ITV's extremely short lived 'Haunted' thread seem to have been an attempt to create their own 'A Ghost Story for Christmas' and this, the first of the two films they aired under that banner heading, screened the same day as the BBC's 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas', the 23rd December 1974.
Based on a story by Kingsley Amis it stars Jeremy Brett as Sheridan Owen, the pompous and overbearing author of a hit "literary horror" novel, who, escaping with his wife Alex (Natasha Parry) from his promotional duties, finds himself seemingly trapped in the plot of his own novel.
The last time we met Brett on Wyrd Britain was with his dreadful scenery chewing performance in 'Mr Nightingale' but thankfully he's notably more restrained here and reminds of the actor he was to become in his most famous role. Parry, unfortunately has little to do but leads a strong supporting cast. Director John Irvin, who four years later would direct Alec Guinness in the superb 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', shows a keen sense of pacing and a good eye for a gothic visual, despite everything being obviously shot in the daytime, and the story builds to a solid climax with a darkly cryptic coda.
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Sylvia Townsend Warner's debut novel, 'Lolly Willowes; or The Loving Huntsman', is the story of Laura Willowes, who, following the death of her father, is torn from her idyllic existence in the countryside she loves and subsumed into the restrictive, self-satisfied, humdrum town life of her oafish, domineering brother and his family, almost becoming lost in her new, imposed, identity as 'Aunt Lolly' until she finally manages to break away to a new life in the village of 'Great Mop' where she pledges herself to the Devil and becomes a witch.
'Lolly Willowes' is a comedy of manners that soon reveals it's true colours as a satirical meditation on life in the early twentieth century, particularly on the lives of women in a society that refuses to value them...
"Women have such vivid imaginations, and lead such dull lives. Their pleasure in life is so soon over; they are so dependent upon others, and their dependence so soon becomes a nuisance."
... and on the appeal of a life lived beyond the confines of conventional social and religious mores, as offered here in the form of Satan and the lure of witchcraft.
"But you say: 'Come here, my bird! I will give you the dangerous black night to stretch your wings in, and poisonous berries to feed on, and a nest of bones and thorns, perched high up in danger where no one can climb to it.' That's why we become witches: to show our scorn of pretending life's a safe business, to satisfy our passion for adventure. It's not malice, or wickedness—well, perhaps it is wickedness, for most women love that—but certainly not malice, not wanting to plague cattle and make horrid children spout up pins and—what is it?—'blight the genial bed.' [...] One doesn't become a witch to run round being harmful, or to run round being helpful either, a district visitor on a broomstick. It's to escape all that—to have a life of one's own, not an existence doled out to you by others"
The version below featuring Louise Brealey as Laura and Sam Dale as Satan was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Halloween 2021, a choice no doubt inspired by it's subject matter but 'Lolly Willowes' is a story more interested in sharing it's message through humour than through horror a fact that playwright, Sarah Daniels emphasises in her joyous, deeply sympathetic and entirely lovely interpretation of this neglected classic.
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Shadows Of Fear was an early 70s anthology series of ten hour long thrillers and one thirty minute one revolving around notions of 'fear'. Strangely for the time it was made and with such an apt core concept and such a supremely creepy animated opening sequence featuring Roger Webb's terrifying theme music only one of the eleven episodes had a supernatural theme, episode four, 'The Death Watcher'
Psychologist, Emily Erikson (Judy Parfitt), riding high on the publication of her book, accepts the invitation of a Dr Pickering (John Neville) to visit with him to observe his experiments. There she discovers his work is far further out there than she anticipated and finds herself held hostage by the deranged Doctor and his unwitting assistant Dawson (Victor Maddern) and destined to be not just an observer but his subject.
Screened on January 26th 1971 there are shades of Nigel Kneale in the melding of science and the supernatural but Pickering always feels more bonkers than brilliant with his botched together death trap and half baked theories, reminiscing about ballroom dancing as he becomes increasingly deranged, leading to a chilling denouement.
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Nigel Havers stars in this quick and effective BBC Radio adaptation of what is perhaps Bram Stoker's second most famous story. Originally publised on December 5th 1891 in Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News it's the story of a student who takes on an old house, previously the home of a sadistic judge, to study for an exam. Unfortunately the "absurd prejudices" the locals hold regarding the house soon prove themselves true.
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Having located the lost tomb of Ra-Antef the team of archaeologists and Egyptologists (Jack Gwillim, Ronald Howard & Jeanne Roland) bring the plundered remains back to Britain where their brash American financier (Fred Clark) plans to exhibit the mummy as part of a touring show. Unfortunately there is the inevitable curse and their journey home is dogged by murder, mayhem and an enigmatic stranger (Terence Morgan) all of which they seem to take entirely in their stride.
