Ghost Story (1981)

[saltysam]

Ghost Story seems to be getting a release as part a 3 film "kultbox" featuring The Funhouse & White Zombie. Anyone got any reports on the company releasing it,english audio,uncut etc? http://www.amazon.de/Horror-Kult-Col...950807&sr=1-52

[Leslie Dame]

Ghost Story was released to DVD in Germany five years ago by EuroVideo and not Universal. So this "kultbox" set sort of makes sense I guess. No idea about the company and quality though.

[Pecker]

That company have another 'kultbox' up there ('Kultbox 80s').

There are two reviews - one is only 1 star saying so much on one disc = poor quality, but it sounds like they haven't seen it.

The other says they were worried about the quality (for the same reason) but was pleasantly surprised.

At that price it's worth a punt.

Steve W

[Dickieduvet]

Love Ghost Story, Alice Krige is fantastic in this. Looks like all 3 films will be on one disc. Possibly HDTV masters too?

Worth a quick read here:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=258055

[Widescreenfilmguy]

One of my favorite movies, I remember seeing it at the drive in when it came out

[Dickieduvet]

This is being released tomorrow, no official word if an English audio track is present, all listings I have found are only stating German.

Looks like the other (edel Germany) collections have Eng audio though, was really tempted to order but think I'll wait for clarification.

[DMRI2006]

There's English according to the back of the box -- found this on a German website.

Not surprised as all the other Edel compilations have English audio.

[Dickieduvet]

Thanks for that, even if Ghost Story is a HDTV master I'll grab it.

[saltysam]

i've took a chance and pre-ordered,hopefully if it ships tomorrow will have it by the end of the week.

[Dickieduvet]

Would love to hear how it looks Saltysam, sold my R1 DVD ages ago hoping a BD was going to pop up. Hopefully it's at least in HD and not a dodgy upscale

[DMRI2006]

I ordered a copy as well, though the Germany-US shipping has been very slow of late so who knows when it will arrive. I wouldn't worry about upscaling -- these new Paragon/Edel budget compilation discs have been surprisingly good. Even if they are HDTV masters they are better than DVD and quite affordable too...the one weak transfer I've seen was Paradise Alley on the Stallone Box, which was DNR'd to death (though the source materials are so poor there was probably a reason for it). However it wasn't an upscale, and the other two titles in it looked very good.

I was hoping someone would do a full Special Edition of GHOST STORY because so much was cut from the film (I mean, it's a better movie than CAT PEOPLE, and yet that got the "Special Edition" status).

If you have the old Cinefantastique article on the movie, they have stills from the multiple endings they shot but didn't use...one was a reshoot, and they didn't end up using any of that, either, in addition to all kinds of Dick Smith make-up FX that were taken out. The movie had a really difficult ride in the editing room and that article was extensive in how badly it was treated.

A shame the film was so compromised, because it's still decent and there are some good moments in it...it's just a better film was in there, somewhere, that didn't end up on-screen.

[Dickieduvet]

I rented this back on VHS multiple times and remember seeing the DVD for the 1st time and being disappointed Alice Krige's nudity had been erased in WS.....damn widescreen

[Monroville]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

If you have the old Cinefantastique article on the movie, they have stills from the multiple endings they shot but didn't use...one was a reshoot, and they didn't end up using any of that...

Do you remember the Cinefantastique magazine number? I'd like to see if I can look it up on ebay or amazon.

[Dickieduvet]

Originally Posted by Monroville

Do you remember the Cinefantastique magazine number? I'd like to see if I can look it up on ebay or amazon.

Was it this one?

Vol 12 no 1

[Losey]

Couldn't resist (obviously…) and ordered it. Will report.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

Was it this one?

Vol 12 no 1

Indeed, this is the one you want --



http://www.amazon.com/Cinefantastiqu.../dp/B001CEKOKY

It's a really excellent, detailed look at the production -- well worth the money (That Amazon link has copies for $4 plus shipping). CFQ ran a similarly outstanding article on SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES just a short time later, diving into what went wrong there also.

Funny story -- when I was in college, in the early days of the "online explosion" (about 1996 or so), I wrote to Peter Straub, who wrote the book. I asked him if there was any footage that could be restored to the film. He said he didn't know, but told me, when he went to the premiere and the movie was over, he walked out and saw Craig Wasson (who plays multiple roles in the movie). I guess the two of them just exchanged puzzled glances and Straub said "what the hell happened?" Whatever they were expecting to see wasn't there.

[Monroville]

Maybe GHOST STORY could have been a better movie, but as it is it is still a pretty damn fine story. The character motivations are pretty clear, the acting is good as well as the pacing (maybe it can be a bit slow, but it is a ghost story) and the FX. I never really understood the problem people had with it.

Still wish Dick Smith's original faceless ghost was in the movie though...






I think the only problem I have with the movie is the extremely terrible blue screen "death" of Craig Wasson in the beginning. They could have easily just had him scream and do a 1st person POV as the camera fell through the skylight.

Here is a really interesting article on GHOST STORY you guys might like:

http://www.kennetti.fi/ghoststory.html

[DMRI2006]

Maybe GHOST STORY could have been a better movie, but as it is it is still a pretty damn fine story. The character motivations are pretty clear, the acting is good as well as the pacing (maybe it can be a bit slow, but it is a ghost story) and the FX. I never really understood the problem people had with it.

I definitely don't have a problem with it -- I think it's beautifully shot and scored, and well acted. I just, personally, can't separate it from the book, which is just a classic horror novel and deserved something more than the movie that ended up on-screen. I think that's why so many were disappointed with it, it's a real simplification of the book.

Great site, btw, you linked to. It really shows, IMO, Irvin wasn't the right guy to bring the book to the screen and a lot of his decision making probably hurt the final product. Some truly great moments DO remain though, that pop up throughout.

It's just too bad Shout couldn't do a Special Edition and find all the unused footage. I mean, CAT PEOPLE got that treatment, and GHOST STORY is a much better movie than that IMO!

[Dickieduvet]

Finally got my shipping notice for this, anyone managed to take a peek at it yet?

Really looking forward to seeing this again, it's been a while. I've got the original UK quad poster for this, needs a frame.

[saltysam]

mine not arrived yet,unusual,german amazon is usually very quick.