Bonus: Media Round-Up 01
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As this is a media-focused season, I thought I'd do some podcast versions of the media round-ups I post monthly on my website, of all the media I've been reading, listening to, and watching.
These are all genres, and if you fancy getting to know me and my media tastes, or get some recs for your own media consumption, then check these bonus episodes out.
[If you do want to skip spoilers for Val Kilmer film The Traveler, please skip to around 01:04:01.420 where you then just pick up my overall thoughts on the film, without plot specific points.]
Book Recs:
All of Us Murderers by K.J. Charles
What The Fog Conceals by R.A. Marno
Linghun by Ai Jiang
25 Gifts of Terror by Boris Bacic
We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe
HorrorBabble’s Diary Horror (Audiobook)
Algernon Blackwood BBC Radio Drama Collection (Audiobook/Audio Drama)
TV Show / Limited Series Recs:
Hazbin Hotel
Helluva Boss
Yaratilan/Creature (8-part series)
Agatha Christie's Ordeal by Innocence (complete 3-part adaptation)
Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse (complete 3-part adaptation)
Midwinter of the Spirit (complete 3-part adaptation)
Crooked House (3-part complete series)
Queen Mantis (8-part complete series)
La Révolution (8-part series, cancelled, ends with set-up to S02)
Ghosts (UK) - complete and now finished series with several seasons.
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Intro/Outro: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Welcome to Eldritch Girl and the very first of
our bonus episodes. For these episodes, I thought
it would be good, since we're doing 100 horror
movies in 92 days for the main series this time,
to do bonus episodes that look back on my media
highlights that I've been posting on my blog
and just shouting out... books that I've really
enjoyed whether they're horror or not and different
genres of things as it's going to get very samey
with just horror in the main season so Yeah,
I thought this would be a good opportunity to
just boost a load of other people's work and
give you ideas of what to read, what to watch,
apart from horror, what to listen to. I'm going
to shout out some podcasts that I've been enjoying,
audio dramas, all that kind of thing. So you
get a sense of how eclectic my taste is and that
it's not all about horror. However, we're going
to start off with... something that I posted
in November 2025, which was the first time that
I started doing my media roundups for the month.
And I am never beating the allegations because
both of the books that I enjoyed were gothic,
but they were also very fun. So I only read two
books back in November. That was All of Us Murderers
by K .J. Charles, which is a queer gothic horror
novel, and What the Fog Conceals. by R .A. Marno
which was an ARC read that one is out in August
and that is a Northern Irish Gothic absolutely
loved both of them they're both very different
All of Us Murderers is A lush gothic drama of
Crimson Peak meets the murderous intrigue of
Knives Out with an LGBTQ love story to die for
from award -winning author KJ Charles. It came
out in October 2025 with Poisoned Pen Press.
Who will survive Lackaday House? When Zeb Wickham
is summoned to a wealthy relative's remote gothic
manor, he is horrified to find all the people
he least wants to see in the world. His estranged
brother, his sneering cousin, his bitter ex -lover
Gideon Grey. Things couldn't possibly get worse.
Then the master of the house announces the true
purpose of the gathering. He intends to leave
the vast family fortune to whoever marries his
young ward, setting off a violent scramble for
her hand. Zeb wants... no part of his greedy
family, but when he tries to leave, the way is
barred. The walls of Lackaday House are high
and the gates firmly locked. As the Dartmoor
mists roll in, there is no way out, and something
unnatural may be watching them from the house's
shadowy depths. Fear and paranoia ramping ever
higher, Zeb has nowhere to turn but to the man
who once held his heart. As the gaslight flickers
and terror takes hold, can two warring lovers
reunite, uncover the murderous mysteries of Lackaday
House, and live to tell the tale? I really enjoyed
this. Zeb, the main character, has ADHD. Obviously,
it's not called that because it's set in Victorian
times, but it's very obvious on page that that
is what he has. I really liked the gay romance
part. I really enjoyed all of the references
to multiple Gothic horror novels from the 18th
and 19th centuries. There are so many different
plot points that are referenced and fiction novels
and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I really enjoyed
it. Just really recommend that one. The second
book was What the Fog Conceals by R .A. Marno.
That comes out the 15th of August, 2026. So this
year with Salt Publishing. And I was actually
asked to blurb this and I did so very joyfully.
My blurb was that the quote that's being used
for that is, this debut is not only a wonderful
addition to Northern Irish Gothic fiction, but
a must read for all those who love slow burn
Gothic horror. And I do stand by that. I think
it's very powerful. There are parts of it that
made me cry. It's based on a real incident in
Northern Irish history. R .A. Marno is himself
from Northern Ireland. incredibly moving and
it's about what happens when something heinous
occurs as a historical event and everybody is
kind of coerced into forgetting it but also people
want to forget it and are complicit in forgetting
it and making sure that it's forgotten and the
land remembers And things start to resurface
because the land remembers what has happened
and is forcing that memory back. And people have
to confront it. And it's just very powerful.
It's very, I guess, literary Gothic, if we want
to use that phrase. I don't particularly like
it, but I think that it's something that people
would understand if I said literary Gothic. It's
very... I mean, it's not sort of a real world
kind of thing. It's a very kind of dreamlike
in places. It's very kind of abstract, I guess,
but it's very, like there's a narrative, there
are character arcs. I think you'd have to read
it to kind of get into it, but you have to be
prepared for it to be quite slow and just very
immersive, very atmospheric. Okay, so this is
the... This is the blurb. In What the Fog Conceals,
R .A. Marno delivers a taut, quietly devastating
debut that lingers in the mind long after the
final page. Set in a remote Irish estate shadowed
by silence and omission, the novel unearths the
emotional archaeology of a family haunted less
by ghosts than by what they refuse to name. Blending
literary precision with gothic unease, Mano explores
the weight of memory, the corrosive nature of
secrecy and the quiet violence of complicity.
