User Reviews

If you enjoyed The Tractate Middoth from a few years back, I'm pretty sure that you'll enjoy this one also. This is arguably the best of the modern episodes, it's certainly my favourite of the four.

It tells the intriguing story of Williams, a man keen to learn his family's past, and more interestingly, has come into the possession of a strange picture, The Mezzotint.

I've watched a lot of horrors and chillers this year, some good, some poor, most of them around the ninety minute mark, what impressed me about this, was how they managed to not be derailed by the short running time, considering it's only thirty minutes long, it packed a punch, atmospheric and sinister, with a chilling conclusion.

It looks great, it feels well made, some fine acting, Rory Kinnear was terrific, and played it straight, I did love seeing Frances Barber here, Mrs Ambrigail was super cooky.

Thoroughly enjoyable, 8/10.

Ohhhh! Creepy, Creepy!!

I don't like horror, violence or gore, but I always make sure I watch the BBC's Christmas ghost stories.

They are atmosphere, creepy and just the antidote, to all the Christmas cheery tv! Lol This was excellent, as always. I only wish it had have been an hour, instead of 30 minutes.

A genuinely creepy ghost story, which respectfully adapts the source material, while adding an extra well-conceived twist.

Rory Kinnear plays Edward Williams, an antiques expert with a stiff upper lip that just can't stop twitching. After receiving an engraving of a country house, one he initially dismisses as "indifferent", he soon realizes there's more here than meets the eye. The picture's appearance changes from one observation to the next. A moon shows up in one corner, a figure in the other, then the figure appears on all fours, creeping towards the house. The central conceit is cleverly employed, ratcheting up the tension to a moustache-biting climax.

The picture doesn't tell the whole story. It's delivered in pieces by Edward's academic colleagues, as well as village know-it-all Mrs. Ambigrail, played with just the right amount of gusto by Frances Barber. The performances complement the tone of the piece, ironically winking at conventions while delivering honest-to-good scares.

For those familiar with the original, this adaptation may surprise you still. There's an unwritten feeling from the short story that I hoped Gatiss would capture. And he manages this with a bit of clever plotting, tying together seemingly disparate threads to form a surprisingly spooky finish.

8/10.

I'm a fan of Gatiss' yearly passion project dips into festive horror - and the unsettling atmospheric works of MR James lend themselves well to short films. Although this one, the Mezzotint, could have been a great deal shorter. A solid cast but the imagination does most of the work in the written version and doesn't quite match here. If you're a fan of Rory Kinnear looking horrified though, you'll be quids in here.

I love M. R. James stories so I'm a fan of Ghost Stories for Christmas and up until now I've always been annoyed whenever I've read any criticism of these adaptations that amounted to "all the best stories have been done." It isn't the stories to blame, it's the filmmakers. Ash Tree is just as creepy as Whistle, for instance. And Casting the Runes, a great story, was adapted poorly. The Mezzotint has always been a favorite story of mine and while it has the potential to be a first rate adaptation the BBC dropped the ball here.

The script here is largely okay. It doesn't try to over write James' story and add too much unnecessary material, but it's at its worst when it does.

The story: an art dealer comes across a mezzotint printing of an old house. Each time he looks at it he sees something different. A story is slowly unfolding with each successive viewing. There is a creepy figure stalking toward the house. Next, a ground floor window is opened. Meanwhile the lead's also preoccupied with uncovering his own family history, an investigation which ultimately involves the very house depicted in the mezzotint.

There a few problems, one of them now all too familiar to tv and movie audiences. Picture a writer's room in LA or London, doesn't matter which, congratulating each other on their sermonizing to the dumb, backwards half of their audience and virtue signaling to the rest and you'll know what I mean. Early in the script a few characters (stuffy men doing stuffy men things like drinking scotch, smoking pipes, and playing cards) out of nowhere debate whether or not women should be given degrees at college, and they do so in the same way a mother who just found a joint in her kid's bedroom might hamfistedly launch into a "gateway drug" lecture at the first available opportunity. There is no debate, actually: one of the lead's guests says it's not tradition and the other says who cares about tradition. Funnily enough the latter, an Asian gent, even asks "what the devil has changed here in the past 500 years?" I guess the producers of this want us to think he's a bit soft? Of course, his whole attitude is very similar to those of certain keyboard warriors of a certain political religion-cocky, self-righteous, dogmatic. In a saner world this would be a critique of this new archetype: the "I'm correct because the script says so, logic is evil if it doesn't support my 'self-evident' conclusions" type of character.

