User Reviews

Christmas 2022 once again sees the return of the BBC's revived A Ghost Story for Christmas, once again written and directed by Mark Gatiss, and this year, it's another adaptation of an M. R. James story, 'Count Magnus'. Gatiss has been responsible for the last four episodes of the series, which have been somewhat variable - and unfortunately, 'Count Magnus' proves to be one of his weaker efforts.

'Count Magnus' is largely true to M. R. James' original tale, which as in most of his ghost stories sees a middle waged white academic paying a terrible price for curiosity and - more importantly - scepticism. Jason Watkins plays Mr Wraxhall, who on a visit to Sweden becomes obsessed with the local legend of the evil Count Magnus, who treated the tenants of his land brutally and who - according to the legend - returned from a trip to the Holy Land with a decidedly unholy companion in tow. Wraxhall doesn't believe the stories, but can't resist visiting the Count's mausoleum, where he inevitably disturbs something terrible.

The story is classic James, and boasts all of the usual ingredients of his ghost stories, but the problem lies in Gatiss' retelling and - not for the first time - direction. Having seemingly learned from past mistakes with the previous year's excellent 'The Mezzotint', here he seems to have slid backwards. On the plus side, the episode looks superficially impressive: according to Gatiss, Lawrence Gordon Clark never managed to make 'Count Magnus', since budgetary restrictions prevented a Swedish location shoot. Budgetary restrictions still don't, so Gatiss' version is filmed on location in the UK, which doubles for Sweden; this works perfectly well, and in true Clark fashion, Gatiss again uses the familiar folk horror trappings of a beautiful but strangely unsettling rural setting. Additionally, the episode is in essence a period drama, which both the BBC and Gatiss are accomplished at handling, and thus the sets and costumes all convince. But he fails to recapture the atmosphere of 'The Mezzotint': the story only manages to be slightly creepy during the last five minutes, and - aside from one slightly signposted jump scare during Nielsen's tale - isn't particularly scary.

The writing doesn't help. Atonally, it's a mess, and the script gives the impression that Gatiss seems to be attempting to resist writing deadpan humour and not quite succeeding, with a vague whiff of The League of Gentlemen at times, for example when Jamal Ajala's mute footman Gustav communicates via charades. The script also slightly clumsily requires Wraxhall to talk to himself in expository fashion, which Watkins just about pulls off, although Watkins is part of the problem: he gives quite a hammy performance, especially during the last five minutes, when he is required to gibber with fear and instead starts gurning. MyAnna Buring meanwhile is worryingly arch as Froken de la Gardie, whilst as Nielsen, Max Bremer attempts to recount a spooky story in a suitable sombre tone, but sounds as though he's building up to a hilarious punch line. Allan Cordner's stern Deacon merely adds to the air of vaguely camp nonsense.

Far better at sombre tones is Krister Henriksson as the episode's narrator, who in an addition to the original story by Gatiss turns out to be the undead Count, but this feels faintly absurd, much like the tentacle that waves menacingly at Wraxhall from the tomb. Overall, 'Count Magnus' makes for a mildly diverting half hour of spooky festive television, but anyone wanting a more chilling ghost story would be better off re-watching 'The Mezzotint', which serves as a reminder that Gatiss is capable of much better than this.

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.

Between 1971 and 1978 the BBC used to dramatise a ghost story every year under the title "A Ghost Story for Christmas", and the first five entries in the series were all based upon tales by that great master of the genre, M. R. James. The tradition has been revived in recent years, and nine more Christmas ghost stories have appeared at irregular intervals since 2005. All of these, apart from "The Dead Room" in 2018, are based upon stories by James; "Count Magnus" is the most recent episode, broadcast on 23 December 2022.

Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed most of the entries from the seventies, wanted to film this story in 1978, but the BBC vetoed his plan on costs grounds as he wanted to film in Sweden, where the story is set. Mark Gatiss has finally achieved Clark's ambition, but even the 2022 film, ostensibly set in Sweden, was actually shot in Britain.

The action takes place in 1863. Mr Wraxhall, an English gentleman-scholar, travels to Sweden as part of his research for a guidebook to Scandinavia. (His name is spelt in the cast-list as "Wraxhall" although James used the spelling "Wraxall"). There he befriends Froken de la Gardie, a lady from an old aristocratic family, and visits her in her stately home. He becomes fascinated by the story of her ancestor, Count Magnus, an evil man notorious for his harsh and brutal treatment of his tenants and the local peasants, and reputedly also an alchemist, devil-worshipper and necromancer.

