The Last Light: An Irish Ghost Story

The Last Light: An Irish Ghost Story
Starring Robert Render, Jo Lamont-Crawford, and Vivian Jamison
Directed, Written and Produced by George Clarke
2011
Unrated
85 minutes

Saint Patrick's Day is nearly here and what better way to get ready for it than with an Irish ghost story?!

I found this movie on my Amazon Prime list of horror films. It got terrible ratings by ordinary viewers, but I don't always believe those since I like books and movies that are not mainstream, and it takes place in Ireland. So I decided to give it a chance and see what I thought after the first 20-30 minutes. It was a cold, winter evening anyway, so why not?

In this story, we follow along on the last job of Rob Walker, maintenance man, who has been hired to secure and close up an old house that had been used as an old folks' home. Supposedly teenagers are getting in and trashing the place, and it really is unsafe.

Rob says goodbye to his wife, Jo, and promises that it won't take long and he will be back in plenty of time to get ready for their planned trip on the next day. They think of this as a simple job, with only a few windows to board up, and then off they go for their holiday.

One of the best parts, cinematographically, is the drive Rob takes to his home and to the old house, which is located in a Irish coastal town. The gorgeous, winding drive along Ireland's coast is both beautiful to watch for the scenery, and also reminiscent of another familiar drive through gorgeous scenery, that of Jack Torrance through the mountains in The Shining. 

Finally Rob gets to the house. There is a big chain link fence around the property with a locked gate. A sign says, "Danger. Derelict Building. KEEP OUT."

Once he is near the house, we finally get a good look at it. It is a monster of a building--big, sprawling, dilapidated, sadly worn out from better, more affluent days. There are windows, lots of them, some boarded up but many not. Rob will have some work to do.

Right away we get a sense of the tension in the story, as Rob makes his way around the building, examining it for entrances or broken windows. The background music as Rob walks around the place is lovely, a lone violin with a mournful drone. One of the best things about this movie is the music since it is fairly simple instrumentally and sets the mood quite well.

We are introduced to the noises in the house as soon as Rob unlocks the massive deadbolt on the main door and surveys the scene with the greenish light from his torch. Upon trying to light his second cigarette and already not finding his lighter, he hears a bang from within the house and rushes off inside the dark maze of corridors to find the culprits, those kids trashing the house. Crazy eerie laughter is heard as they lead Rob on a merry chase of cat and mouse deeper and deeper into the darkness.

One of my favourite moments occurs early in Rob's exploration of the house. There is a bit of comic relief as he takes the time to make shadow animals on the wall in the green glow from his flashlight.

Fortunately, he has a flashlight. Oh, wait, he loses it too! What will he do now?

Okay, this movie is somewhat predictable with Rob chasing mysterious figures in white only half seen in the darkness  but who then attack him. I liked the close up effect of the ghosts attacking and Rob fighting them off, only to have the camera pull back so that we can see Rob is struggling by himself. The ghost has vanished. Lots of dripping water sounds and crumbling walls add to the effect of dereliction. 

When Rob doesn't return in time, who comes to the rescue? His wife and friend who, when she hears where Rob has gone, tells Jo, "That place is known for paranormal activity, violent paranormal activity."

"We all have guides, spirit guides. They're with us at all times.... If I can connect with my spirit guide I can find out if Rob's okay."

And in typical horror movie fashion, all does not go well with any of these people.

The title, The Last Light, comes from the ending of the movie. Rob has lost his torch, his cigarette lighter, and then used all of his matches in his attempt to get out of the house before the violent spirits get him. He does not see the hand of his now-deceased wife, holding a rosary, emerging out of the rubble of a wall that collapsed on her. Rob finds one more match, lights it, and sees his last ghost. The movie ends here with us supposing that Rob never does get out.

This movie is filmed in a fairly "realistic" style, very low budget (only £200), no fancy cinematography or effects. If you have seen The Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, you will understand how this one looks. The filter on the camera is set to a blue/green tint to give a washed-out, colourless look to to everything, stressing the oldness and greyness of the big house we are about to enter. The last only real burst of colour we see in the film is at Rob and Jo's house with the red-orange walls and her bright clothing. Supposedly the lighting was zippo lighters and matches, an ipad light, and a maglite torch covered with a sandwich baggy.

