Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 8.0 | 12/34 | From 1981 1/4 | Decades 5/8 | 80s
In a snowy New England town, four men sit in a dark wood study. Only the fireplace provides any light. Sears James (John Houseman) tells a story about someone buried alive. With him are Ricky Hawthorne (Fred Astaire), Edward Charles Wanderley (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), and Dr. John Jaffrey (Melvyn Douglas).
This is the Chowder Society. They cheer for their group with their snifters of brandy.
At night, these men have terrible nightmares. Except for Sears, who doesn’t sleep much anymore. Screams, a cold body, and a shared secret.
Edward’s son, David (Craig Wasson), falls out of a hotel window and dies. This scene is so silly in how it’s composed that I laughed.
Though the reports say suicide, his twin brother, Donny (Craig Wasson), suspects otherwise.
In the attic, Donny uncovers a picture of four men from their younger days. With them, a blurry-faced woman.
Donny shows up at the Chowder Society, paying for his entry with a scary story. It is a story about Alma (Alice Krige), a woman he fell in love with — who became something he couldn’t understand.
Donny thinks Alma is the woman in the photo.
God, this movie is boring. Initially, nobody mentioned names, so I had to search them up to remember who’s who.
It’s hard to believe this movie is based on a popular novel considering how little it delivers. It establishes a dark mood early on, but as it goes, it loses all flavor.
It’s pretty obvious straight out of the gate what is happening. We have to wait for the movie to reveal the answer. Except that is the movie. The story concludes once the characters are aware of what we know.
The film plods through a well-worn story with little character development. This removes all tension from the movie besides a jump scare or two.
Alice Krige delivers a standout performance in the movie because of her well-defined character. She’s hot and weird and a little scary.
Despite being big hitters, the four older men in this movie are indistinguishable. They give a flashback to see how serious and brooding Sears is, but it changes nothing.
The movie wanted to rely on the familiar faces of the famous actors instead of developing personalities or any emotional resonance.
Devoid of relatability and perspective, we merely witness the characters’ transitioning between scenes.
The effects are pretty good! Wet, goopy skeleton shit.
I’m glad I saw it, I guess, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone else give it a go.