Wraxhall is that stock figure from ghost stories, the sceptic who is proved wrong. Local people are reluctant to talk about Count Magnus, whose evil reputation persists many years after his death. Those who have disrespected his memory are said to have come to a bad end. Wraxhall scoffs at these legends, but is nevertheless fascinated by them, and cannot resist going into the Count's mausoleum shortly before his departure to bid him a mocking farewell. Needless to say, this is something he comes to regret doing.

Another sceptic proved wrong is Professor Parkins in James's "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad", dramatised for the BBC by Jonathan Miller in 1968. (Not part of the "A Ghost Story for Christmas series"). There are, however, important differences between Wraxhall and Parkins. Wraxhall, as played here by Jason Watkins, is strangely childish for a scholar, going to say his farewell to the Count in the spirit of a small boy blowing a raspberry at an unpopular teacher. There is nothing childish about Parkins, played by Michael Hordern as all-too-adult, an arrogant intellectual snob who believes in nothing except the power of his own intellect. Another difference is that Parkins receives nothing worse than a bad fright, whereas Wraxhall pays for his temerity with his life.

When I reviewed 2021's entry in the series, "The Mezzotint", I pointed out that James's story works well on the printed page but would probably not do so if adapted for the screen in a version 100% faithful to the original. I felt, therefore, that Gatiss was right to alter that story when he adapted it for television. With "Count Magnus", on the other hand, he has stuck closely to the original story, and yet has produced something that works less well. This was partly because I did not like Watkins's interpretation of his character, but also because the story is not really scary. This is perhaps a difficult story to adapt. James never describes the ghost, or spirit, or entity, which pursues the hapless Wraxall, but he leaves us in no doubt of its evil nature. We never get that sense of evil in Gatiss's adaptation. In the final scenes of his adaptation of "Oh Whistle..." Miller achieves much from little in his ability to conjure up a frightening atmosphere, but there is nothing comparable here. And a ghost story, if it is anything, should be frightening. 6/10.

Visiting a friend to watch the Mark Williams and Judd Trump snooker final on the TV,he suggested we watch a movie before the match started. Missing it over Christmas due to being ill, this felt like the best time to meet.

View on the film:

Following The Mezzotint (2021-also reviewed) writer/director Mark Gatiss returns to the pages of M. R. James, & with cinematographer Sonja Huttunen takes a less is more approach, with eerie splintered sightings of the entity coming out of wide-shot deep shadows, which Gatiss snaps with black and white tinted flashbacks.

Travelling out of his comfort zone, Jason Watkins gives a jolly turn as Mr. Wraxhall, whose warm curiosity, breaks to a hard cold shock of fear, while MyAnna Buring curls her lips with unsettling, lingering glances as Gardie.

Gazing with Wraxhall into the tomb of Count Magnus, the screenplay by Gatiss ties creepy flashbacks into the life of the restless Count with a chilly, growing unease charged by Wraxhall wandering the corridors, looking in each of the deadly silent rooms, until he finally meets Count Magnus.

The setting is a real and very small town (pop. -1,000) in the French Pyrenees in the year 1883. The total number of characters in the story is also small, barely reaching double figures. The theme of the story is that of a demonic bargain of two centuries before and the power such has over a descendant of the individual who made that bargain. This is the very barest outline of 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook' - the ONLY one of the eight stories in M. R. James's first and best collection - 'Ghost Stories of an Antiquary' - that I have NEVER seen dramatised. In my view, the story contains sufficient plot and backstory and the three main characters are well enough developed for the creation of a successful forty-five minute adaptation WITHOUT additions or subtractions. I feel that the ending of last year's offering, 'The Mezzotint', was marred by the final scene which was quite unlike anything James wrote. This type of conclusion (in which the main character HAS to come to a sticky end) also somewhat spoiled the ending of 1974's adaptation of James's 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' - however effective in itself that conclusion might have been! It is worth noting that the above fate befalls the leading character in only three of the eight stories in 'Antiquary': 'Lost Hearts', 'The Ash-tree' and, yes, 'Count Magnus'.

The three main characters referred to above are an Englishman named Dennistoun , who is a typical, well-educated Jamesian protagonist, the sacristan of the cathedral church of St. Bertrand de Comminges (and, by implication, a descendant of the titular character) and the sacristan's daughter. The three scenes of the story are the cathedral church itself, the home of the sacristan and his daughter and the hotel at which Dennistoun is staying - all within a hundred yards of each other and forming, as well as one can judge, the points of an imaginary isosceles or even an equilateral triangle! This arrangement of internal settings enables the events of the story to be recounted in a taut, increasingly tension-filled fashion leading to a denoument in which, as one would expect of James, the ultimate manifestation of horror is of the briefest but nevertheless hideously intense duration.

I would very much like to see Mr. Mark Gatiss bring this unacknowledged classic (either the first or second ghost story M. R. James ever wrote) to the screen for perhaps the very first time ever!