Just under a year following their release of Volume One of the BBC's GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS which I reviewed here, the BFI are bringing out Volume Two, which completes the annual series of stories that went out under that title, and includes some worthwhile extras as well.
Before I get into the detail of what's on the discs, it's worth saying upfront that if you're a fan of the BBC Ghost Stories then this set is going to be a must have. The picture quality of each episode is a major step up from previous DVD releases and each of the original series stories comes with an excellent new commentary. If that's all you need to know then you can order this with confidence, but if you need a bit more, then read on.
The set consists of three Blu-rays, the contents of which are as follows:
Disc One: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974) and The Ash Tree (1975)
The set kicks off with a personal favourite M R James story, filmed in and around Wells Cathedral and featuring the attempts of Michael Bryant's crusty academic (aided by Paul Lavers as his assistant) to locate a hidden treasure by decoding Latin clues (one of the most delicious elements for us classics students back in the day). Needless to say his efforts are rewarded with something horrible that comes to get him.
The Ash Tree is David Rudkin's adaptation of M R James' tale of the witch Mrs Mothersole (Barbara Ewing) who takes a terrible revenge on the family of the witchfinder who executed her using spiders that live in the tree of the title. Previous DVD transfers have always been too dark but the BFI's new version finally allows us to see the special effects spiders very nicely and they're a perfectly creditable TV screen monster of the period.
Abbot Thomas comes with a commentary track from Simon Farquar which is full of facts about the episode, including cast, crew, locations, and even the music score. The Ash Tree's commentary is by Jon Dear working from notes by Johnny Mains and is also excellent.
Other extras include director Lawrence Gordon Clark introductions to both stories (20 minutes in all) and a 16 minute video essay from Nic Wassell that points out all kinds of interesting details about all the Christmas Ghost Stories.
Disc Two: The Signalman (1976) and Stigma (1977)
Time to switch from M R James to Charles Dickens and Clive Exton. The Signalman stars Denholm Elliott at his twitchiest as the title character with a terrible sense of foreboding, while Stigma is an original story filmed in Avebury (location of the previous year's Children of the Stones) about the unleashing of a vengeful witch's spirit.
The commentary on The Signalman is from Jon Dear with special guest Mark Gatiss, while Kim Newman and Sean Hogan provide commentary duties on Stigma, with kudos to Mr Hogan for managing to get a PSYCHOMANIA reference in there.
Extras on disc two are limited to two Lawrence Gordon Clark introductions (19 minutes in all)
Disc Three: The Ice House (1978), A View From A Hill (2005), Number 13 (2006)
The main feature on disc three is The Ice House, John Bowen's weird Aickmanesque story of the strange events that befall a man (John Stride) when he attends a health spa. It's very different from the way the series started off in 1971, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact both The Ice House and Stigma are superb examples of the television horror short story form for the late 1970s and it's a shame that there weren't more like them.
Kim Newman and Sean Hogan are on hand for another excellent commentary, and this time the special features consist of two of the more recent Ghost Stories For Christmas - A View From a Hill and Number 13, and you also get the 2000 version of Christopher Lee reading Number 13 as well. The set also comes with a booklet that includes new essays on all of the classic original series episodes on the set. All top quality stuff
GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS VOLUME TWO is out in a three disc Blu-ray set from the BFI on Monday 20th November 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment