HIGH SPIRITS [The Ghosts Are Willing] [1988 / 2020] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] He’s An American, She’s A Ghost and Vacation Romances Are Always A Hassle! For Jack, it was Love at First Sighting!
Daryl Hannah, Peter O'Toole and Steve Guttenberg star in this gleefully ghoulish comedy sparkling with romance and rollicking with supernatural special effects. Written and directed by Neil Jordan and co-starring Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, Peter Gallagher and Liam Neeson, ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ is the most fun you'll have in this world or the next!
Impoverished Irish hotelier Peter Plunkett [Peter O'Toole] hatches the perfect plan to save his debt-ridden Irish castle: to lure American tourists by advertising the place to be haunted. But when Peter Plunkett and his staff don sheets and chains to go a-haunting, they scare up more than paying guest . . . they arouse the real ghosts of Castle Plunkett! And when American tourist Jack [Steve Guttenberg] spies a gorgeous ghost named Mary Plunkett Brogan [Daryl Hannah], its love at first sighting. Now all Jack Crawford has to do is worry about Mary Plunkett Brogan's murderous spook of a husband Martin Brogan [Liam Neeson] . . . and their 200-year age difference!
Can there be love between a human and a ghost? Jack and Mary are going to try and find out.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1989 Razzie Awards: Nominated: Worst Supporting Actress for Daryl Hannah.
FILM FACT No.2: ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ was filmed at Dromore Castle (aka Castle Plunkett), County Limerick, Ireland. Dromore Castle was designed in the Gothic revival style by Edward William Godwin and built for the Earl of Limerick in the early 1870's. It was abandoned by the family during World War One and finally sold in 1939. It's slow descent into decay began in the 1950's when the roof was removed to avoid rates being applied to the building and was later listed for demolition, although thankfully this has not come to pass. The present owners live in a nearby house. The castle achieved some fame in the 1980's when film director Neil Jordan chose it to feature in his ghostly comedy film ‘HIGH SPIRITS.’
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Donal McCann, Mary Coughlan, Liz Smith, Tom Hickey, Tony Rohr, Hilary Reynolds, Isolde Cazelet, Little John Nee, Steve Guttenberg, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, Peter Gallagher, Martin Ferrero, Connie Booth, Krista Hornish, Matthew Wright, Paul O'Sullivan, Daryl Hannah, Liam Neeson, Ray McAnally, Aimée Delamain, Ruby Buchanan, Preston Lockwood and Peter Hanly (Red Jacket Boy) (uncredited)
Director: Neil Jordan
Producers: David Saunders, Eduard Sarlui, Jon Turtle, Mark Damon, Moshe Diamant, Nik Powell, Selwyn Roberts and Stephen Woolley
Screenplay: Neil Jordan
Composer: George Fenton
Special Visual Effects: Derek Medding
Cinematography: Alex Thomson, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 97 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Picture Palace / Final Cut Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ [1988] is a romantic slapstick comedy, with hints of supernatural horror added in for good measure. If that sounds like a messy concoction, it is. The film feels like three or four different films put together into one film. It starts with Peter Plunkett [Peter O’Toole] finding out that his castle is about to be taken over if he can’t get money. So Peter Plunkett comes up with a scheme to pretend it’s haunted and get a bunch of guests. These guests include Jack [Steve Guttenberg] and his wife Sharon [Beverly D’Angelo], single woman Miranda [Jennifer Tilly], Brother Tony [Peter Gallagher] who hopes to become a father in his church, and a family headed by parapsychologist Malcolm [Martin Ferrero] and his wife Marge [Connie Booth].
The story quickly changes after the guests arrive and realize that the haunting is a sham. After discovering that the castle is doomed, Peter and Jack drink well into the night. Jack goes to bed, only to stumble upon some real ghosts in a recreation of a murder. When Martin Brogan [Liam Neeson] is once again about to stab his wife Mary Plunkett Brogan [Daryl Hannah], Jack steps in the way and inadvertently begins a romance with the ghostly Mary Plunkett Brogan. The rest of the movie is spent convincing the guests that ghosts are real, and having Jack fall in love with Mary while Sharon falls in love with Martin Brogan.