This is a story where atmosphere presses in like
weather, where grief hides in architecture and
where the past is never quite buried, only waiting
to return. Perfect for readers drawn to elegant
psychological fiction and the slow unravel of
long -held truths, What the Fog Conceals marks
the arrival of a striking new voice. Yeah, I
genuinely thought that it was brilliant. And
in What the Fog Conceals, Ari Manu creates a
deeply moving and quietly assured narrative of
unstoppable resurfacing memory, the unexorcisable
haunting of history and the ultimate unsuppressible
power of a landscape, which is a heritage both
natural and constructed, that is inescapable
as mortality. And again, this is where the quote
from my... blurb came from this debut is not
only a wonderful addition to northern irish gothic
fiction but a must read for all those who love
slow burn gothic horror um yeah i would definitely
recommend that in november i also watched a bit
of tv and film i was ill for most of november
so i was basically just on the sofa not doing
anything um but some of the shows that i loved
were has been hotel That's not a surprise to
anyone, I guess. Helluva Boss, of course, set
in the same universe, which I watched the entirety
of straight after, back to back. Yaratilan, or
Creature, a 2023 version of Frankenstein, which
is a Turkish version of Frankenstein. That's
on Netflix. I love those. Creature is amazing.
I genuinely recommend it. And they're very much
comfort shows for me. I really enjoy them. I
also watched K -pop Demon Hunters, apparently,
in November and really liked it. Again, not surprised,
really. I love musicals. The songs are really
catchy. I was just sat there crying my eyes out
through the whole thing. Frankenstein by Guillermo
del Toro. I loved that one. I actually wrote
a post comparing the way Del Toro adapted the
novel to the way Çağan Irmak adapted it for his
eight -part series, Creature. And you can read
that on my blog, cmrosens .com. And I followed
up... The feature film with the behind the scenes
documentary, which is Frankenstein, the anatomy
lesson. And I just found that really interesting
because it goes into detail of the sets and the
colours and introduces you to the different people
who were part of the crew and all of their different
parts that they had to play in making that film.
And I found that really enriched my experience.
I also watched a film called Baramulla, which
is set in Kashmir and focuses on the struggles
in Kashmir with supernatural forces and a crime
thriller plot. I found that really interesting
because I've seen a lot of films where I don't
know enough to comment on it. yeah it's just
one of those films where like if you don't know
the geopolitical divides and the religious conflicts
of the region it's like oh okay i can see that's
very interesting that you're framing it that
way and that's very interesting that this film
presents this in this particular way um and perhaps
in a way that you don't often see it portrayed
um so i've seen uh shows in from india like ghoul
where it explores kind of the muslim minority
um what might happen if you know when muslims
are oppressed in a particular way um and baramulla
is more like okay this is what happens when hindus
are oppressed by muslims um and You know, the
kind of dark history of this region. And also
there is a supernatural entity that is taking
children. But the children's kidnap is being
blamed on Muslim extremists. And the Muslim extremists
do exist and are there and are causing issues
in the area. But it's not them that is doing
the thing. And then you have kind of this supernatural
history of the area. And yeah, very interesting.
So yeah, those are my November watches and my
November recommendations. The next one I did
was in December. In December, I read a little
bit more to my surprise. And the books that really
stood out for me was Linghun by Ai Jiang, a modern
Chinese -Canadian gothic ghost story, which is
also described as literary horror. It's a beautiful,
very serious, very rich, multi -layered grief
horror. And the blurb is, Welcome home. Follow
Wenqi, Liam and Mrs. in this modern gothic ghost
story by Chinese -Canadian writer and immigrant
Ai Jiang. Linghun is set in the mysterious town
of Home, a place where the dead live again as
spirits, conjured by the grief -sick population
that refuses to let go. So the premise is like,
what if you could move into a house and in this
area where... If you have a dead loved one, you
can communicate with them again, and it's only
in this specific place that you can do that.
And everybody is trying to move into these houses
in order to communicate with their dead child
or lover or whatever. And it's this very, very,
very messed up, abusive situation to those who
are still alive, especially the children that
are still alive in a family who are forced into
this situation. I really enjoyed it. I think
for a given value of enjoyment, it was really
good. I wrote a longer review for Divination
Hollow and just recommending it. It also reminded
me very much of the film Home for Rent, which
is a Thai film. Also about bringing child spirits
back and grief and multi -POV chapter type structure
for the film. Yeah, so I would recommend that
alongside this book. But yeah, so Linghun. I
also read 25 Gifts of Terror by Boris Bacic,
which is like one story per day, like an advent
calendar. I don't know, some of the stories were
good, some of them were not so good. It's a really
good anthology though, it's a single author collection.
Some were hits, some were misses, but most were
hits I think for me. I enjoyed quite a lot of
the Christmas concepts. I also had a listen to
Horror Babble's Diary Horror. audio book collection
which is narrated by Ian and Jennifer Gordon
it's a kind of found footage anthology containing
15 stories written in diary format they are mostly
classic fiction classic weird fiction but they
do include more modern fiction like Ian Gordon's
2020 audio tape diary story which opens with
and I really enjoyed that there are some good
ones in there I get on with that narration style
quite well and the voices work for me It does
include Lovecraft stories and Guy de Montpaussant
and other people like that. Robert Bloch is in
there. Lovecraft is going to Lovecraft, so brace
for his stories. But yeah, it's a pretty good
collection on the whole. Another single author
collection that I read in December or dipped
into is We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula
D. Ashe. I've interviewed Paula on this programme.
So you can go and listen to her interview. You
can also listen to the transcript or read the
transcript on my blog. I really enjoy this collection.
Genuinely love it. It's a reread for me. And
I think one of my favourite stories this time
around was Jacqueline Laughs Last in the Gaslight.
I didn't read all the stories. There are 12 of
them in total. But I dipped in and out. It's
brilliant. Blurb at the back is, with these 12
stories, Paula de Ash takes you into a dark and
bloody world where nothing is sacred and no one
is safe. A landscape of urban decay and human
degradation. This collection finds the psychic
pressure points of us all and giddily squeezes.
Try to run, try to hide, but there is no escape.
We are here to hurt each other. Yeah, I really
enjoy it. I think the prose is gorgeous. And
if you're into, again, sort of that literary
horror, but also body horror um give that collection
a go another audiobook i listened to in december
was the algernon blackwood bbc radio drama collection
17 supernatural dramas and ghost stories all
by algernon blackwood and The bouncy intro music
and the credits were very incongruous compared
to the stories, but I enjoyed it anyway. It's
got a lot of good stories. Algernon Blackwood
is just a great writer. I love his stuff. And
if you're interested and you want to, you can't
get hold of that, then the Internet Archive has
four of his John Silence stories free in audio
format if you're interested. And also you can
read them. I think Project Gutenberg has them
as well in PDF format or EPUB format. He's very
worth reading. There's more to him than The Willows,
although that is one of his most famous for a
good reason. December, I was ill again quite
a lot, so I ended up watching a lot of TV and
a lot of miniseries, a lot of films. I watched...
Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss again. I watched
Yaratilan, Creature again. I, again, absolutely
can't recommend Creature enough as a Turkish
version of Frankenstein. And if you know the
book and you know different adaptations, it's
so fun to see how they've adapted it for Ottoman
Turkiye. Absolutely great. So good. I watched
La Révolution, which is the French eight -episode
TV series from 2020, which got cancelled, so
it ends on a cliffhanger. But it's like Kingdom
meets Brotherhood of the Wolf, but it's Revenants,
I guess, not zombies, not vampires. I can't comment
on the dub quality, because I always watch it
in the original language with subtitles. Subtitles
were fine and the acting was really good. It's
about the future inventor of the guillotine who
discovers a disease that's causing the aristocracy
to murder commoners. It's so French. I loved
it. I also then watched Queen Mantis, which is
a Korean eight -part thriller heavy on domestic
violence and child sexual abuse based on the
French series La Mante. Which has the same reveal
as that series because it's just the Korean version.
But maybe tackles it a bit differently. I haven't
really seen both to compare. I doubt I will.
I've done some inline spoilers for that. I'm
not going to do the spoilers here. There are
some inline spoilers in my December media roundup
for that particular TV show, if you would like
my full thoughts. I also watched one called Midwinter
of the Spirit, which is a three -part series,
ITV UK. mini -series from 2015. It's based on
the second Merrily Watkins book by Phil Rickman,
which was adapted for the screen by Stephen Volk,
where crime meets ancient English folklore with
a rural vicar, Church of England vicar, protagonist
called Merrily Watkins. I've got the first book.
I bought it years and years ago. It's called
The Wine of Angels. It's an absolute doorstop
of a thing. And I bought it way back in the 2010s.
I've had it through multiple house moves and
various things on my shelf. past 10 -15 years
and now I might finally read it and I said this
in December I still haven't read it but you can
just watch the ITV adaptation of book two without
knowing Merrily Watkins's story like you don't
need to it's like a standalone thing but I think
it's probably one of those that you get the character
arcs if you read the books in order but I don't
think it really matters anyway I quite like that
adaptation. I really enjoyed that three -parter.
Midwinter of the Spirit. Very good series. Then
I got into a load of Agatha Christie because
it was December and that's what you do in December
coming up to Christmas. It's all about crime
and ghosts. So, Ordeal by Innocence. Three -parter
from 2018. An adaptation of Agatha Christie's
standalone novel adapted for the screen by Russell
Lewis. I have to say... I do enjoy the decentering
of the best -known detective personalities like
Poirot and Marple in these standalone adaptations.
I really enjoyed And Then There Were None for
that reason as well. That was just a great adaptation
with the late, great Sam Neill, RIP. And The
Pale Horse, I also enjoyed that one. But the
series of Marple and Poirot sometimes do co -opt
those standalone stories. You may be familiar
with Ordeal by Innocence as a Marple story because
it was adapted in 2007 with Gwendolyn McEwan
as Marple for that mystery series. And you may
be familiar with The Pale Horse as a Marple mystery
because the 2010 series with Julia McKenzie as
Miss Marple co -opted that story as a Marple
mystery. But they're actually standalone stories.
So this one, Ordeal by Innocence, the 2018 version,
is detective -free, standalone, really tight
focus on the family itself, like it's supposed
to be in the novel, and just lets the characters
breathe without a detective breathing down their
necks. I also like that it is a lot darker than
the Marple versions as a result. Deeply respect
that. So yeah, I really enjoyed it. It's got
a great cast, as you can imagine. That's quite
a good one. Crooked House is the other one I
watched, which is the miniseries from 2008. It
was on Prime UK as a single 90 -minute film written
by Mark Gatiss, directed by Damon Thomas, and
the segments go through the grim history of Geap
Manor with some nice touches, spooky atmospheric
movements. I remember watching this, I think,
in 2008 when it first came out, and so although
this was a rewatch, I'd forgotten almost everything
about it, so it was virtually new for me. But
very hazy. But I did like that and I would say
that was enjoyable. The Pale Horse, which I've
just mentioned, adapted by Sarah Phelps. That
was a really good one. She did an outstanding
job. And she also adapted And Then There Were
None, which was the 2015 one that everybody loves.
I think that's the Sam Neill one. And yeah, I
recommend both of those. Again... Pale horse,
very good bleak dark version. Rufus Sewell is
perfect as Mark Easterbrook, who is a really
interesting choice as a protagonist for a novel
or for a crime series. I really like his character
a lot. He is an absolute shit. I really love
him. I really love Sean Pertwee as Inspector
Lejeune. It's about as close to folk horror as
Christie gets. And she's always very, I don't
know, quite sympathetic to folk tradition and
to folk horror because it doesn't go the way
you expect. And I just, I love that. I also,
of course, for a comfort watch, watched Ghosts,
the UK version, just for some of the festive
episodes and the last series, which I couldn't
remember seeing. I probably didn't see it. And
it just makes me cry buckets. It makes me laugh.
And I absolutely loved Yonderland as well by
the same people. It's so weird to see Martha
Howe Douglas who plays Fanny in Ghosts as like
the modern chosen mum in modern clothes as like
a mum to twins who has to go and rescue this
fantasy world by being like really quite mumsy
towards them and being quite like ballsy as well
and having this life in her 40s outside of her
husband and kids and not being Fanny. I really
liked it. Anyway, Ghosts, the UK version, recommend.
I watched a ton of films that December. Oh, my
God. I watched all of the ghost stories for Christmas.
And I mean, literally, as many of them still
exist that I could get my hands on. I got the
DVD set for Christmas one year. So I watched
them all. Like, yeah, I will go through. I'll
go through those for you. But I also watched
the current one as well. This... Oh, God, yeah,
what a year. So, yeah, so I saw some really great
films. The Christmas films that I watched. The
Mean One, which is just daft. It's daft romance.
