Reviews

I have to admire Mark Gatiss for keeping the tradition alive, one I have enjoyed since I was young. But I think it may be time to let other writers and directors have a go at the work of M. R. James.

It was with some trepidation I watched this, my second favourite M. R. James story. Having my most favourite, The Mezzotint, slightly ruined last time with the introduction of a 'Tar Monster'.

This story fits into the James standard template of curiosity killing the cat, however the written Wraxhall, being a much more serious fellow.

The TV version is somewhat of a buffoon, singing little songs, joking with the deaf butler etc. Very much in the same vein as Michael Horden in 'Whistle and I'll Come to You'

Alas, this leaning towards a more comedic tone, even if blackly comedic, simillar to The League of Gentlemen, robs the story of that sense of unease you felt with adaptations of The Stalls of Barchester or A Warning to the Curious. Although not as ouright comedic or jokey as Martin's Close.

The reason M. R. James was the best of this genre, one in which he pretty much invented, is he knew how to suggest. And with the right suggestion you make the reader do all the hard work of scaring themselves. I don't need to see someones face ripped of, or a tentacle monster. James managed to convey the horror of what happend to those two young men in the innkeepers story with just words. With the right two actors, you can manage the same feat, so the jump scare moment was unwarranted.

My introduction to these stories wasn't an adaptation but a grown-up version of Jackanory, with Robert Powell in Victorian attire telling the story to camera. Simple. Effective.

Years later Christopher Lee did something similar, telling the story very much in the same way James did originally. These versions have stayed with me in way that the last few adaptations have failed.

Perhaps next time we can try something similar, and expand it to include other writers, Poe, W. W. Jacobs, E. Nesbit.

This drags on far too long, hampered by fairly dull characters who exhibit a complete lack of logic.

Instead of tripods you get robo-dogs whose initial sightings are fleeting and quite creepy. So far, so standard monster film rules.

However as the show plods along and you see lot more of them, their threat diminishes and you wonder why someone doesn't just jump on the bloody things and hurl them into a canal.

Add to this 'blink and you'll forget them' characters who fail apocalypse 101 by shacking up in various locations and never once thinking to barricade the doors.

One of their number is a scientist.

And bearing in mind the creature is the size of a Border Collie, and can be kept at bay with a broomstick.

And the story takes place over several days, and yet the masses of bodies in the street and houses don't seem to rot or show signs of predation. At the very least there would be swarms of flies everywhere.

I can't watch the Tom Cruise version passed the initial attack as it's just that girl screaming the whole way through, so I dispair of seeing a decent version of this classic book in my lifetime. And no the BBC version the same year ain't it either.

Gabriel Byrne has always been an interesting actor to watch, but here you find even him struggling with a lacklustre script.

Watch 28 Days Later & Edge of Tomorrow instead.