#reception of this new ghost story. I'm very grateful that Gatiss has been able (thus far; he's been quite public about what a struggle it
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A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lot No. 249 (BBC, 2023)
"Well, I've given you my opinion. I stand flat-footed upon the ground and there I must remain. The world is big enough for us; no ghosts need apply."
#a ghost story for christmas#lot no. 249#horror tv#single play#2023#bbc#new tv#arthur conan doyle#mark gatiss#kit harington#freddie fox#colin ryan#john heffernan#andrew horton#jonathan rigby#james swanton#jon dear#blair mowat#watched immediately after having watched the '74 adaptation of The Treasure of Abbot Thomas‚ which I suspect didn't help my#reception of this new ghost story. I'm very grateful that Gatiss has been able (thus far; he's been quite public about what a struggle it#is to secure the funding for this kind of niche project) to keep the xmassy bbc ghost story tradition alive‚ and like any series of self#contained plays or anthology‚ there will always be stronger and weaker efforts. alas.. this is not‚ for me‚ one of the better of the new#batch of festive scares. for one thing‚ it leans strongly into what i would identify as Gatiss' chief weakness in comparison to the#Gordon Clark ghost stories: his commitment to putting the scares onscreen‚ where LGC rightly (imho oc) identified that it's much scarier#when you DON'T see the terrible thing. a captured glance‚ a distant image‚ a blurred something on the periphery and your mind filling#in the blanks; infinitely scarier than Gatiss' insistence on showing the monster‚ even having it roar down the camera‚ attempted jumpscares#that simply don't work like subtle‚ building dread do. i don't want to bag on him‚ but this isn't the strongest story to begin with and#combined with the hammer subtle modern horror sensibility of the direction it all ends up being... a little silly. i was enjoying Kit's#performance but the very ending was just farcical. for me. ymmv of course. i still hope he keeps making these anyway#and this one is pretty campy so it has that going for it. but maybe back to m.r. James next time eh Mark?
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