Review of Ghost Story (1981) by Jeremy C — 06 Jun 2013

Watched this for the first time since my early childhood. Along with the profoundly twisted 'Burnt Offerings,' this is one of the first pay-channel horror flicks to freak me out when I was about six or seven.

Throughout the movie my wife repeatedly expressed her disbelief in my mom actually allowing my brother and I to watch such stuff. After all, it's littered with gore and nudity, everything from full cock-n-balls during a falling-from-high-rise death opening to a revealing sex scene between a college professor and an English ghost (never knew that was possible).

'Ghost Story' isn't classic horror by any means (certainly not on par with 'Burnt Offerings); plus, the story is a bit of a mess. For example, the inclusion of the on-the-lame cult leader and his grimy-ass son doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Yet there is something haunting about the subject matter: old white men and their secrets, self-empowered women damned to be outsiders, families doomed to repeat history, etc.