Ghosts for Christmas
Ghosts and Christmas may seem to have as much in common as Heaven and Hell, but in truth their is a long tradition, dating from Victorian England, that links them together. M.R. James composed many of his classic ghost stories to be read round the fire during the Christmas break at Cambridge. The Henry James’ novel The Turn of the Screw opens with the characters telling ghostly tales at a Christmas gathering. And of course, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has enough ghosts and spirits to fill any respectable haunted house.
Keeping this tradition alive in the 21st century is Steve Langton at his blog The Last Picture Show. Langton has just started a series titled “The Haunting Season,”which he begins thus:
December. The time of the year when we all look forward to the Christmas holidays, grabbing a few days off work to be with family, and reflect on the absence of loved ones who are no longer with us. It’s also a month when many of us like nothing better than to settle back and read a good old fashioned ghost story, or to watch a particularly spooky film. I thought it would be nice to take a look at a few of my own favourites and hope you enjoy my choices.
Langton’s first entry is a review of A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987), which ranks as one of the great achievments in fantasy-horror cinema, not the least because – besides being filled with dazzling action and special effects – the film is a haunting, doomed love story. Read all about it here. Sadly, U.S. fans wil nash their teeth in jealousy when perusing the details of the Region 2 DVD release, CHINESE GHOST STORY has never really gotten decent DVD treatment in Region 1.