I'm not against women pursuing higher education, I doubt anyone watching this is, but I am against reducing the subject to such an absurd, facile degree that it should seem as obviously wrongheaded to a person 100 years ago as it does to a person today-it robs the scene of a great deal of atmosphere and cultural context. It just seems like an impudent rebuke of M. R. James, the artist whose material these people are using, because he was against integrating the sexes at college. Bizarrely, the filmmakers actually seem to confuse the issue: the question of integrating the sexes is very different than whether women should be given degrees. Anyway, the lead agrees that women should not get degrees and that's that. So out of left field does this come a viewer could only conclude that the director had no faith in the actors or set and costume designers to sell the fact that this is a period piece. "Look, we're in the past! These aren't just 21st century toffs or hipsters, we promise." That is until, after a few scares, towards the end of the film the lead randomly announces he's changed his mind, that "one must look to the future...not the past." If they wanted to convey the idea that looking to the past for answers may be detrimental, they could have hitched it to a better wagon than women-attending-college. Unless the idea is supposed to be that the past is totally and always bad. And also self-evidently so. Which is beyond wrong and stupid.

This really is a quibble. The filmmakers might see these two short scenes as the key to the story but if they were excised the film would be improved. There are bigger, more fundamental problems that really hurt The Mezzotint. First and foremost of which is the direction or/and the acting. The lead actor is quite good and appropriately understated. The three awkward performances are:

1) There is a maid and she has one scene where she's supposed to be frightened after seeing the Mezzotint and the actress may as well be on a community theater stage hamming it up so the back row feels they've gotten their monies worth.

2) The lead consults a family history researcher-a woman, you see, because they realized they'd only have one female character otherwise and a maid at that-just stepped in from a role on Doctor Who. As if her characterization and manner of speaking weren't goofy enough they saddled the poor actress with an extremely cheap-looking wig that makes her pitiful and strange instead of fun and strange.

3) The toffiest of the lead's Stuffy Men Crew is Toast's roommate. And he acted this part just the same as his character in that comedy. I like him in Toast but he doesn't fit here. Maybe it was a casting mistake but the director sure doesn't get a different performance from him-if he even tried. Taken togrher with the zany old lady you must assume he was going for camp.

Another problem is a dropped subplot. One of the lead's friends was going to photograph the mezzotint so they could track the changes. Fun idea. Nothing came of this except one quick scene of him developing film in a darkroom that did nothing for the story.

Speaking of camp, I think the director would have gotten a more camp product if he'd played it straight. Something about the old GSFC productions is effectively creepy. And they're a bit camp, too. The older ones are rich with atmosphere. These newer ones may be in high definition but they're very low in texture. Maybe it has something to do with the old film and lighting processes? Why can a similar look not be achieved today! This looks like any old cheap soap. A few shots are nice, but they're not enough.

All in all, they still told a good story-despite their best efforts-there's a cool and creative ending, and a nice creature; it's a very watchable short film. It could have been a heck of a whole lot better with a more thoughtful approach that respected the source material and the writer of that source material, as well as the world he lived in. There are so many James experts they could have consulted to help shape the story and the look of the picture. Hubris, I guess, got in the way.

As for where this one ranks with the other latter day productions of Ghosts for Christmas: better than 2018's promising yet way too cheaply produced Dead Room, maybe on par with 2019's Martin's Close, but not as good as 2013's The Tractate Middoth.

Maybe they should move on to another writer? If they want to stick with a double initialed writer, there's always H. R. Wakefield. Lucky's Grove would be perfect-it's even a Christmas Story. Although he's more "problematic" to feminists than James is! It's almost 2022, you can't produce entertainment for entertainment's sake-if your source material doesn't have a political message, or you can't be arsed to find it, bludgeon your audience over the head with one.

The Mezzotint's fumbling of the period calls to mind Orwell:

"History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."

I like Mark Gatiss but I'm never sure his writing is very good for the Christmas horror. This however may have changed my opinion. He took M R James' story and really brought it to life. The ending was genuinely scary and I finished watching feeling frightened!

Would watch again, and would recommend.

Mark Gatiss adapts another M R James ghost story for BBC4.

Set in academia in what looks like the Edwardian era. Edward Williams (Rory Kinnear) is a rather stuffy university curator. He receives a mezzotint to add to his university museum's collection.

It looks like an ordinary picture of a house. Yet strangely things are pointed out to Edward that he did not previously notice such as moonlight. Then there seems to be a sinister figure. Parts of the picture just keeps changing.

