Old-Fashioned Ghost Stories
 

What are your favorite traditional (or traditionally minded) ghost
stories in movies & TV? I felt like jotting down a few of mine:

The Uninvited (1944) -- Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey
The Changeling (1980) -- George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere
Kwaidan (1964) -- Katsuo Nakamura, Misako Watanabe
The Innocents (1961) -- Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave
The Sixth Sense (1999) -- Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment
The Signalman (1976) -- Denholm Elliott, Bernard Lloyd
Dead of Night (1945) -- Googie Withers, Michael Redgrave
Below (2002) -- Matthew Davis, Olivia Williams
The Woman in Black (1989) -- Adrian Rawlins, Bernard Hepton
The Shining (1980) -- Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall

Many more I'd like to see. Has anyone seen any of these?

Great Ghost Tales (1961) -- hosted by Frank Gallup
Ab Kya Hoga (1977) -- directed by Sawan Kumar
Ghost Stories for Christmas (2000) -- hosted by Christopher Lee
Return to Glennascaul (1951) -- Orson Welles
Goedam (1968) -- directed by Jo-Myeong Jeon
Sinnui Yauwan (1987) -- directed by Siu-Tung Ching
Kaidan Oiwa No Borei (1961) -- directed by Tai Kato
Open Window (1972) -- based on the Saki short story

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THE SHINING absolutely....:thumbsup:

rbs

That's my favorite ghost movie, David. The child's ball...the score...the house, everything about it is chilling. The seance scene alone makes me race for the light switch.

I also love Lady In White with Katherine Helmond and Lucas Haas. I saw it as a child and I still think it's as scary as I did back then.

Burnt Offerings is a rather weak affair overall, but the last twenty minutes or so are really great. The ending is like a punch in the gut; I never expected it to end on such a gruesome and bleak note, but it did and worked to erase a good portion of the mediocre minutes that preceded it from my memory.

A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon) is a terrific ghost story from South Korea. I highly recommend adding that one to your Netflix queue.

That's a really great one. Very wacky and the finale is spectacular. If you like Asian horror, I highly recommend it.

Definitely The SHining!! HEEEERSSSS JOOOHHHHNNY!!

I love "The Changeling," & one of the things I love about it is the poignancy of the composer's grief & how that grief suffuses his experience with the child ghost, the victim of a murdering parent. That racking grief that comes in realistic spurts (in George C. Scott's excellent performance) adds the beautiful psychological element of mourning to a good ghost story.

Did you ever see "The Woman in Black"?

You have such a way with words. I've always thought that it was one of Scott's greatest performances; he's the most restrained I've ever seen him and his anguish is palpable throughout. I thought he was also excellent in The Exorcist III, a great movie that doesn't get the credit it deserves.

Unfortunately, no. I signed back up to Netflix some time back, so I went over there to add it to my queue after reading your post and they don't seem to have it. I'll have to track it down.

Though it's not a ghost story, have you ever seen a British movie called "Paperhouse" based on Catherine Storr's novel "Marianne Dreams"? It's one of my favorites and it was on the Independent Film Channel earlier today. Such a wonderful gem of a movie; it sorely needs the DVD treatment.

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Saw it. VERY good. But, can you please explain the ending, or, your interpretation of the ending in a p.m.?

'The Woman In Black' is great and I own it on DVD.

'The Legend Of Hell House' is also a great, even with the weird ending.

I also think 'The Devils Backbone' although modern is very old fashion with it's ghost tale.

I'm partial to the Legend Of Sleey Hollow.:)

Gimme Topper. (the Leo G. Carroll TV series)

The Sixth Sense is really good, but I had the "twist" pegged within the first 5 minutes of my first time seeing it. Which kind of ruined it for me.

The Ring was pretty eerie.

The Others (the Nicole Kidman movie, not the short-lived NBC TV series) was pretty good, too...but again, I pegged the "twist" early on.

And, I wonder when/if they're going to release the old John Newland series One Step Beyond on DVD? That show used to give me the creeps!!!


I'm looking forward to the mini-Medium marathon tonight...more Bridget please!