Ghost Story ** (1974, Marianne Faithfull, Barbara Shelley, Murray Melvin, Larry Dann, Vivian MacKerrell) – Classic Movie Review 8490

The 1974 Ghost Story has Marianne Faithfull, horror queen Barbara Shelley’s final cinema film appearance, a killer doll, and the man who really was Withnail.

Stephen Weeks’s third film (after I, Monster and Gawain and the Green Knight) is a fair chiller about three people, old college friends McFayden, Talbot and Duller (played by Murray Melvin, Larry Dann and Vivian MacKerrell) being invited to spend a weekend at a possibly haunted country house mansion in the 1930s. However, the trouble is bizarrely soon tracked down to a killer doll strangling the guests.

The 1974 Ghost Story is afflicted by some ordinary acting and poor, cheap-looking special effects, but the attractive filming in India, handsome sets and striking, effectively unsettling music combine to create an eerie atmosphere.

The familiarity of the plot in the story and screenplay by Philip Norman, Rosemary Sutcliff and Stephen Weeks works strongly against the film, but nevertheless Weeks manages some scary moments. The First Leading Lady of British Horror Barbara Shelley puts in a welcome appearance as an asylum matron in her final cinema film, though she worked regularly on TV till 1989. ‘There is a great thrill for me in having done Hammer and being known.’ she says.

Also in the cast are Marianne Faithfull, Anthony Bate, Leigh Lawson, Penelope Keith and Sally Grace.

Ghost Story ‘[Asylum of Blood] [Madhouse Mansion, the 1984 US video title)] is directed by Stephen Weeks, runs 89 minutes, is made by Stephen Weeks Company, is released by Nationwide Distributors (1974) (UK), is written by Philip Norman, Rosemary Sutcliff and Stephen Weeks, is shot by Peter Hurst, is produced by Stephen Weeks, Eric Howes (associate producer) and Rupert Prior (associate producer) and is scored by Ron Geesin.

Withnail (in the 1987 Withnail & I) is based on MacKerrell, who was a close friend of actor/ director Bruce Robinson. He died on 2 March 1995, aged 50.

Unfortunately, many of the cast and crew were victims of food poisoning while filming in India.

The longed-for DVD came out in 2009 in the UK from Nucleus Films.

Weeks followed it with Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984) and The Bengal Lancers! (1984), which ran out of funds under producer Mahmud Sipra.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8490

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