It's the Grinch. It's brutal murders. It's one
of those things like Blood and Honey, you know,
like it's let's take this beloved children's
character and make them into a, you know, make
it into a slasher. And it's silly and it's funny.
And I was just like, whatever. Yeah, OK. It gets
me in the mood. I watched Krampus, 2015, directed
by Michael Dougherty, which is another one that
gets me into the Christmas spirit, I guess. I
don't know, there's bits about it I don't like,
but there's also bits about it I find funny.
But yeah, it's just one of those ones that I
find myself watching. I also found an absolute
gem, which I recommend to everyone. It's an entirely
independently funded film. They made it on a
micro -budget of 28k in US dollars. It's called
Isvod the Witch's Swamp. So this is directed
by Oleg Taravkov and Alexey Plahtotnikov. Apologies
if I've mispronounced that. It's a Slavic mythology
-inspired folk horror. The English subs are really
good, so I'd recommend it if you need English
subtitles. I added it to Letterboxd myself because
it wasn't on there. It's just a great indie folk
horror. If you want to have a look at it. I've
actually posted a link to the YouTube video.
Which the directors have uploaded onto YouTube.
In my December roundup post. So you should go
and check that out. It's great. A film that I
really wanted to support. Because it's a Cambodian
horror. And they don't make a lot of Cambodian
horror. distribute it for a western audience
and I think that's a shame but it's not a great
film at all it's fine like it's just not I just
didn't think it was that good it's not one of
the best quality that I've seen but I do want
to highlight it because Cambodian cinema needs
more international love and support it's called
The Spell 2019 and again I've posted a link to
the video for that In the post. Have a look
at that. To All A Good Night. 1980 film. Directed
by David Hurst. Because I was off work sick.
Desperately scrolling all the Christmas films.
Of all genres I could find. Literally couldn't
find anything I wanted to watch. And then I found.
The first time a killer in a Santa suit. Ever
appeared on film. Apparently. But that's about
the only groundbreaking thing in it. It's very
run of the mill slasher. But it's a new to me
Christmas one. I felt personally it was a bit
too long, but that's probably because I have
ADHD and I was ill. The action wasn't tight enough
for me. Again, I was ill. I don't think I appreciated
it as a film. I probably was in the wrong space
of mind to watch it. But to all a good night.
It's a classic for a reason. Just not for me
at the time. Cinderella's Revenge 2024, directed
by Andy Edwards. I really liked his film Punch,
which came out the previous year. And he also
had one of my favourite songs, Cinderella Snapped
by Jax, as his opening credits sequence. But
then her chariot is an orange Tesla and she's
chauffeured by Elon Musk. or like you know like
a look -alike and I was like what are we doing
here what what is this mate what are you doing
I did like the innovation of getting famous designers
from the modern day to design her dress and the
fairy godmother like creates a portal for them
to come through and like just make her a really
cool dress without it being just like a poof
there we go it's magic I kind of I did like that
and I did like the masked vengeance thing but
yeah Not one that I would watch again, probably.
I did enjoy the insanely gory Cinderella's Curse,
also 24, directed by Louisa Warren, though. So
of the two of them, I would recommend Louisa
Warren's Cinderella's Curse over Cinderella's
Revenge. That's just my personal thing, though.
You might disagree. Check them both out. They're
both indie films, and they could both do with
the love. I did re -watch Jack Frost as well,
obviously. the 1997 film I was too tired and
ill again to have fun with this so it was a good
background one but yeah definitely recommend
that classic Rare Exports A Christmas Tale oh
my god loved that one I think that's directed
by the same guy who directed Sisu and Sisu Road
to Revenge both of which are amazing action films
and I love them and I think the guy who plays
And the main character in Sisu also is in Rare
Exports, playing a very different character.
So yeah, I feel weird about the ending of Rare
Exports. It's very close to modern day slavery
for me. But yeah, Rare Exports is a good Christmas
film, I guess. It's got quite a lot going for
it. I also watched Mercy Christmas, which is
a High Fliers film. High Fliers do a lot of hit
and miss films. They distribute some really interesting
indie stuff. And so when I see the High Flyers
logo, I'm like, oh, let me get into the mindset
of, you know, let me lower my expectations a
little bit. No, that's not fair. That's not fair.
But like I have to. bear in mind like okay it's
high flyers as it's not going to be as polished
sometimes or like maybe as as like a big box
office production because they're usually quite
low budget films anyway this there are some bangers
like really low low low budget bangers like cannibals
versus carpet fitters Absolutely brilliant. What
was that? That was amazing. But I'm adding Mercy
Christmas to the list of hits. It does fall back
on lazy writing at some points. They didn't need
to kill off the only black character in the film.
They just did that because they wanted a final
guy, I guess. But that seemed a bit unnecessary
to me. So, yeah, stuff like that is what I'm
talking about. The sort of lazy horror tropes,
I suppose. I'd give it, I don't know, like three
and a half stars, three stars overall, maybe.
Fun, casual cannibalism. I suppose I would describe
that as. But that's the hit territory of what
High Fliers produces. Just to give you an idea.
Yeah. I also watch some classics like Nightmare
Castle. 1965, which is an Italian gothic horror
that leans into the full drive -your -wife -mad
-on -purpose territory. It's got frog serum mixed
with the blood of a young woman that changes
an old scheming housekeeper young again, a mad
scientist count with a laboratory in his castle,
and it's got Barbara Steele playing, from what
I could gather, identical stepsisters. But let's
not... Let's not dwell on details or bother our
little heads with pesky questions. I love watching
gothic films in winter for the atmosphere. The
dafter the better. This is Daft. This is on YouTube.
It's great. It's a really good Italian gothic
example of the genre. I also watched She -Wolf
of London, 1946. which is directed by Jean Yarborough,
a psychological horror in which we have a family
curse, a woman who kills men at night in a park,
thinking that she's a wolf, but it's 1940s, so
not a wolf. psychological very solid universal
film I really love June Lockhart's performance
in this it's one I listed in my werewolf films
of 1910 to 1949 post which is also on my website
there's a lot of British class dynamics going
on here which I always enjoy really enjoyed this
and you can see from films like this one and
obviously Gaslight 1944 where the later 1960s
gothic films got a lot of their ideas and style
and that kind of thing from. And also, She -Wolf
of London, what a great evil monologue. There's
always an evil monologue. This one, banger. This
is what you get when there's no man in the house.
