Gloomy Sunday Solstice

Not much sun round these parts to which I could properly pay respects, so a bit of rural doom wandering instead.

Warnings to the Curious: In the Holkham - Wells Pinewoods

Woodland structures in the beachside pinewoods between Holkham and Wells Next the Sea. The reality is no doubt far from anything even remotely sinister, but the knowledge that these woods were used as a filming location for the 1972 BBC adaptation of M R James' 'A Warning to the Curious' does give them a nice creep factor. James' East Anglian ghost stories were written in the early twentieth century and several were adapted by the BBC in the 1970s as part of their 'Ghost Story for Christsmas' series. Often set in a thinly-disguised Suffolk and filmed in Norfolk, both the stories and the films offer peerless, quiet, chilling visions of the loneliness and forgotten folklore of the region.

The ghost stories of M R James are of increasing influence not only to me: my former housemate Will is now one of the hosts of the excellent MR James podcast, A Podcast to the Curious. For fans of James, weird fiction, or simply neat and intelligent podcasting, listening is strongly recommended.

http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/

The Cabin in the Woods: Horror Film Aesthetics

"You've gotta see this. Somebody's been here." - Friday the 13th (2009)

I love horror movies. My first true love. Often, this blog seems to me to be an excuse to scout for locations for the horror films playing in my head. This strange little shed, in massively overgrown wasteland just outside of Norwich, is one example of the horror movie aesthetic that can make me just swoon. Finding Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked killer of the 'Friday the 13th' series, crashed out asleep on this bed, certainly wouldn't be visually inappropriate.