Edward and his circle of friends look for a rationale explanation. Eccentric Mrs Ambrigail (Frances Barber) provides a diverting explanation of a hanged poacher who vowed to destroy a family that embroils Edward into it.

As always Gatiss has to work wonders with a small budget. It is very atmospheric and there are nods to the Japanese movie Ringu remade as The Ring in the USA.

Robert Bathurst goes a little hammy but he is no match for Barber.

Superb 30 minute BBC production, genuinely creepy and a great, spooky yarn! The BBC have produced a multitude of these short plays/movies over many years, however, they seem to be in rapid decline in recent years.

The Mark Gatiss, M. R James adaptation is something of a Christmas tradition now. I didn't much care for "Martin's Close" back in 2019 but I liked "The Mezzotint" a lot more. You have to accept that these 30-minute chillers are just designed to be a short ghost story, rather than anything grander, but, if you do, then "The Mezzotint" is one of the better made ones I've seen.

Mr Williams (Rory Kinnear) an antiques appraiser, comes into possession of a Mezzotint picture. Though relatively unimpressed by the print, when he shows it to his colleagues, they are more enthusiastic, particularly about the hitherto unseen figure, crawling towards the house. Eager to find out more about the stately home that features in the background, Williams engages with Mrs Ambrigail (Frances Barber) to try and discover its history. Williams though begins to question his sanity, when the details of the picture, and specifically the location of the gruesome figure changes when he's not looking at it.

This is a really nicely performed piece. Rory Kinnear can do anything and he's in every scene of this short. Frances Barber has another great character here, who though working in ecclesiastical circles, doesn't really have faith but loves the gossip involved in finding out about the house. In a lesser piece of work, Williams three friends, Garwood, Nisbet and Binks, played by Robert Bathurst, Nikesh Patel and John Hopkins respectively, would find someway to dismiss his assertion that the picture changes and the episode might (predictably) be about them questioning his mental state, but here they concur and are suitably perturbed by it also.

I can imagine that other people might have found the ending a little anticlimactic, but you have to enter into the spirit of the piece. It's a ghost story, a brief chiller unconcerned with trying to explain everything and, in that regard, was entirely successful.

I'm an admirer of M. R. James's ghost stories of the late 19th Century and also of the regular BBC adaptations of them, usually released at around Christmas time.

Sure enough, this dramatisation of "The Mezzotint" went out late on Christmas Eve and was written and directed by usual suspect Mark Gatiss. As ever, Gatiss stays true to the period in this hoary old tale of history, haunting and horror, stopping only to make the now customary, indeed seemingly obligatory concessions to diversity in casting and dialogue, which weren't in James's original text, all that stuff about allowing women into the club...

Anyway, Rory Kinnear is the university don who collects antiques and receives through the post a dusty old mezzotint print which at first barely catches his attention. However, when he and his academic chums notice the picture changing into something altogether darker, curiosities are roused. A little background research surprisingly uncovers some questionable family history of his own and later, this time shockingly, a possible personal connection to the sinister work in his possession.

It all leads to a conclusion which brings the dynastic story full circle, with Gatiss borrowing a trick or two from "The Ring" for his dramatic climax to certainly draw me closer to the edge of my seat without quite shaking me out of it.

Nicely filmed and played, although I might question the decision to physically depict the horror right at the death, no pun intended, this was a welcome breath of cold air for a dark Christmas night.

Gatiss obviously has an affinity for this particular era and has done another highly competent job in bringing this particular James chiller to life, or should that be death...

Big fan of Rory Kinnear, and as always he is very good

As Ghost Stories go, this is okay and thankfully not dragged out too long with a nice twist at the end.

An academic collector of topographical items poo-poohs the recommendation for an old picture of a country house, until one of his fellow fellows points out some details he hadn't noticed ...

Lively adaptation of an M R James story, which gussies up the source material by tying the hero's fate into what would otherwise be merely a disturbing phenomenon. The new material is faithful to the existing elements, leading to a climax reminiscent of The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral - with a touch of the threshold-crossing of Sadako in The Ring.

The cinematography launches off at odd angles, the performances are full and lively, and the editing keeps up a good pace. Can't say I noticed the music, and the main location didn't fit the ideal of a donnish retreat. The writer also introduces a theme of breaking tradition, with the golf irons and talk of women academics - also, the "skip" in the original story was male - which doesn't quite tie in with the hero's fate.

As good as any of the previous adaptations of this author, whose moods and subtleties are difficult to capture on screen, and a bonus in the intelligent filling out of the story,

For a short story this is a compelling and surprisingly creepy ghost story. Well told and atmospherically put together, this neatly brings a fresh take on an MR James classic. Some of the 70s tales are looking dated and slow and often lack the chills of this adaptation.

