vendredi 23 décembre 2016

BBC Ghost Stories For Christmas

It's that tine of year, so I recently dug out a boxed set and sat down to watch a couple of the (mostly) MR James inspired chillers that used to be a staple of Christmas Eve on the Beeb.

I got to introduce a friend to some, and we ended up watching A Warning To The Curious, and A View From A Hill.

Warning is from the original run, a seventies work that is showing its age in terms of "that is the actor from that thing", and despite taking a good fee liberties gets the feel of the story right.

A budding archaeologist is on the trail of a buried crown, but suspects the last guardian of the secret is still watching from beyond the grave. The ghost itself, despite being a man filmed out of focus, is nice and effective, an eerie presence most effective when off screen, his presence betrayed by consumptive wheezes or the actions of a character.

View from a hill is more recent, part of one of the many attempted revivals. The 2006 film streamlines much of the short story, then draws out one aspect. It has so e effective chills,and the location filming is wonderful. But the final chill is a little too underplayed in the last frame.

If I have time I may have to revisit the Signalman (a dickins adaption), or Whistle And I Shall Come (which means choosing between a sixties version, or the recent John Hurt one).


via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2iaorJA

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