ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

dbarlow-878-833959 I always loved the movie, and wanted to read the novel to compare the two. I was very disappointed in the stark differences between the two. Lewis Benedict is one of the charter of the , "Chowder Society" in the book, and the movie doesn't even have him as a character, Lewis was a key cog in the book. Then you have Stella Hawthorne, she is suppose to be an object of desire, often compared to looking like, "Anne Bancroft", in the movie the Graduate. She was very promiscuous, and often Cheated on Ricky. In the movie she was old and undesirable. In the book Millie was not just a maid but her and Dr. John were secret lovers, in the movie she was just a maid. In the book David and Don were Ed's nephews, not "Sons". Alma Mobley wasn't English, she was from New Orleans. The Bate Boys in the book were apparitions of Sears James not a part of the "Americas Most Wanted List" like Walt Hardisty made you believe in the movie. In the book Sears James wanted Don to come help the Chowder Society, and Ricky Protested the thought. In the movie it is Visa-Versa. In the book Sears James is an honest, yet sincere man, and his tone can come off somewhat harsh, but his friends know its because he doesn't beat around the bushes. In the movie they misconstrue what Peter Straub was trying to convey and made him a total A-hole. Not even mentioning Stringer Dedham or the Dedham sisters, in the movie is somewhat of travesty in its own right. In the book Dr John is the one who jumps off the bridge, and in the movie its Ed. I could go on and on. The main point is, the movie pales far in comparison to the book.

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 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.

buckikris Hello everyone, I don't seeing this movie ever coming out at the theaters, but I was only 9 years old at the time. The first time I saw this movie was on TV and after I watched it I had to buy it. I thought it was a great horror story without all the gore. It had a great cast with a few of the classic actor's as the Chowder Society. I don't know what it is about revenge movie's but some make great movies that are hard to stay away from.This is not you typical horror flick, in fact it has a plot. I liked the fact how the story was told, it takes place somewhere in the northeast, with beautiful Winter scenery. The Chowder Society, getting together in their 70's and telling spooky stories. They never discuss don't discuss what happened in the thirties until, Don finds them. After the death of his brother and father from the hand's of this woman, he know's is not who she appears to be.Don finds the rest of the Chowder Society were his father was once a member and tells them he thinks this is a ghost story and the woman is back for revenge. He explains what has happened when he met her and the story begins to unfold, with more of the Chowder Society meeting their fates with Alma Moberley, the woman back for her revenge.The truth eventually comes out, with the story going back to the times where the Chodwer Society was in their prime. We discover who they were and what the did so wrong to Alma. To save the last remaining member of the Chowder Society. Don with the help of Fred Astaire's character begin to unravel the mystery and unlock the crime they were responsible for back in the 1930's.This movie is a great thrill without all the blood and guts that come with some horror stories. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under age ten though, but it is still a great story. It's a great movie to rent and one that you can watch over and over again, especially around Fall/Halloween.

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 . 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 as the crazy mother in "Sleepwalkers" or as Borg Queen in "Star Trek: First ". 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.