Four old friends (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman) have a secret, and when the son of one them (Craig Wasson) meets a beautiful, but strange woman (Alice Krige), death soon follows. It’s up to the son to uncover what happened years ago before the beautiful ghost takes her revenge.
A sad end to the careers of Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Ghost Story is a run of the mill ghost tale, done poorly. The glaring problem is the directing—there isn’t any. Camera angles appear nearly random. Each actor performs as if he’s in his own film, with no concern for the other actors or plot; John Houseman is in a melodrama, Astaire is in a light comedy, and Douglas is in an After School Special. Craig Wasson, playing the son of Fairbanks’ character, is in a little league of his own, putting in one of the worst performances you’re likely to find in a major motion picture. He mugs; he grimaces; he plays two characters and is unbelievable in both.
But don’t think the only problem here is directing, as that would overlook the absurd writing. It gives us characters that are in the story for no apparent reason (why are two young street thugs helping the ghost?) and implausible events (pulling a car from a lake, in the middle of nowhere, in the winter, when the car has been there for years and can’t be seen from the surface, is a simple, quick operation). So why did I give this disaster even one 
? Alice Krige. In one of her earliest films, she alone manages anything close to acting, creating a mysterious, intelligent, and sensuous character. She is also beautiful, and has several nude scenes, so if your aim is simply to see Ms Krige, add two more s to my rating.