There’s a certain type of role that Steve Guttenberg was born to play and Steve Guttenberg is one of the few actors who can claim to be both a mainstream leading actor and a “that guy,” possessing one of the blandest faces and personas ever to grace the screen. Steve Guttenberg’s the kind of actor you deploy in inoffensive family fare, bland comedies, or films of the week: he holds the screen, delivers his lines, and generally does a pretty competent job of things. But he’s also uniquely talented at delivering utterly bizarre material as blandly as if he was in any of the above. So why not enter the 1988 film ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ and see what happens.
Director Neil Jordan has always been a fun filmmaker, at least in the sense that you're never quite sure where his whims will take him. Neil Jordan career having encompassed everything from gothic fantasies to Depression-era screwball comedies, it’s fair to say his output can be rather unpredictable, if not downright erratic. Never was that more apparent than it was in 1988. Coming off on the success of serious-minded neo-noir ‘Mona Lisa,’ Neal Jordan decided to jaunt off to his native Ireland and film ‘HIGH SPIRITS,’ is a complete fun ride that attempts to combine Shakespearian rowdiness with the special effects-laden supernatural comedies made popular by 1980s Hollywood.
Falling in love with a ghost is very complicated. Or rather, it would be complicated for a character played by any actor other than Steve Guttenberg and has a way of boiling every role down into easily-digestible slurry of motivation, mugging, and Steve Guttenberg’s character in ‘HIGH SPIRITS,’ has his character Jack who is obsessed with sex. We know he’s obsessed with sex, because he constantly complains to his disinterested wife Sharon that she never wants to bang him. I don’t think there’s anything else on Jack’s mind.
Liam Neeson who plays Martin Brogan gallops wildly through the film with a mad gleam in his eye, and when his Martin Brogan turns out to be Sharon's idea of Mr. Right, the film develops into a zestful symmetry that is its most appealing element in the film. Peter O'Toole really hams up his role as Peter Plunkett to the heavens, but obviously he seems to be enjoying himself immensely and his spirit of fun is totally contagious. Also good in the cast is Peter Gallagher as Brother Tony, as a young candidate for the priesthood who has not yet taken his vows and perhaps never will, since one of the other tourists Miranda [Jennifer Tilly] is determined to catch his eye. In one typically broad scene, the cleric priest finds himself challenged by his doubts that appear to him in the form of masked nuns with tiny, gleaming yellow eyes, and he becomes so agitated that his pants begin to steam. Liz Smith and Ray McAnally play the senior Plunkett’s, one of whom is alive and one of whom is not. In their small roles, the actors who play the Plunkett Irish retainers do the muttering, grumbling and great clowning around in larger doses with great aplomb, meaning they are self-confidence, assurance, especially when in a demanding situation.
Coming from a director like Neil Jordan, it’s not surprising to learn that ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ draws from Irish folklore for its treatment of ghosts. There is a lot of talk about the mythological of Irish banshees, and you get a sense there’s more history and lore behind-the-scenes than appears on screen. Neil Jordan has said that the film was more or less taken away from him in the edit; it would have been interesting to see what his version would have looked like.
‘HIGH SPIRITS’ has its really delightful quirky moments: Daryl Hannah and Liam Neeson dance of death repeated several times, and the lakeside trysts between Steve Guttenberg and Daryl Hannah. The actors that hit the right key throughout the film are Ray McAnally, Connie Booth, Beverly D'Angelo and Liam Neeson, who makes for a well-matched couple. The art direction by Anton Furst and cinematography by Alex Thomson make it a film bursting with wacky visual splendours that makes this fantasy-film look really good, as well as a crowd-pleasing fantasy/comedy and especially the brilliant spooky sets, as well as the brilliant pre-CGI special effects by the brilliant Derek Meddings that are an added bonus that really gave great gravitas to the film, and it annoys me why so many shameful ignorant critics gave the film the big thumbs down, if they can do any better, then I challenge them to do a much better job.
