High Spirits

High Spirits turned out to be a pretty good comedy. Peter Plunkett (Peter O'Toole), and his gang of merry Irishmen are facing foreclosure on their grand castle resort. The old fashioned castle needs a clever advertising gimmick to entice visitors. After talking with his looney, but sincere old mother who always claims that she talks to his dead father and the rest of the poor spirits looming around the dark castle, Plunkett decides that the castle ought to be haunted. And so, the guests are invited to stay among the spirits of the Plunkett family. Of course, Plunkett doesn't believe in the existence of ghosts, especially when he hasn't seen any for himself, despite his mother's attempts to convince him that they're everywhere. No, Plunkett's plan involves a few crappy props and some cheap scare tactics to thrill their small group of American guests.

But Plunkett and the gang (nor their furious guests) would ever have imagined real ghosts showing up. And this is where the movie really starts to get funny because everyone, after their various confrontations with the undead and all the strange things that start to happen in the castle, start to become so neurotic as they try to figure out what's going on.

The movie is a romantic comedy, of course, though it could've worked simply as a story of the funny occurences in the haunted castle as Plunkett and his frantic guests scurry about trying to deal with the situation any way that they can. Guttenberg is Jack, a sorry guy who's married to a real dull lady (Beverly D'Angelo) that really can't stand to know him, especially when he drags her out to some stupid castle. Jack actually starts to fall in love with one of the ghosts, a Plunkett ancestry named Mary (Daryl Hannah), a sickley looking young girl who died by the knife of her husband (Liam Neesom). The ghosts keep playing out the murder over and over again, and Jack, accidently intervening in one of the reenactments, somehow frees Mary from the murder. And so, now she's in love with Jack. But how does a ghost and a human end up together (and they have to end up together...after all it's a Hollywood love story)? Well, that's why you have to watch the movie.

Everyone in the movie is fantastic because, though some may start out to be quite annoying (such as the self-declared "professional parasychologist" or the cynical Sharon (D'Angelo)), they eventually come to be very entertaining as the movie goes along. I especially like the goofy interaction between Meg Tilly as the nympho and Peter Gallagher as the soon-to-be Priest. Peter O'Toole is wonderful. He is also the last to realize what the heck is going on.

It's definitely a comedy worth watching.

Maybe I have a warped sense of humour (or just a very British one) but I laugh every time I see this film, and I've seen it well over a 100 times over the years. It is genuinely funny, the script is witty and the actors superb. This is one of my all time favourite rainy day films. No matter how times I watch it there are still little things I'd not noticed or things I'd forgotten happen. I strongly suggest getting this film out next time it's raining and you're stuck indoors, and if anyone from the BBC is reading, please put it on next bank holiday!!

High Spirits (1988) is a movie my daughter and I watched together on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a struggling castle that decides to remarket itself as a haunted castle as one last attempt to be profitable. They get a surge of guests just in time to discover the castle really is haunted. This movie is directed by Neil Jordan (Interview with a Vampire) and stars Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia), Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill), Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy), Tom Hickey (Gothic), Beverly D'Angelo (Christmas Vacation) and Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky). This is a movie I watched on HBO a million times as a kid. The carefree story is fun and unfolds well and I loved the real and fake ghosts sequences. The props and special effects were so fun and the depth and evolution of the characters are well executed. Guttenberg was perfectly cast for this film and the conclusion always made me want a sequel. This is one of those feel good family movies with a high rewatch value. I strongly recommend seeing this at least once, even if you don't watch it as a family movie. I'd score this a solid 7/10.

I never got to see this in the theaters, but luckily I remembered it when it came time to rescue it from the local discount video bin. A small Irish family led by whimsically-talented Peter O'Toole conjure up some fake ghosts to lure some tourists and save their ancestral castle from Americans. The ghosts of their ancestors are offended by the fake ghosts so they lend their expertese to save the castle. The humor and the jokes are very good, but some of the hauntings, specifically the nuns, are better than others. Skinny and gawky Liam Neeson and Darryl Hannah, rather skinny and gawky herself, interestingly act out and stick to playing two ghosts stuck in a place memory as Steve Guttenberg plays a husband stuck in an unhappy marriage with sexy Beverly D'Angelo. Most of the movie circles around them and some questionable spernatural phenomenon. There's some holes in the plot as Hannah the ghost ends up in D'Angelo's body, but looks like herself ? Peter Gallagher and Jennifer Tilly share a barely seen sub-plot as Martin Ferrero plays a ghost-hunter/harried husband. All in all, this isn't a bad movie. It's rather enjoyable but the only Irish countryside we do do get to see is rather dismal and depressing.

This is just another fine movie ranked far below what it deserves.

Reviews of High Spirits by some movie critics are prime proof of the theory that "professional" movie critics often don't what they're talking about. Being quickly panned by British critics, and then dissed by their American colleagues, leads me to believe that many critics write negative reviews based on the opinions of others. In recent years, many critics seem especially to have hidden agendas, or have an axe to grind, or are pandering to special interest groups, which render their reviews worthless. Often, these critics appear to have never seen the movie they are condemning, or, worst still, are ignoring the cinematography and entertainment value based on their own petty bias. In High Spirits, some critics complained that the plot is thin, flighty and lacks realism?!?! But this is a comedy (and a very good one at that), not a serious theatrical work like as play by Shakespeare or some other artsy-f**tsy piece for the pseudo-intellectual snobs. While not perfect, it is certainly not the complete waste of time that some of these so-called critics claim it to be.

The fact is, folks, this movie is very entertaining, a real joy, from the story, to the acting, to the sets, to the special effects, etc., etc. just a pleasure (albeit a guilty one) of movie entertainment. The entire cast give an exuberant, high spirited performance (pun intended) which is sure to tickle your funny bone. Peter O'Toole is hilarious as the penny-less, hereditary keeper of the castle who is about to lose it all. But Liz Smith is a riot, playing Peter's tipsy, widowed mother who still interacts (read has sexual relations) with her dead husband and communicates with other deceased family members. Liz Smith is a thief - she steals just about every scene in which she appears. A horny Steve Guttenberg, an unfaithful Beverly D'Angelo, a rapidly decaying Daryl Hannah and a flatulent Liam Neeson give excellent performances. The pious Peter Gallagher and temptress Jennifer Tilly are terrific in supporting roles as are the remainder of the cast, who are mainly from Dublin's Abbey Theatre, except for Connie Booth (who played the housekeeper Polly Shearman in Fawlty Towers), who is an American.

Please ignore the critics on this one, folks, they are way off. This is a very funny movie, with a few semi-scary moments, that I can highly recommend to you. If you want classical drama, watch Hamlet or Otello, but if you want hardy chuckles, watch High Spirits. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 8/10 stars