Watch High Spirits

High Spirits is a hilarious and spooky comedy film from 1988 that stars a star-studded cast, including Peter O'Toole, Daryl Hannah, and Steve Guttenberg. Directed by Neil Jordan, the film tells the story of Peter Plunkett (Guttenberg), the owner of a run-down Irish castle who, after an unsuccessful attempt to attract tourists, decides to fake ghosts to attract guests. But his plan backfires when the ghosts turn out to be real, and chaos ensues.

The movie begins with Peter Plunkett, who is facing financial troubles and struggling to keep his old and decrepit Irish castle afloat as a tourist attraction. His staff is fed up with the lack of business and rumors of the castle being haunted are not helping their prospects. Desperate to generate some buzz, Peter hits upon an idea to create fake ghosts, with the help of his staff, to scare the guests away. Things seem to be going well at first, with the staff dressed up as ghosts and scaring away the few guests that do arrive. But the situation quickly spirals out of control when a group of American tourists arrives at the castle looking to experience some genuine haunted activity. Things get even more complicated when it turns out that the ghosts that Peter and his staff had been faking are actually real.

The ghosts in the castle are led by the charming and mischievous Plunkett brothers, played by Peter O'Toole and Donal McCann, who were executed by the British hundreds of years ago for their involvement in a rebellion against the English crown. The ghostly couple, Mary (Daryl Hannah) and Martin Brogan (Liam Neeson), have been haunting the castle for years and fallen in love with it. They're shocked at the presence of the fake ghosts, but quickly team up with them to scare the American tourists away. The interactions between the living and the dead in the castle are the main source of the film's humor, as guests are forced to dance with ghosts, sleep with ghosts, and deal with all manner of supernatural hijinks.

The film's central romance also develops between Daryl Hannah's ghostly Mary and Steve Guttenberg's Peter Plunkett, who is in a loveless marriage with his icy wife (Beverly D'Angelo). Peter is initially terrified of the ghosts, but he's quickly seduced by Mary's beauty and charm. Their relationship is full of witty banter and charming moments, and Hannah and Guttenberg have great chemistry on screen. Alongside the romance and humor, there are also moments of genuine horror, with the ghosts being able to morph into frightening and grotesque forms.

Overall, High Spirits is an entertaining, quirky, and delightfully weird romp of a movie. The top-notch cast injects life into the film, with Peter O'Toole and Daryl Hannah standing out with their captivating performances. The special effects may look a little dated today, but they're still impressive given the film's age. The comedy is witty and clever, with plenty of laughs, and moments of pathos thrown in. On the whole, High Spirits is a film that defies easy categorization, but it's certainly a lot of fun and well worth a watch.

High Spirits is a 1988 fantasy movie with a runtime of 1 hour and 39 minutes. It has received mostly poor reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 5.7 and a MetaScore of 47.