Just a lot of evil old women. No, I jest. I can
also see for someone who saw this and Gaslight
at the pictures and then saw a 1960s Gothic would
be like, oh, they don't make him like they used
to. And I'm like, yeah, no, I can see the differences
in them and why someone who would prefer She
-Wolf of London and Gaslight would not get on
with the 1960s stuff. I like both, personally.
But, yeah, it was just a really interesting watch
experience, I guess. I did also see Gaslight,
because after the psychological manipulation
of She -Wolf of London, I felt like I wanted
to see the seminal film in psychological horror,
if we can call it that, from which the subgenre
really took off on screen. Obviously, it's adapted
from a play. They've been doing this in the theatre
for years. It's... But I think that's right.
From what I've read, this is where cinema kind
of went, oh, psychological horror, that's really
good. And then we get this explosion of thrillers
and things like that. I can't remember if I've
seen this one or not, so I don't know if it was
a rewatch or if I just couldn't remember seeing
it. So I counted it as a first watch at the time.
Again, it's based on Patrick Hamilton's thriller
play of the same name, first produced in 1935,
which I'd really like to see one day. I think
I'd really love to see how that gets staged.
And I watched the colourised version, which usually
it's in black and white, but there is a colourised
version available on YouTube. I also saw The
Phantom Light 1935, which is based on Australian
-British writer Evadne Price's novel, adapted
for the stage by Evadne Price and Joan Roy Byfield.
And then it was turned into a film and directed
by Michael Powell. It's actually a crime thriller,
not a ghost story, but it is kind of framed as
a ghost story. But there are no ghosts. It's
just sort of, oh, superstition, you know. It's
also pretty short. It's about 75 minutes run
time, so you shouldn't expect too much plot or
character development. It's just atmosphere and
nuts and bolts mystery and mildly spooky trimmings
and some nice monologue and dialogue moments.
It's set in Wales, falls back on the usual stereotypes
with old women in steeple hats and shawls who
can't or won't speak English, but they also don't
speak Welsh either, like I'm not actually sure.
what she said in the beginning. I got Nos da,
which means goodnight, which she said in the
middle of the day. Yeah. And it's got singing
fishermen and superstitious, dangerous or weak
-minded locals. So, tick, tick, tick on the stereotypes.
Pretty typical of how Cymru and her people are
usually portrayed in media that want to use it
as an otherworldly, gothic or uncivilised setting.
I guess see also House of the Long Shadows, The
Dark Old House. And even today, my major disappointment
with any book that I've ever read in recent years
was T. Kingfisher's The Twisted Ones, where...
You don't need to use lazy jokes about the Welsh
language to make your main character sound snarky
and fun. Fuck off. That, I don't care. No, I
don't care. That really pissed me off. And also,
it doesn't just happen once, it's multiple times
where the MC is, like, talking in a very dismissive
and mocking way about Cymraeg and the usual lazy
jokes about vowels and God knows what. And I
was just like, it is the 21st century, bitch.
My God, are we still doing this? Like, come on.
Come on now. Anyway, annoying. Which is a shame,
because The Twisted Ones is an interesting novel.
The creepiest parts of it are very, very creepy
and worth reading. But the diary, just so you
know when you go in, is verbatim taken from Arthur
Machen's book The White People. And the diary
entry is just Arthur Machen's story, which is
told in diary format. put into the book so she
didn't make any of that up that is literally
just the diary entries that's literally all Arthur
Machen and then you've got her commentary over
the top of that and so it's really interesting
I really like that actually I don't mind that
but I know somebody went in and then was really
disappointed because they preferred the diary
entry parts thought those were brilliant and
then realised that that wasn't T. Kingfisher's
writing at all and so it was like oh and it kind
of like negatively affected their experience
of the book i don't think it should i i thought
that was you know like a really interesting way
of using somebody else's story to weave it into
like an interesting retelling and do something
with it but anyway i digress i did not read uh
the twisted ones in december so i don't know
why i'm going off on a tangent about that um
anyway what else did i see in december wake up
dead man the third in rian johnson's knives out
kind of trilogy or are we calling it that are
we calling it the blanc trilogy yeah anyway i
really enjoyed it i liked the way it looked at
religious cults of personality how they operate
in the u .s catholic church and intersect with
u .s conservatism i found that really interesting
i love the other two as well and i do like how
these films tend to punch up not down I like
the dynamic of Blanc and Father Jud. I enjoyed
the way it was played, more as complementary
differences than an antagonistic contrast. That
worked for me. I like that. I love a locked room
mystery. Loved that. The cast, the twists and
turns, the use of sunlight in this one to light
characters' faces when they reveal truths or
when something's happening inside them and then
people are cast in shadow when the truth is being
obscured or nefarious things are afoot. I thought
that's a very blunt instrument way to use lighting.
But it also was kind of nice. Like, you know,
I thought that was that was fun. I like that.
Oh, yes, I watched my favourite Cinderella, which
is not a slasher. You'll be amazed to know it
is, in fact. Three wishes for Cinderella. There
is a 70s version, which I also like, but my favourite
is the 2021, which is directed by Cecilie A. Mosley.
This is a lovely winter rewatch. I watch it all
the time, especially when I'm ill. This one is...
Just so nice, so aesthetic. I love the Northern
Lights. It fills in some gaps that the 1970s
one has. It also does not go with the Fat Lady
as comic relief trope in the ball, which is quite
nice. It gives us a cute gay romance subplot,
and it gives us an older couple's romance in
the distant background, and I think, overall,
it's the one I prefer. Definitely a good one
for when I'm unwell, which is basically November,
December, January. So, yeah, I love that. I also
then watched La Belle et la Bête, the 2014 Beauty
and the Beast, directed by Christophe Gans. Yeah,
his films are a bit hit and miss for me as well.
But I really love this one. It's a French fantasy
version with a framed narrative. A lot of family
background you don't normally get that's in the
original story. It follows and expands on Cocteau's
version in that way, which I really like. It's
one of my top three versions, actually. Panna a
Netvor, the Czech version, is my top one. And then
I think Fanga or Belle, which is set in Iceland,
very low budget, where the beast is a cannibal.