HIGH SPIRITS MUSIC TRACK LIST
CHANTILLY LACE (Music by J.P. Richardson) (Words by J.P. Richardson) [Performed by The Big Bopper]
GALWAY BAY (Written by Arthur Colahan)
SHE IS FAR FROM THE LAND (uncredited) (Music by Frank Lambert) (Words by Thomas Moore) (Arranged by George Fenton)
SINISTER STREET SECTION (uncredited) (Music by Peter Francklyn)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – With the cooperation between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Picture Palace and Final Cut Entertainment, they present you this Blu-ray of ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ [The Ghosts Are Willing] with a remastered 1080p encoded image and an equally impressive 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Despite the film being released in 1988, it still looks really good today. It has good moderate blacks and greys, and the colours also has a very good with a natural image look, as well good high contrast, so all in all this a excellent image quality look especially for your visual spooky experiences, especially on the gorgeous soundstage on which the entire film takes place. The castle stonework and tapestries pop out of the screen pretty effectively. Flesh tones are also very realistic and natural looking throughout the whole film. On top of all that, this Blu-ray disc image quality is far superior to the totally inferior DVD disc release, as this Blu-ray disc shows the film in a new light of superior image quality and makes the film look totally brand new and what a shame it was not remastered to be seen in 3D, even though it was released in 1988. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – With the cooperation between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Picture Palace and Final Cut Entertainment, brings you this Blu-ray of ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ [The Ghosts Are Willing] with one standard 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience. The sound format is a good compromise for a non-surround audio experience, especially when the actors speak with very clean dialogue, and the audio sound affects you experience, especially inside Peter Plunkett’s old Irish castle are truly a spooky experience. The musical score by composer George Fenton is a really nicely married throughout the film, with some very nice audio ambience experience. The sound format has a very intelligent performed quality, especially inside the creepy old Irish castle, to give you a really spooky ghostly gothic experience for your ghostly enjoyment.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras: Unfortunately, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Picture Palace and Final Cut Entertainment felt there was no need for including anything; at least with the German Blu-ray release they supplied some Original Theatrical Trailers for the film ‘HIGH SPIRITS.’
Finally, ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ is a wonderful entertaining hilarious rollicking camp spooky fun filled film and a totally timeless retro spooky wacky comedy film, especially for “older” fans of this type of genre film. Despite the dusty look and special effects that has the style of “old school” look, that has a mix of 80% comedy and 20% of horror, still provides good entertainment and hits every button of joy and you will have an extremely good fun time watching this Blu-ray. I’m a sucker for slapstick comedy of the kind that was presented through the first half hour in the film. The fake ghostly shenanigans brought a nice smile to my face and what they perform was well executed. But I also fell for the love story angle that was going on in the film. Steve Guttenberg masterfully portrayed the comedic romantic interest to the ghostly Daryl Hannah and had me hoping for their relationship to flourish regardless of the marriages they were each already in. The slapstick element still remained well maintained in the film, to a lesser degree, and mostly relegated to the supporting cast. The way that the tones shifts from wacky comedy, to romance, to the minor hints of horror that happens throughout the film, which happens in a very successful way and doing so I had a great time viewing the whole film, and you could tell the everyone managed to be having a great deal of fun, and it makes the watch so much more enjoyable. ‘HIGH SPIRITS’ may not be high art, but it is definitely quality entertainment that does just that and totally entertains in all aspects of this wacky hilarious comedy, despite all the negative criticism I have read. On top of all that I am so pleased to ONLY have this superior Final Cut Entertainment Blu-ray disc release, as I would hate to have to sit through watching the crass rubbish film ‘Vampire's Kiss,’ which to my mind was a complete waste of space and a totally rubbish film that is also a total embarrassment. So to my mind this Final Cut Entertainment Blu-ray disc is the BEST purchase ever to add to my Blu-ray Collection. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
