqueline Brookes as Astaire's wife bring any luster or poignancy to the film.
It's not a bad film by any means, and it does have some frightening moments with a wonderful score by Phillipe Sarde. I wish someone would remake it, however, and bring out more of the wonderful scariness of the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Guaranteed To Keep You Awake Late Into The Night ... ...
Review: Universal plans to re-release Ghost Story on September 7, 2004
just in time for Halloween. Most likely this re-release won't have any extras, although we can always hope. I have always enjoyed this film and although the story line does'nt quite gel with the book's, who cares. This movie is genuinely creepy.
Anyway, all of us fans of this film can start the countdown. Til' then, enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: No - No - No - No - No
Review: This is the way you film a very poor adaptation of a well writen and very scary novel.
Here's the problem: Only a very small piece of the storyline from the book made it to the movie. Ordinarily I would have no issue with this. Except in this case hints of the rest of the plot from the book are included without explanation. Why does Alma say to Don "I am You"? What does that mean in the context of the story on film? It's not explained and doesn't make any sense at all. It is fully explained in the novel, and very well.
Why are Gregory and Fenny Bate even in the movie? They don't need to be to further the story. Especially because of the great side story told by Sears about them in the book.
This film has too many holes, too many unanswered questions and Lawrence Cohen's adaptation of Peter Straub's novel is nowhere near the great job he did with Stephen King's "Carrie".
Do yourself a favor - read the book. You will be much more satisfied.
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