And just a hairy guy. Yeah, I love those. And
this is the third one or second, I don't know.
And I just wanted it for the merchant family
subplot and their dynamics. There's not a lot
of, you don't get that. It's French, so you don't
get the kind of like overt, oh, she's falling
in love with him story. You have to do that.
You have to guess that from her. expressions
rather than what she's saying or the chemistry
between them she basically falls in love with
him by dreaming about him as a man and the way
and his love story with his wife so she sees
him and his wife together and she's like oh my
god what what great guy i don't know and he's
not he's a dick i don't really understand like
anyway um and then there's a lot of like interiority
happening just by the camera looking at her face
and I don't know they nearly kiss on an ice lake
before the ice breaks underneath them when he's
a beast it's it's yeah it's an interesting it's
an interesting one What else did I watch? Black
Christmas, 1974, directed by Bob Clark. That
hasn't been available to stream in the UK for
ages. So I was really pleased I finally found
it. It's a Canadian film. I always thought, I
thought for the longest time it was a US film.
Apologies, Canada. But that's because I saw the
US remake version first, which is 2019, directed
by Sophia Tekal. And I get what she was trying
to do, but I think I prefer this original version.
The remake is very heavy -handed about it, about
what it's trying to say in the way that a lot
of US -made stuff is. And I know why. I get that
everyone's very heavy -handed because everyone
is afraid that the message is lost, the audience
don't get it. And in fact, a lot of the time,
the audience does not get it. But you know what?
I feel like that's often to the detriment of
the film. That's just my personal feeling. I'm
British, I prefer subtlety. I don't know what
to say. But also British audiences are not great
at getting things. I think media literacy is
on the out everywhere, to be honest. Anyway.
There are some genuinely good creepy moments
in the original I found genuinely unsettling
and it's got that weird 70s vibe that I enjoy
and I think the central premise translates really
well to modern day and has aged pretty well as
well. So yeah, I really liked that and I think
I prefer Black Christmas 1974 over Black Christmas
2019. But that's just my personal opinion. And
then... Ghost stories for Christmas. Oh, my God.
They are so good, guys. I really hope that you
get to experience them. I've got the box set,
which is 1968 to 2010. And that's produced by
the British Film Institute. So on that, I'll
just give a quick rundown. There's Whistle and
I'll Come to You, 1968, with an introduction
by Ramsey Campbell, who is one of my favourite
authors. Then there's the Whistle and I'll Come
to You remake in 2010, which stars John Hurt.
And I also really enjoyed that. And I remember
watching that when that came out on telly. There's
also an audio version of A Whistle and I'll Come
to You, My Lad by MR James, read by Neil Brand,
which I also quite enjoyed. And listening to
it, I realised how funny the original story is
and also how homoerotic it is. Recommend it.
Please read. Also reads his M .R. James inspired
story, The Guide, which I found quite fun. There's
also then The Stores of Barchester, 1971, directed
by Lawrence Gordon -Clark, who ended up as my
most watched director of 2025, just because of
all of these bloody little short stories that
he directed. A Warning to the Curious, Lawrence
Gordon -Clark, 1972, which they all have introductions
by the director in the box set, which is quite
interesting. Then Ghost Stories for Christmas
with Christopher Lee, directed by Eleanor Yule,
which had two out of the four segments where
he does dramatic staged readings of The Stalls
of Barchester Cathedral and A Warning to the
Curious by M .R. James. And he plays M .R. James.
and tells the stories to a gathering of his students
at Cambridge. So I then tracked down the other
two of the four segments, which are available,
I think, on YouTube, and watched those as well.
And Christopher Lee is fantastic. And he's just
monologuing, you know. And it's so captivating.
I love that. There's Lost Hearts, which Laurence
Gordon -Clark did an adaptation of, The Treasure
of Abbot Thomas, The Ash Tree, The Signalman,
which is the Charles Dickens short story. Stigma,
which is 1977, and that was one of the first
ones where it was an original story that they
did. It's the one... Stigma is the one about
where they try and remove a monolith from a garden
and then she gets possessed by some sort of spirit
and starts spontaneously bleeding. Weird, weird
story. The Ice House is another original story.
A View from a Hill. Directed by Luke Watson.
That was one of the revived ones. That was 2005.
So The Ice House was 1978. And I think that was
the last one that they did in that series. And
then revived it in 2000s. So A View From A Hill.
And then Number 13, which was the following year,
2006. That's another M .R. James story. I quite
like that one. And Christopher Lee also does
one of the other... segments christmas leaders
is number 13 so you can hear him watch him monologue
that and deliver that story as a monologue and
it really works because a lot of mr james's story
stories are in the first person so you don't
have to do a lot of adaptation you just kind
of like let him almost like read it verbatim
but like deliver it as if he's delivering a speech
so good um yeah Then I watched a few of the classic
ghost stories from 1986, which is five episodes
where the actor Robert Powell performs dramatic
readings of the M .R. James tales, the mezzotint,
the ash tree, the rose garden, wailing well,
and of course, a whistle. I'll come to you, my
lad. Very similar premise to the Christopher
Lee version. But you're just watching Robert
Powell do it instead of Christopher Lee. Spine
Chillers, the 1980s series episodes, directed
by Marilyn Fox. Only three stories from the series
are on the box set. They are the three M .R.
James stories. The Mezzotint, which is adapted
into like 11 minutes. A School Story, 11 minutes.
And The Diary of Mr. Pointer, which is 11 minutes.
So obviously it's not the full thing, it's like
abridged. But all the remaining Spine Chillers
episodes can be found on the Internet Archive.
And that was the DVD box set. And so after that,
I was like, no, I want some more of this. So
I went and found the Mark Gatiss ones and some
others. So Woman of Stone, which is an adaptation
of Edith Nesbitt's story, Man's Size in Marble.
