kevinolzak Review of Hollywood Ghost Stories

Hollywood Ghost Stories (1986)

John Carradine a relaxed and genial host for Hollywood hauntings

[6/10 · 1 August 2020]

1986's "Hollywood Ghost Stories" was a simultaneous release on cable's Cinemax channel and also home video, not much different than other paranormal documentaries of the time but distinguished by its Hollywood roots and the presence as Host of an actor who had himself been haunting Tinseltown for seven decades, the venerable, 80 year old John Carradine, who also that year hosted a syndicated movie package of Public Domain titles called HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD. Comfortably seated in a chair, the actor is a pleasant on screen delight (just over 8 minutes to be exact) introducing filmmakers in front of and behind the camera, all elaborating on their own experiences, padded out to full feature length with much stock footage from familiar pictures. There are clips from "The Terror" (Boris Karloff), "Topper Returns," "Night of the Living Dead," "Andy Warhol's Dracula," "Poltergeist," "The Legend of Hell House," "The Omen," "I Married a Witch," "Our Town," "It's a Wonderful Life," "The Phantom of the Opera" (Lon Chaney), "Beast of Morocco," and John Carradine's own "The Nesting," plus an Abbott and Costello TV episode and four Bela Lugosi films, "You'll Find Out," "White Zombie," "The Gorilla," and "Ghosts on the Loose." Real life hauntings are shared by author/producer William Peter Blatty ("The Exorcist"), actresses Elke Sommer and Susan Strasberg, writers Frank DeFelitta ("Audrey Rose," "The Entity") and Robert Bloch, while Elliott Geisinger discusses at length "The Amityville Horror," the one debunked story that still created an urban legend. Archive footage of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle speaking directly to the audience precedes later highlights on the mysterious deaths of Harry Houdini, Rudolph Valentino, and George Reeves. None of it really adds up to much but proved somewhat influential on later docudramas of a similar vein, presented in a rather lighthearted vein and still capable of entertainment.