High Spirits (1988)
Genre: Comedy / Horror
Duration: 99 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom / United States
Directed by: Neil Jordan
Stars: Peter O'Toole, Steve Guttenberg and Daryl Hannah
IMDb score:
5,8 (12.172)
Releasedate: 18 November 1988
High Spirits plot
"He's an American. She's a ghost. Vacation romances are always a hassle."
Peter Plunkett's Irish castle, which has been renamed a hotel, has run into financial difficulties. To attract more American tourists, Peter decides to let the hotel employees play ghosts. The trouble starts when a bus with tourists arrives, along with some real ghosts. Among the tourists is married couple Jack and Sharon. Sharon's father owns the mortgage on the castle, which is why she refuses to acknowledge the ghosts. However, Jack has met the attractive ghost Mary, and is only too happy to believe in ghosts.
Actors and actresses
Peter Plunkett
Mary Plunkett Brogan
Jack Crawford
Sharon Brogan Crawford
Miranda
Martin Brogan
Brother Tony
Malcolm
Eamon
Mrs. Plunkett
Reviews & comments
Gang_Star
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- 6837 messages
- 3401 votes
A major disappointment. I can understand the link to horror, but the effect is anything but good. The humor is also disappointing and there are few jokes that I appreciated. It still has a reasonable atmosphere around the castle, but that was about the best for me. In terms of storyline it still sounds quite interesting, but in retrospect I didn't like it much.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Collins
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- 7452 messages
- 4430 votes
Peter O'Toole as a penniless castle owner turns his castle into a haunted castle to attract tourists. His artificial ghosts are soon joined by real ghosts in the form of Darryl Hannah and Liam Neeson. The first half of the film is especially fun. Silly, frivolous and temperamental haunted house fun without blood and gore. Director and writer Neil Jordan makes successful horror nonsense suitable for all ages.
High Spirits has few quiet moments. With good acting that manifests itself in overheated and silly overacting, the characters go along with the fast-paced madness. With astonishingly good 80s effects and a beautiful setting, Jordan uses delicious nonsense without hesitation and creates an entertaining spectacle.
After the furious first half, the film descends into romantic nonsense that negatively affects the pace and nonsense character of the film. Only at the end does the film regain the hectic lines of the first half and pick itself up again.
High Spirits is delicious over-the-top cinema that does not maintain the crazy level across the board, but ultimately leaves you with a satisfied feeling.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Lovelyboy
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- 4059 messages
- 3041 votes
A nice surprise that I picked up at the thrift store last Monday, because I read something in the title about Spirits and I saw Daryl Hannah and I vaguely remembered something where Hannah played a quite attractive ghost. I thought I'd take it with me just to be on the safe side, so I read it up last night when I started the film, after which the entire synopses fell into place at once and a lot of memories came to mind.
And what a nice surprise this film turned out to be, which many say is over the top, annoying or only has Beverly D'Angelo as a good reason to watch. But I quite enjoyed this ridiculous chaos around a shabby hotel that they are still trying to make something of, with an abundance of characters, humor, bad accents and a very energetic Peter O'Toole. The location is beautiful, the first attempt to scare the people is funny, and the film opens in a fun and sufficient way with the armor, rotating bed and the total chaos it results in. For a moment it seems that the film is a bit dead-on with all the romantic concerns.
But luckily this doesn't last long and things get going again with the real ghosts intervening. Liam Neeson is strong and while many visitors here mention D'Angelo as a feminine beauty, Daryl Hannah would be welcome to visit me and is therefore a lady who always managed to impress, including in Splash. Furthermore, Peter Gallagher and Connie Booth may be mentioned and I think High Spirits is a more than entertaining film. Of course it's not particularly surprising and it's not a hit or an Oscar winner, but it certainly is a wonderful film for once. Nice to see this film again that I had completely forgotten about.
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