Count Magnus, I love that story, so I was really
pleased that it had been adapted. And actually,
Lawrence Gordon -Clark had a script for that
all ready to go, but couldn't film it due to
a lack of budget, so it never got made in the
original series. And I wasn't disappointed, honestly,
with Mark Gatiss' adaptation. I think it works
well. I did wonder about the... I mean, he always
shows the monster, and it's always a little bit
silly, but OK, you know, you... You have to just
be prepared for that. The Tractate Middoth,
2013. Not one of the stories that I've actually
read by MR James, but I liked the casting and
the atmosphere. It's another sinister treasure
hunt or puzzle mixed up in supernatural stalker
shenanigans. A bit of a variation on a Jamesian
theme. It's a good variation and I enjoyed the
adaptation. The Dead Room, directed by Mark Gatiss
with Simon Callow, playing the actor Aubrey in
a haunted recording studio, which is a haunted
by the past original story by Gatiss, playing
around with ghosts and memories and auditory
hallucinations. you know it worked for me it
got at the sexual repression I think you can
find in James's work if you're looking for it
I liked it not one of my favourites Martin's
Close 2019 was another MR James adaptation
again Mark Gatiss adaptation not a straight period
piece it's slightly different type of one you
get A narrator for the frame narrative, which
is Simon Williams playing Stanton, who narrates
this historical tale directly to the camera as
a voiceover, which is kind of a blend of the
Robert Powell or Michael Bryant in Spinechiller's
style narrations with cutaways to the historical
trial. I think that worked quite well. It worked
for me. Peter Capaldi does a great job of the
attorney role. And I think I like the way that
Anne Clark was played sympathetically as an autistic
girl. And I haven't read this one either, but
I hope that she's not comic relief or written
as an oddity in the original story. I don't know.
But yeah, that's one that I would kind of be
wary of reading, I suppose. The Mezzotint. the
actual adaptation because I'd heard two versions
of this story now Robert Powell's narration and
the Spine Chillers episode with Michael Bryant
and so I was really happy to see it adapted and
I thought it was really interesting because it
moved the original story to 1923 so the original
story was published in 1904 and set kind of before
that So the 1920s gave it more of a Christie
vibe, you know, like an Agatha Christie golden
age detective feel. It's a genuinely creepy story.
One of my favourites. And I also liked that having
seen Robert Powell's mezzotint prop, you can
compare it with the actual mezzotint they use
in the adaptation. I did also like the choice
to gender swap the servant character because
there's only male characters in the story. So
having the servant character as a woman was like,
oh good, it's not just four blokes in a room.
Like we've got a bit of diversity to look at.
Like it's a bit, that makes it a bit more interesting.
I also enjoyed the choice to link the mezzo -tint
mystery to the mysterious family history of our
main character, which was an innovation of Gattis'.
And I do get what they were going for with the
ending, but I'm kind of wishing they didn't show
us so much again. He always shows the monster
and it spoils it. Stop it. Stop it. I also saw
A Christmas Carol, a ghost story, which is the
televised version of the stage play of Charles
Dickens' classic. And that was directed by Adam
Penford. It's a pretty funny version. It's also
pretty chilling. I love the staging of the ghosts
and three spirits were really good. Maybe crying
parts. I... I remember being absolutely terrified
of the Ghost of Christmas Future in the Muppets
version as a child. And this version didn't disappoint.
I loved the use of puppets. The staging was great.
I actually think this might be one of my favourite
versions of the story. And I also appreciated
that they cast an ambulatory wheelchair user
as Tiny Tim. And it was just really good to see
a disabled actor in that role. Yeah, so I recommend
that one. Then I saw The Wolf of Snow Hollow.
Not very memorable for me, unfortunately. It's
meant to be like a werewolf comedy, horror comedy.
It's not the kind of humour that I vibe with,
though, so it didn't really land. It was fine,
pulled together at the end. There were some elements
I appreciated. If you want a horror comedy werewolf,
police procedural film in the snow. Sure, go
for it. The Death of Snow White, 2025, directed
by Jason Brooks. I love these gory updates of
classic tales. They are my guilty pleasure. This
one was full on cheap body horror all the way
through. Like how much body horror can we get
on camera for £1 .50? The pursuit of beauty is
accompanied with horrific experimentations. Everyone
is in Ren Faire costumes. They probably bought
themselves. The Queen is outstanding. The eyelash
sewing is great. Very ugly stepsister. There's
teeth replacements. There's leeches. There's
blood magic. There's hacking up of peasant girls.
It's pretty good. I found it funny. It had some
amazing moments. There's naked mirror demons.
There's nothing not to like, really. I just,
if you, you know, you appreciate the fact it's
on a low budget. I really enjoyed it. It's worth
a watch. The Vampire Lovers, 1970, directed by
Roy Ward Barker. Somehow, the only one of the
Karnstein trilogy I thought I hadn't seen. And
I was like, how have I not seen this? I've seen
Twins of Evil. I've seen Lust for a Vampire several
times each. And then this is the one that actually
tried to base the plot on Le Fanu's Carmilla.
It's got a lot of familiar faces in the cast.
It's got some gorgeous dresses. I actually remember
a lot of the scenes, but not the whole film.
So it turns out I have seen it before. But ADHD,
I guess. Anyway, a good one. I would recommend
that trilogy. It's quite an interesting one to
watch. It's very fun. Peter Cushing's great.
And then I saw a modern film called Pale Horse
2024, not to be confused with Agatha Christie's
story. Pale Horse, it's an interesting one. It's
trying to be a modern gothic romantic thing.