By the mid 60s Hammer Films were releasing around half a dozen movies a year so it's inevitable that there's some slippage in quality amongst them. The studio's second mummy movie, bereft of Hammer's A-team of Cushing and Lee who've been replaced, for the most part, with a cast of unremarkable, jobbing actors, is a mess of cliches and contrivances that bumbles along entirely forgetting to unleash the Mummy until well over halfway through the film. Indeed, 'The Curse...' is such a stinker that the absurdity of the revelation in the final act is entirely predictable and it almost never fails to make me laugh every tme I get to it but it has some nice set pieces and the finale in the sewers is effectively done offering an unusual grandeur and a much needed change of setting.
Mummy movies are a tricky prosect to pull off - implacable, shuffling, encroaching murder monsters work so much better as a zombie hoard - and it takes some real filmic flair to pull it off which this movie has very little of as it's as slow, lumbering and wheezy as its monster but still, for all it's many faults, I like it and it's long been a rainy day movie at Wyrd Manor.
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55 years ago today, on the 13th February 1970, a former car horn tuner, a sheet metal worker with half his finger tips missing, a Butler and a drummer named Bill released an album that was to define an entire genre of music.
Naming themselves after a Boris Karloff movie and taking lyrical inspiration from Dennis Wheatley novels and musical inspiration from the Devil's interval the band produced a debut album that still sounds every bit as good today as it did back then even though initial reviews were scathing...
Robert Christgau, writing for The Village Voice, panned the album as "bullshit necromancy" He later described it as a reflection of "the worst of the counterculture", including "drug-impaired reaction time" and "long solos"."
The reviews certainly didn't hurt any as the album went on to sell almost 5 million copies worldwide and it's influence can still be felt today.
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In 1986 in the wake of the release of David Cronenberg's reimagining of 'The Fly' the BBC Two show Saturday Review sent Charles Shaar Murray out to interview authors Ramsey Campbell and Alan Moore to find out about the enduring appeal of horror.
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Young Nick Foster (Arnaud Morell) has a lot on his plate what with his parents being in America, moving into a new house, being the new boy at a posh new school, an occult obsessed R.E. teacher (Bert Parnaby), an incompetent au pair, two sisters (Donna Glaser & Sadie Herlighy) with terrifying hairdos, a bedroom that sounds like it's falling apart and a computer that keeps asking for help so it's little wonder that he's seeing a psychiatrist (Susannah York) and his new classmates are plotting to kill him because they think he's possessed.
Made by the Children's Film Unit - a charity that enabled young people to train in and experience all aspects of film-making - and screened on Channel Four in December 1985, 'Daemon' is a fun little creeper that doesn't quite make the best use of it's generous runtime and makes a vague, clunky, stab at some social commentary about the furore over video nasties but the kid actors are pretty solid, there's a nicely sympathetic performance from York - a patron of the charity - who genuinely seems to be enjoying herself and a suitably manic one from Parnaby and it all builds to a solid conclusion.
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John Baker, who died 28 years ago today at the far too young an age of 59, was a musician and composer most readily known for his 11 year stint (1963 - 1974) at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. His work, with it's combination of traditional instrumentation with more unusual musique concrète techniques and sound sources -twanged rulers, pouring liquid, etc - is amongst the most easily identifiable of all the Workshop composers as, with Baker's jazz sensibilities never far from the surface, his compositions are often significantly lighter, catchier and more playful than those of his colleagues.
After leaving the Workshop in 1974 Baker never composed again and lived quietly until his death from liver cancer in 1998 which makes the body of work made in those 11 short years all the more remarkable.
The album below - along with Volume 2 which featured his soundtrack, library and advertising work - was released by Trunk Records in July and August of 2008 having been compiled by Alan Gubby of the great Revbjelde, head honcho of Buried Treasure where he released another album of Baker's music, 'The Vendetta Tapes' which I heartily recommend tracking down.
For those that would like to learn more about this fascinating composer the release page for the two Trunk albums features a lovely little biography written by Baker's brother, Richard that shines an illuminating light on the man behind and beyond the music.
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Before he found world wide fame with 'Black Mirror', Charlie Brooker had long been a mainstay of British comedy through his Guardian newspaper columns (later collected in several books) and various TV review shows such as 'Screenwipe' (and the subsequent 'News', 'Games', 'Weekly' and 'Antiviral' wipes) as well as writing for shows like 'Brass Eye' and creating the 'Big Brother' zombie series, 'Dead Set'.
