High Spirits (1988) (Sandpiper Pictures)

[MifuneFan]

Sandpiper Pictures will be releasing High Spirits (1988) on Blu-ray on December 19th. The film was previously included in a double feature with Vampire's Kiss from Shout! Factory.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Spirits/...tv%2C88&sr=1-1

Irish hotelier Peter Plunkett (Peter O'Toole) attempts to fill the chronic vacancies at his castle by launching an advertising campaign that wrongly portrays the property as haunted. Unfortunately, he fails to scare a single American tourist with his hokey and dreadfully

High Spirits Official Trailer #1 - Peter O'Toole Movie (1988) HD - YouTube

[JasonMichael]

More synopsis:

Irish hotelier Peter Plunkett (Peter O'Toole) attempts to fill the chronic vacancies at his castle by launching an advertising campaign that wrongly portrays the property as haunted. Unfortunately, he fails to scare a single American tourist with his hokey and dreadfully unconvincing effects. When two actual ghosts, Mary (Daryl Hannah) and Martin (Liam Neeson), show up to add some authenticity, they end up falling for two guests, Sharon (Beverly D'Angelo) and Jack (Steve Guttenberg).

[tommynorcal]

When I was a wee little kid, the scene with the nuns freaked me out. This movie rules.

[Dragon78]

Glad this one is getting a single release.

[wonkavision]

I have the region A friendly Final Cut release from the UK. Probably gonna be the same transfer.

[Phibes]

I guess it will never happen, but Neil Jordan said his first cut was much different

[Rayjg]

This title makes more sense for Sandpiper...until the alternate version ever resurfaces. Apparently it had a Japanese home video release.

[Ned Brainard]

Another favorite of mine, and I just rewatched it the other day for the Halloween season. I already have the Shout blu-ray though so this would have to be a substantial upgrade in some way for me to purchase.

[Dragon78]

So what was the difference with the movie's first cut?

[rdodolak]

[ElRobHubbard]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

So what was the difference with the movie's first cut?

"There exists a print of this film that was Neil Jordan's original vision of this movie. It contains a much more serious tone than the theatrical release, and is much more of a fun mystery. There is a lot more footage of Liam Neeson's character, and the ghosts are allowed to have much more of a plot, than in the theatrical release. Rumor has it, that when the studio saw this cut, they had no idea how to market it, so they had it re-cut against Neil Jordan's wishes (he was allegedly locked out of the editing room at this point). There was a shortened version of this cut available on video in Japan."https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095304/alternateversions/

Kenneth Mars also had a role, but his character was cut out of the theatrical version. He gets a 'Special Thanks' in the end credits.

[Trekkie313]

So much like Death Becomes Her, we'll never see the original better versions even though they exist completed?

[kngtmat]

Awesome. I saw it in theaters.

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

So much like Death Becomes Her, we'll never see the original better versions even though they exist completed?

Seems that way. In the case of this film it’s probably a combination of poor reputation and Jordan possibly having no interest.

[Pattyk77]

I just checked Ebay and someone in Japan is selling a Japanese VHS copy of High Spirits! Asking $55 plus $20 shipping though... Runtime is 1 minute shorter than US copies. I wonder if there's different scenes in it from the other cut? I love rare VHS tapes but that's crazy steep. If I was a big fan of the movie maybe I'd consider it.

[wonkavision]

I very much doubt there was ever some different "serious" cut in spite of the random gossip surrounding an alt cut and yet somehow released in Japan on VHS only. It sounds ridiculous. If anything, it's a print error or Japan cut some questionable scene.

I think the film, from the start, was always a farce from Jordan.

Excerpt from a fascinating Cinefantastique article (Pages 16-21)

“HIGH SPIRITS is basically my variation of James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE. It's a broad farce which develops traditionally to become a macabre and dark black comedy as the real ghosts become evident. The idea is that the joke changes every twenty minutes or so to end up as a love story between a couple w ho are alive and another who are dead, with all the strands resolved in the climax. It isn’t England’s answer to GHOSTBUSTERS. This is more along the lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream with overtones of Oscar Wilde. It encom¬ passes a lot of generic history. If you think ofTOPPER,THE GHOST GOES WEST, or BLITHE SPIRIT, then the roots of this serious comedy will be apparent.”
The idea lor HIGH SPIR¬ ITS developed after Jordan read a newspaper article about a man organ/ing Irish ghost tours for visiting Americans. “It fired my imagination about what preconceptions Americans must have about the Irish and vice-versa,” said Jordan.

[Pattyk77]

"I very much doubt there was ever some different "serious" cut in spite of the random gossip surrounding an alt cut and yet somehow released in Japan on VHS only. It sounds ridiculous. If anything, it's a print error or Japan cut some questionable scene."

Yeah that's likely right. I doubt some alternate cut would only be released in Japan. Shout would've been all over that when they released it years ago.

I do have a VHS of Johnny Be Good that has more T&A in it and a party scene that's only available on the VHS prints, but it says on the box that it was added in when it came out to rent. It's a crappy movie but I think it's cool being a movie buff to have.

[rdodolak]

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