Ghost Story (1981 film)
A supernatural horror film about guilt and ghostly revenge.
Ghost Story is a 1981 American supernatural horror film. John Irvin directed it, and Lawrence D. Cohen wrote the screenplay, which adapts Peter Straub's 1979 novel. The cast includes Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman, Craig Wasson, and Alice Krige. The plot centers on a group of elderly businessmen in New England who meet regularly and eventually confess their role in a woman's death from decades earlier, after one of them believes her ghost is haunting him. This movie marked the last feature film for Astaire and the last completed film for Douglas. It also served as Michael O'Neill's first film appearance. Filming took place in Woodstock, Vermont; Saratoga Springs, New York; and at the abandoned Hotel Ponce de León in St. Augustine, Florida. Universal Pictures released it in the United States on December 18, 1981. Critics gave it mixed-to-negative reviews, but it performed well commercially and later gained a moderate cult following.
Quick Facts
- Director
- John Irvin
- Producer
- Burt Weissbourd
- Screenplay
- Lawrence D. Cohen
- Based On
- Ghost Story / (1979 novel) · Peter Straub
- Starring
- Fred Astaire / Melvyn Douglas / Douglas Fairbanks Jr. / John Houseman / Craig Wasson / Patricia Neal / Alice Krige
- Music
- Philippe Sarde
- Cinematography
- Jack Cardiff
- Editing
- Tom Rolf
- Studio
- Universal Pictures
- Released
- 18 December 1981
- Runtime
- 110 minutes
- Country
- United States
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The film was shot in Woodstock, Vermont; Saratoga Springs, New York; and at the abandoned Hotel Ponce de León in St. Augustine, Florida. Principal photography also took place in Saratoga Springs and Woodstock, with interiors of the abandoned home crafted inside the former Union Station in Albany, New York. Florida-based scenes were completed in St. Augustine and New Smyrna Beach, Florida, while New York City scenes were shot on location at Waterside Plaza. Additional photography took place at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California. Director John Irvin envisioned the narrative as being about hypocrisy and principally 'men's fear of women, and at some point, hatred.' He hired several British filmmakers as part of his team and stated that the film's cinematography was intended to be 'European' in appearance and to 'look like a Christmas card.'
Reader's Guide
Ghost Story received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics upon release, but was a commercial success, grossing $23,371,905 in the United States and becoming the third-highest grossing horror film of 1981. It has since developed a moderate cult following. The film's special makeup effects were designed by Dick Smith, with a team including Rick Baker and Carl Fullerton, who created multiple life-sized puppets of Eva/Alma in different stages of decay. An unused 'eyeless apparition' design by Smith was later used in a hallucination sequence in the 1999 film House on Haunted Hill. At least two different unused endings were shot, including one where Don sees an apparition of David on a bus and another where Don, Ricky, and Stella meet at Eva's graveside. Still photos and script excerpts from these unused endings were later included on the Shout Factory Blu-Ray release.
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