Shown in 2011 and following the Screenwipe format of commentary, clips and skits, 'How TV Ruined Your Life', over 6 episodes on: Fear, The Life Cycle, Aspiration, Love, Progress, Knowledge Brooker explores the ways in which TV programmes twist our expectations and warp reality to serve their own ends.
It isn't as savagely satirical as some of Brooker's work, could probably have done with pruning an episode or two and, 14 years on, feels slightly quaint in an age of micro targeted social media disinformation but it's still a funny, informative and occasionally depressing look at how we got where we are.
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In 1952, the year before he terrified the nation with the first Quatermass TV serial, Nigel Kneale wrote 'You Must Listen' for BBC Radio a play exploring themes that he would return to again and again throughout the years, namely the intersecton between the supernatural and the scientific. The original broadcast is lost but luckily Kneale retained the script and it was remade for BBC Radio 4 in 2023.
In 'You Must Listen' the installation of a phone line at the new offices of solicitor, Mr. Paley (Reece Shearsmith), is beset by problems when the voice a woman, nicknamed Passion Fruit (Caroline Catz), keeps being heard on the line. As the problem continues and as Passion Fruit's monologue takes on a darker hue maintenance engineer Frank Wilson (Toby Jones) is called in to fix the problem.
It's beautifully made and, like the best of the Kneale's work addresses timeless themes beyond the literal ghosts in the machine and it's wonderful to see this lost chapter in the work of one of the pillars of, what we humbly call, Wyrd Britain brought back to life.
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Searching for the philosophers’ stone in the pursuit of transmutation and immortality; harnessing the properties of the natural world to cast magic spells; seeking visionary experiences to connect with the spiritual world; conjuring demons to enact our desires; using the tarot and astrology to divine the future – the quest to understand the mysteries of the universe and to tap into its powers has fuelled manifold occult philosophies from the early esoteric traditions of the ancient Egyptians to the practices of modern occultists.
The latest in a line of fascinating books from T&H this books is a deep dive into the visual language of the occult as represented in art and mysticism. Here we take a whistlestop tour through time from Ancient Egypt to modern video games and across nine aspects of the various incarnations of occult lore with chapters on Astrology, Alchemy, Kabbalah, Natural Magic, Astral magic, Ritual Magic, Occultism, Tarot and New Age & Occulture.
For folks like me who look terrible in a robe or a black polo neck, who cannot rock a mystical medallion and who could, at best, be considered a tourist in this sort of stuff with no interest in the practicalities of a magical life but with a love of it as a narrative or artisitic tool this makes for excellent eye candy and an engrossing read that'll sit happilly on my shelves proving itself a handy resource for a long time to come
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First published as "The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost" in the March 1902 issue of The Strand Magazine, H.G. Wells' humorous ghostly tale of the folly of hubris has long been one of his most anthologised and well-known short stories.
Relayed to his circle of friends by firelight following a day of golf, Clayton tells of his encounter with a ghost the previous night and of its piteous nature and plight.
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Made by Brad Smith between 2006 and 2010 this is an interpretation of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' made for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System.
For the Floyd purists I suspect this might be a difficult listen but for those of you with an affection for electronic music, game music or just the slightly barmy then this'll make your day because it's all those things.
You can find out more along with all sorts of technical details that my luddite brain wouldn't understand at rainwarrior.ca
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The ITV (LWT) series 'Tales of Unease' ran for one series in 1970 taking it's stories from the books of the same name edited by John Burke. Only seven episodes were made, the first two of which - 'Ride, Ride' & 'Calculated Nightmare' - we've featured here before, this, the fifth episode, continues the series' remit of tales that unsettle but don't necessarily horrify.
Yellow beach buggy owning hipster couple 'Teddy' (Jeremy Clyde - 'Schalcken the Painter') and 'Penny' (Tessa Wyatt - 'Robin's Nest') visit a dilapidated house with vague plans to buy and renovate it but encounter the sitting tenant, 'Mrs Laristo' (Eve Pearce) who warns them not to stay.
Following it's sitcom like beginning there's a well-paced build up of tension as the pompous pair run roughshod over the increasingly panicked tenant and parade around the house planning their remodelling. Is there something evil in the house or is Mrs Laristo simply trying to scare them away from her home or, is it something, else?
For the most part it's a quick and effective little creeeper but unfortunately the pay-off, whilst unexpected, is rather silly and much of the hard work of the previous 30 minutes comes crashing down.
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