Chilling British TV Ghost Stories
December 28, 2024 6:20 AM Subscribe
"Be sure to lock your doors when you get home this Halloween Christmastide, for a sinister, unearthly presence willing be walking the streets this All Hallow’s Eve Christmastide."
Television adaptations of British ghost stories have been around for a long time, and in recent years they've been given a shot in the arm by Mark Gatiss' adaptations in the Ghost Stories for Christmas series. The most recent, "Woman of Stone," is adapted from Edith Nesbit's "Man-Size in Marble." (And it's not yet available in the U.S., sans VPN.) Though these adaptations have a long tradition, I didn't see any of them until a year or so back, including the outstanding Dickens adaptation "The Signalman."
Television adaptations of British ghost stories have been around for a long time, and in recent years they've been given a shot in the arm by Mark Gatiss' adaptations in the Ghost Stories for Christmas series. The most recent, "Woman of Stone," is adapted from Edith Nesbit's "Man-Size in Marble." (And it's not yet available in the U.S., sans VPN.) Though these adaptations have a long tradition, I didn't see any of them until a year or so back, including the outstanding Dickens adaptation "The Signalman."
Ah, a fine list, from Ghostwatch to a swarm of MR James. Thank you, cupcakeninja.
posted by doctornemo at 7:00 AM on December 28 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 7:00 AM on December 28 [2 favorites]
I saw Woman in Stone a couple of days ago and was disappointed. It may be that half an hour is just too short to get atmosphere right always. The original story is here; Gatiss changed a few things and gave it a frame.
posted by paduasoy at 7:02 AM on December 28
posted by paduasoy at 7:02 AM on December 28
After hearing about it for years, I finally saw Ghostwatch a year or two ago, and it was good! But not the mind-flaying horror machine I had been led to believe, at least not for me, and I suspect a lot of what made it that was the reassuring familiarity of well-known public figures for the contemporary audience, and (perhaps) a War of the Worlds-like inability on the part of that audience to notice the tells of a hoax (like someone telling you it's a hoax). For an American watching the movie thirty years later, knowing full well it's a movie, it's pretty clearly just a movie. It just keeps influencing, though...History of the Occult, Give Me Pity!, and Late Night with the Devil all feel like they're in its debt to me.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:15 AM on December 28 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:15 AM on December 28 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Corrected spelling of 'Nesbitt' to
'Nesbit'
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:29 AM on December 28 [2 favorites]
'Nesbit'
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:29 AM on December 28 [2 favorites]
We watched Penda's Fen this Christmas from the All the Haunts Be Ours folk horror box set, and it was remarkable. It's more about a community's engagement with the ghosts of the past and the haunting nature of religious and societal persecution as opposed to being a "scary movie" per se, but it's incredibly rich, packed with ideas and existential questions.
posted by eschatfische at 7:50 AM on December 28 [3 favorites]
posted by eschatfische at 7:50 AM on December 28 [3 favorites]
saw Woman in Stone a couple of days ago and was disappointed. It may be that half an hour is just too short to get atmosphere right always.
paduasoy, I think you're nailing the issue with a lot of them. A half hour is too rushed to really sell the unsettling stories of M.R. James to me. I think it was fine with the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle one. Thanks for the heads up about the Man Size in Marble adaptation.
Having been a longtime M.R. James reader, I made the joke that his ouevre is "Historian/academic/archaeologist Fucks Around and Finds Out."
Oh, as much I liked seeing John Hurt in the 2010 "adaptation" of Oh Whistle etc, it only bore the barest resemblance to the story. If they had shed the attempt at Jamesian trappings, it was a perfectly serviceable ghost story on its own.
posted by Kitteh at 8:26 AM on December 28 [3 favorites]
paduasoy, I think you're nailing the issue with a lot of them. A half hour is too rushed to really sell the unsettling stories of M.R. James to me. I think it was fine with the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle one. Thanks for the heads up about the Man Size in Marble adaptation.
Having been a longtime M.R. James reader, I made the joke that his ouevre is "Historian/academic/archaeologist Fucks Around and Finds Out."
Oh, as much I liked seeing John Hurt in the 2010 "adaptation" of Oh Whistle etc, it only bore the barest resemblance to the story. If they had shed the attempt at Jamesian trappings, it was a perfectly serviceable ghost story on its own.
posted by Kitteh at 8:26 AM on December 28 [3 favorites]
That is definitely a major theme for James, Kitteh. The source of a lot of comedy.
posted by doctornemo at 10:05 AM on December 28 [1 favorite]
posted by doctornemo at 10:05 AM on December 28 [1 favorite]
oooh good to see Inside No 9 on that list - it's such a fantastic show. The episode mentioned first, Deadline, does rely a bit on being familiar with the rest of the show. Which means of course that you should watch all of Inside No 9. every episode is a different creepy/quirky/funny/touching story. very worthwhile.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:33 AM on December 28
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:33 AM on December 28
The short film “A Caution for the Wise,” has a nice Jameson feel to it, with very little explained but plenty of atmosphere and dread. Its making the rounds of horror film festivals these days.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:37 PM on December 28
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:37 PM on December 28
Re: The Signalman episode --
Shepherd and I were like, "ooh that is a sweet life. Switch the train tracks, make tea, sit in front of the fire, smoke a pipe? sweeeeeeet life"
posted by Kitteh at 12:37 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]
Shepherd and I were like, "ooh that is a sweet life. Switch the train tracks, make tea, sit in front of the fire, smoke a pipe? sweeeeeeet life"
posted by Kitteh at 12:37 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]
The M. R. James stories were written to be read aloud, so really you need to hear them told by a distinctive British voice, perhaps an actor who had actually met M. R. James when he was a boy, but who also knew a thing or two about conveying horror.
Christopher Lee reads The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, The Ash-tree, Number 13, and A Warning to the Curious, by M. R. James
posted by Hogshead at 4:43 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]
Christopher Lee reads The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, The Ash-tree, Number 13, and A Warning to the Curious, by M. R. James
posted by Hogshead at 4:43 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]
Shudder actually just added several of the MR James adaptations and it's great not having to track down a mediocre-quality upload on Youtube to watch them.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:50 PM on December 28
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:50 PM on December 28
Pope Guilty, that's where we watched the older ones! It was nice to have that show up on Shudder.
posted by Kitteh at 5:15 PM on December 28
posted by Kitteh at 5:15 PM on December 28
Robert Lloyd Parry does one-man shows that are readings of MR James and other writers, mostly horror and science fiction. His Youtube channel is youtube.com/@nunkiefilms and you can also buy his recordings on Bandcamp.
posted by amk at 7:19 PM on December 28
posted by amk at 7:19 PM on December 28
Oh lord, even though I am a giant scaredy-cat, I listened to the Librivox recording of “Man-Size in Marble” [4th on that page] thinking “I like this author and I like this Librivox narrator, and it’s an old story so how scary could it really be.” Well, it scared the HELL out of me! Great reading, great story.
(By the way, if you are looking for really well-narrated Librivox books, Andy Minter was one of the greats. He passed away in 2017 but before that he was a prolific contributor and in my opinion, he was a professional-quality narrator. His Prisoner of Zenda is my favourite.)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:31 PM on December 28
(By the way, if you are looking for really well-narrated Librivox books, Andy Minter was one of the greats. He passed away in 2017 but before that he was a prolific contributor and in my opinion, he was a professional-quality narrator. His Prisoner of Zenda is my favourite.)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:31 PM on December 28
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posted by Kitteh at 6:35 AM on December 28 [2 favorites]