Rish Outfield's reviews
I read the book by Peter Straub. I liked the movie better. Really scary (although it scared me a lot more the first time, before I read the book). Alice Kriege is great as the horrifying title character, Alma Mobley. The fact that the actors, particularly Fred Astaire, are familiar, aged-faces, really helps us care about the characters.
Best Scare: Wow, several, ranging from the first revelation of the ghost in the bed to her final grasp from beyond the grave in the car.
I'd Recommend It To: See it, it's really good.

The tyranist's thoughts
The Peter Straub novel that this film was adapted from is one of the best ghost stories in print. Unfortunately, that made my expectations for the movie a little higher than might have been prudent. I hoped the world of this movie and it fails. It doesn't fail for any huge reasons, just for small ones. They tampered with the plot just a little, but no more than was necessary. Where they failed was in the back story. Part of what makes the novel carry such importance is the amount of time the Peter Straub spends developing the characters and more importantly their pasts. The characters are so alive and so sympathetic in the novel that death is a huge blow. The movie lacks this on a fundamental level and is much worse for it. The movie is still probably worth seeing (since it is a rare example of a truly menacing ghost story on film), but it should definitely be viewed before the book is read.