Ghost Story

Insomniacs apart, the only viewers likely to be attracted to this curiosity are fans of Marianne Faithfull. If they hope to find a forgotten gem of her career, this will disappoint them. A weak story about the haunting of an English mansion is compromised from the start because the location, which was in India, looks nothing like an English mansion. A feeble script and direction leave even such reliable hands as Penelope Keith and Anthony Bate uncertain of how to play. Followers of Marianne Faithfull will find her in ill fitting costumes and photographed from unflattering angles. The overall effect is amateur.

Pretty awful British mystery disguised as a horror film, Ghost Story pitches some poncey people into an old country house retreat and one of them starts to see spectral images that nobody else can. Directed by Stephen Weeks (I, Monster) and starring Anthony Bate, Larry Dann, Marianne Faithful, Sally Grace, Penelope Keith, Leigh Lawson and Vivian MacKerrell, what transpires for the 90 minute run time is utter boredom and bad writing. There's too many unanswered questions hanging in the air throughout, the pace is straight out of the snail derby, and the musical score is wholly inappropriate. Faithful gives good value as a tortured soul, and Weeks shows a good turn of ingenuity for some atmospheric scenes in an Asylum, but other than that, this is a cure for insomnia and rightly it has vanished into relative obscurity. 3/10

I totally disagree with the other comments I've read here. I regard this as one of the best ghost stories I've seen. I love the atmosphere of it, the English gentlemen going to a luxurious country retreat, and the creepy feel of the place that the film conveys superbly. The music used is highly effective too, especially the scenes where the doll appears. The only scenes I wasn't that keen on were the ones shown in the lunatic asylum. I loved the scenes filmed in the country house with the three friends, from the moment they arrived to the final scenes. The 1920's music, and the McFadden character, {Murray Melvin} dancing to it, as he played a record, was a lovely touch that added to the enjoyment. It is the sort of house that I would love to visit for relaxation in beautiful surroundings, redolent of better times. It has been many years since I had the pleasure of seeing it, and I long for a DVD release of this wonderfully filmed ghost story.