GSBDGhost Story
Director: John Irvin

Cast: Craig Wasson, Alice Krige, Fred Astaire
Shout! Factory
December 1, 2015
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons

There was a time, a long, long time ago, when horror movies were made for adults. They were smart, they had actors over their 20s in them, and they weren’t satisfied with just piling up jump BOO! scare after jump BOO! scare to make teenagers shriek and leap into each other’s arms. And please don’t get me wrong, I’m not some old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. I grew up with slasher movies, some of the most youth-centric horror flicks ever made, and I love far more of them than I really should. But I also love really good horror movies made by adults, for adults. Movies like The Shining, The Changeling, The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, The Sentinel, you know, the kind of horror movies they make less and less of these days. For every one The Babadook that comes out now, there are dozens of Ouija, The Gallows, Unfriended, The Lazarus Effect, etc. And while not every modern movie aimed at teens is total crap (I actually liked Unfriended for what it was), I miss mature horror for mature people.

One such mature horror film that gets nowhere the attention or respect it deserves is 1981’s Ghost Story. Based off of the excellent novel by horror master Peter Straub (an author that gets nowhere the attention or respect he deserves, at least not from the general public), this is a movie that more than likely wouldn’t be made today. It has a measured pace that many of today’s A.D.D. generation would call slow. It is more interested in building suspense and tension rather than BOO! scares, although it does have more than a few of those in it. The biggest reason that it would never be made today is because at least half the cast are seniors, and who really wants to watch a movie about old people these days? Not unless it’s some Oscar-bait drama, right Hollywood? But with age comes experience, and with experience you get actors at the top of their game, such as Fred Astaire playing Ricky, Melvyn Douglas as John, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Edward, and John Houseman playing Sears. These four grand old gents play lifelong friends with a terrible, decades-old secret. A secret they can no long keep to themselves once people start dying in horrifying ways. Edward’s son Don travels to New England for the funeral of his twin brother David, who died under mysterious circumstances, and gets involved in the titular ghost story that is starting to become terrifyingly real.

While the film is not as good as the book it is based off of, that can be said of most movies based on books. It is still strong enough to stand on its own merits, which include the aforementioned great cast, excellent direction by John Irvin, and amazing makeup effects by the late, great FX artist, Dick Smith. Ghost Story all but drips with atmosphere and dread and has an old-timey feel to it, but that could be because at least half of the story is set in the 1930s.

As for the extras on this new Blu-ray from Scream Factory there is an audio commentary track with director John Irvin that, while a bit dry, was very informative. There is a 40 minute long featurette about the genesis of Ghost Story with the author, Peter Straub, who wrote the original novel, and another 29 minute featurette about transferring the story from the printed page to the silver screen. There is a 29 minute discussion with actress Alice Krige who played the vengeful and horrifying ghost this story is about. Yet another 29 minute featurette (hmm, I’m sensing a pattern here) about visual effects in the film. A trailer, TV spots, radio spots, and a photo gallery are also found here.

If you are a fan of classic ghost stories then surprise, surprise the movie Ghost Story is for you. It’s smart, well made, and creepy as all hell. If you Googled the term “they don’t make them like that no more,” this movie would be in the results. I highly recommend it.

About Brian M. Sammons

Brian M. Sammons has penned stories that have appeared in the anthologies: Arkham Tales, Horrors Beyond, Monstrous, Dead but Dreaming 2, Horror for the Holidays, Deepest, Darkest Eden and others. He has edited the books; Cthulhu Unbound 3, Undead & Unbound, Eldritch Chrome, Edge of Sundown, Steampunk Cthulhu, Dark Rites of Cthulhu, Atomic Age Cthulhu, World War Cthulhu and Flesh Like Smoke. He is also the managing editor of Dark Regions Press’ Weird Fiction line. For more about this guy that neighbors describe as “such a nice, quiet man” you can check out his infrequently updated webpage here: http://brian_sammons.webs.com/ and follow him on Twitter @BrianMSammons.

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