The cast all do well here, especially the ever-reliable Rory Kinnear and John Hopkins. However, the adapter/director fails to deal with the material in a sympathetic way, occasionally getting it right but mostly getting it wrong.

M. R James' ghost stories are an exercise in the careful building of mood. All of the 70s televison adaptations (and all of the 21st century productions until 2013) were clearly produced with an awareness of this, going easy on pace, use of sound and a general avoidance of heavy-handedness. The eerie and uncanny, when it finally arrives, is powerful and affecting because it has been preceded by a very measured, sparse development. This adaptation of The Mezzotint almost totally dispenses with such delicacy of approach. It goes instead for a brisk, superficial choppy style - too many short scenes, most of which are packed with exposition, when what's wanted is a steady laying-on of dread. The shortness of the scenes means there's no time for a slow-build of atmosphere so all the heavy lifting has to be taken up by Kinnear, compensating for the impatient script and direction through performance alone. It's a measure of his skill that he pulls this off.

The tone is all over the place. Both Frances Barber and Robert Bathurst are excellent performers, but here are directed as if they're in The League of Gentlemen, forced into "doing a turn" when someone should be telling them to dial things right down. It's really not their fault but what little mood there is evaporates when they're on screen because of this basic error in tenor.

It really is time to let somebody else have a go at A Ghost Story for Christmas.

I have read and been scared my-MR James short ghost stories since childhood. I have seen some excellent adaptation over the years. This one was perfect. It told the story faithfully with lots of atmosphere. No liberties were taken in the telling of this story- and I loved it for that. The cast were perfect. Enjoy!

The BBC adaptation bears little relation to the original story, in which there is no reference to the issue of women in universities that has been inexplicably shoehorned in. Nor is there anything in the story resembling the frankly ridiculous events in the last five minutes of the adaptation, which wouldn't make it into a Scooby Doo episode. The narration of Mezzotint by Robert Powell, one of a series of MR James short stories from a few years back, is a far more effective fright.

Ghost stories for Christmas on the BBC, a tradition within a tradition of the festive ghost story, whilst also continuing the tradition of the BBC literary period piece adaptation.

'The Mezzotint' has wins and losses, pluses and negatives aplenty within such a short duration and knowing that the source material was one of the shorter short ghost stories by M. R. James and seeing that this was evidently filmed in midwinter there is the definite suggestion that the BBC is just barely keeping this tradition alive: in summation a very limited production once again just like the last few instalments in this tradition.

There are definitely points to complement: there is a sense of calm before the storm which gradually has an intrusive and unwelcome force batter it into fear and loathing; the mood of a small cabal of scholarly friends is pertly pointed out; and the internal worryings of the protagonist are well played out.

However there are several factors to set against these wins: a ghost story requires a mood and a tone to be established, this is done by authenticity and sincerity in setting out the environment of the tale. By this method the mundane must be mundane, consistent and settled, in order for the implicit horror to disjoint the audience.

'The Mezzotint' frequently fails this: with its knowing references and pointed dialogues, it's broadly written supporting characters, bizarre casting choices and it's incongruous insistence that interwar English-British scholarly gentleman would play rounds of golf in a cold February as a recreational pursuit.

The first five minutes are stodgy and clumsy and the climax offers up explicit monster frighteners rather than implicit personal horror through manifest fear.

Overall therefore I consider this to be a middling effort that would require considerable rewriting, different production and/or recasting to reconstitute it's authentic ambiance and thereby develop naturally to a satisfactory dread.

Some of the acting and directing is good and the sound design and mix are adequate and the cinematography is well lit both indoors and outdoors but there is nothing really exceptional offered in any of these areas.

An average 5/10 rating from me for a piece that had a superficial affinity to the ghost story but failed to deliver the guts by misplacing it's attachment to sincerity and an authentication in its setting forth of the tale and which then chose an explicit climax to end on.

I also wonder about the continuing existence of this BBC Christmas ghost story tradition when it offers up declining output and evidently diminishing productions.

None of the Mark Gatiss Ghost Stories for Christmas have been any good. Compared to the old ones, even up to the late 70's,they just don't have the eerieness or charm. The ending of this latest one was laughable.

Why don't the BBC give someone else a chance to do this Christmas tradition justice?

It could be a good program. The half hour isn't enough to evolve well and build up to an acceptable level.

The unravelling and acceptance of the haunting is too quickly assumed upon.