It's got a beautiful man with his shirt off and
he's painting. Painting's his life and he's an
artist, you know. And there's a lovely she -demon
and he sold his soul to make Art. You know, not
just art, but Art. It's got a good premise. It
looks good. The sound mixing is atrocious. That
really let it down. It feels like a less erotic
version of it could be a YA dark romance bestseller,
to be honest. But also, if it had just committed
in like a Panos Cosmatos kind of way and went
full on Mandy with the visuals. It could have
been 80 % better. It just didn't quite commit
with what it was trying to do, I felt. I liked
the ending, though. It was a bit weak in execution,
but I do like a tragic failure. So, Pale Horse,
it was alright. I also then saw The Traveller,
a Christmas Eve thriller with Val Kilmer, slaying
in every sense. If Die Hard is a Christmas film,
it is, then so is this one. And I've seen Die
Hard so many times, I just fancied another gory
thriller set at Christmas to mix things up a
bit. The ending of this one, The Traveller, is
a bit of a letdown. It's incredibly American,
by which I mean it... I don't know how to explain
this. It very much embodies... the ideology of
a very specific american demographic and because
it does that it ruins the whole film because
it doesn't work with everything else because
i think the director and the writers just did
not think it through at all no i'm gonna have
to okay i'm gonna spoil it now so if you haven't
seen the traveler pause skip whatever so the
idea is that This guy turns up and he is kind
of like the supernatural embodiment of a drifter
who was tortured and murdered for killing, suspected
of killing the cop's daughter. And so instead
of arresting him, they just like tortured him
in the cell and then they killed him by accident
sort of thing. Or it wasn't really accidental,
but yeah. And the whole film is about them going,
oh, my God, we tortured and horribly killed this
man. He's now coming after all of us. He knows
it's one by one being picked off because we're
corrupt. But it turns out that he did actually
kill the main cop's daughter. And so the extrajudicial
torture and murder is justified because they
were right. And he is actually evil. And the
little girl comes back as a ghost. to reveal
the drifter's name. Very much like Rumpelstiltskin,
you know, who is also after children in the fairy
tale. And knowing his name enables the cop to
break his power and shoot him with his gun because
this is America. And if you shoot a supernatural
or powerful demon ghost with a gun, obviously
that's going to work. Okay. But the interesting
point is the cop at one point is outside and
he's got two doors that he can go through. And
one is the hard eight bar with dice on the sign.
And the other one next to it is a door that's
in shadow and has a red neon sign saying Jesus
saves above it. And he doesn't go through the
Jesus saves door. He runs into the bar. So you
can read this as a complete rejection of Jesus
and religious morals and Christian ethics. But
he's saved anyway because cop ethics or being
a cop who is justified in his heinous actions
actually trumps being Christian and trumps Christian
ethics. So the cop card trumps the Jesus saves
card, right? And because he's saved by the ghost
of his innocent little daughter, not by Jesus,
that centres his position as Father, with a capital
F, in US family life, I guess, over and above
actual ethics and morality. So he can get away
with anything because as long as it's justified
in... in sort of protecting his family it doesn't
matter that he's rejecting Christian ethics it
doesn't matter that he's actually rejecting Jesus
it doesn't matter that he has brutally murdered
a man he did not know was guilty or innocent
none of that matters because his little girl
came back as a ghost and told him he was right
and that allowed him to shoot a ghost with a
fucking gun And this film seems to subscribe
to the idea that a man in a position of power
can do anything and get away with it if he, A,
can justify it to himself, and B, he's doing
it for his kid, who then supernaturally rewards
him for it as a seal of approval. There is no
coherent belief system in this film, of course.
It's not thought through. It's not even about
that. But I think... What it does do is betray
the unexamined cognitive dissonance and central,
shallow thinking about ethics that the writer
has and the director has while pandering to who
they assume their potential audience demographic
is. And that is in itself just fascinating to
me. So it's a total mess because the ending really
messes it up. The film doesn't actually present
a coherent belief system. It plays with conflicting
elements and vibes. And because the drifter turns
out to actually be evil, this is played as some
sort of redemption arc for that cop. But he's
not saved by grace or anything remotely Christian.
He's saved by the grace of his dead kid, not
Jesus, who has been explicitly rejected by going
through the bar door and not the door that says
Jesus saves above it, right? So it's a deeply
secular, redeemed by family message, whether
that's intentional or not. And I think that's
just really interesting because it's a warning.
And I say this all the time about world building
and stuff. If you're not engaging with actual
ethics, actual morality, actual logic of the
world that you've created, that usually results
in these sorts of internally incoherent ideas.
It's just very telling about your cultural norms
and assumptions and your internal bias and your
unexamined biases when this happens. Because
if you don't think about what you're actually
saying and you don't think about certain things
in your world building and you have these sort
of gaps of things that you have not thought about.
you just fall back onto your own automatic set
of cultural norms by default. And when you do
that and you take a step back, you may find they
don't make any sense in the context of the story
that you're telling. But they do tell the reader
or the viewer an awful lot about you and what
you subconsciously or unconsciously or whatever,
or even consciously think about certain things.
And I, again, I find that fascinating. But it...
it ruined the film and i deeply regretted that
we didn't get a decent kill for the detective
at the end but apart from that val kilmer best
thing in this film worth a watch the super close
-ups of his face in little smirks anyway and
then the very last thing i watched was um obviously
a ghost story for christmas the room in the tower
2025 mark gattis Genuinely good, I thought. An
E .F. Benson story. We don't get a lot of those
adapted. The Room in the Tower is, of course,
a 1912 story which came out before. the Great
War and before World War II. But this adaptation
was set during the Blitz in the 1940s, which
enabled a few tweaks to be made to the original.
And I really liked the addition of a frame narrative
and the tension of the bombing above them and
all that kind of thing. I thought, you know,
framing it in the sense of the wars was really
good. I also liked the ending. E .F. Benson's
story shows us the vampiric ghoul as well. And
neither the original nor the adaptation explains
why the main character is the focus of these
dreams and apparitions. So, you know, fine. That's
quite true to the story. And I'll be honest,
the original story doesn't do much for me as
a story. But the adaptation really worked creep
me out. So congrats. I know a lot of people don't
like Mark Gatiss's adaptations. I know a lot
of people have a lot of problems with them. And
I agree to an extent. I do think he shows us
too much. But I don't mind them. I enjoy them
for what they are. They're just light entertainment
that you watch Christmas Eve for fun. I'm not
here to be massively scared or hiding behind
my sofa. I just want to watch something with
a nice atmosphere to it. And yeah, it's a reasonable
adaptation of The Room in the Tower, I thought.
And I'm not a purist, so it doesn't... ruin a
story for me if the adaptation does things that
is not in the original story or it moves time
frames or and I know that really annoys some
people but I'm saying it from the perspective
of myself and I don't care So there we go. That's
everything that I watched, read and listened
to November and December. And that's quite enough,
I think. A lot of it was horror. I was hoping
that it wouldn't be. But yeah, it turns out that
I watch a lot of horror all year round. But there
we go. Maybe there's something in there for you.
Maybe there's something in there that you would
like to... put on your 100 horror films challenge
list if I've mentioned anything that you thought
was interesting and maybe there are some books
that you want to pick up maybe there are some
shows that you fancy watching anyway yeah we'll
be back next time for more horror films and I'll
do another bonus episode with media roundups
from previous months bye for now