There are major things that are never explained to us in the film. Who are the ghosts and what are they doing there? Who is Michael, the strange young man Rob finds in the attic under a plaid blanket? Why was Rob able to work at the house for several days previously with no difficulties but is now terrorized out of his wits? Who hired him for this job anyway? I guess I will never know the answers.

Cairndhu House, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

I do want to say something about the house used in this movie, Cairndhu House, located near Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was built for Stewart Clark, a wealthy Scottish textile industrialist in 1878 and was extended over the years, which explains its warren of hallways and rooms off of rooms.

Sir Thomas and
Lady Edith Dixon

In 1918, Edith Clark, daughter of Mr. Stewart Clark, came to live at the house with her husband, Sir Thomas Dixon. This was one of many of their homes and they further enlarged the home and estate, enjoying house and garden parties there.

In 1947, the house was donated to the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority. It had become too big for the elderly Dixons and they hoped it would be used as a convalescent home and hospital. It opened as a convalescent home in 1950, but finding funds to run such a large building was difficult, so it was eventually closed in 1986. It has been left derelict for many years and is now reputed to be "one of the most haunted houses in Northern Ireland."

Who haunts Cairndhu House? I'm not sure, although now we can add Rob, Jo, and friend Viv to the list of ghosts.

Ghost House

Ghost House
by Alexandra Adornetto
Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio
2014
Performed by Emily Foster
8 audio discs/9 hours


Everyone who knows me, knows that I enjoy haunted house stories. So it was no wonder that I picked up Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto, author of the Halo Trilogy, to listen to in my car.

Briefly, Chloe Kennedy has been seeing ghosts from a young age. Her mother had helped her with this rather scary problem by telling her to tell the ghosts to go away and, miraculously, they did, for a long time. But now Chloe's mother has died unexpectedly and Chloe is devastated. 

Now, I am not sure that it was a good idea to take a young girl who sees ghosts to an old English manor house, but Chloe's British grandmother owns one and that's where Chloe ends up to have a break and recover from her mother's death. I guess she is distracted from her own personal tragedy, at least. Grange Hall, Chloe's granny's home, is full of rather frightening apparations--hanging men on trees, a ghoul in her closet, and a handsome young man who can actually converse with Chloe, something that hasn't happened before.

Kildwick Hall, Grange Road, Kildwick in North Yorkshire
Grange Hall in this book might look something like this.

Alexander Reade, Chloe discovers, has been dead for 157 years. But because he is more real than any other ghost she has met or seen, she forgets that he is a ghost. Being really good-looking and engaging doesn't hurt anything either.

Through Alexander, Chloe learns the secret behind the hauntings of Grange Hall. The matter becomes quite urgent as ancient jealousies remain in play and become focused onto Chloe, threatening the house, Chloe's grandmother, and Chloe herself.

This story has good moments: I really enjoyed most of the interactions between Chloe and Alexander, although some of them seemed rather contrived. Would Chloe really forget that Alex was a ghost? I rather think not.

What I don't get about this story was that it took so very long (nearly to the end of the book) to actually ask Alexander what happened to him, how he really died, and who else is haunting the Grange. If I were a high-school aged girl who could see ghosts, I would be asking the first one who could talk back to me about how he died. Isn't that the way to help them pass on? I mean, wouldn't she be curious about that? I certainly would be. Instead we get a lot of flirting and angry ghosts inexplicably throwing things around. 

If I were to make this story stronger, I would probably have allowed Chloe to be more of a detective, asking more questions of the ghosts she can talk to, and doing more research to find out the background of Grange Hall and the Reade family who lived there. The writing, too, was rather all over and uneven. The back and forth with the past and present didn't always flow well, and I wanted to yell at Chloe a lot of the time that Alexander wasn't nearly as interesting as the young live man in front of her who is also trying to get her attention.

So, anyway, this book is okay but not great. I think if you are keen on ghost stories and not particularly picky, you will want to try this one, but don't expect the best ghost story you ever read.

Amity

Amity
by Micol Ostow
New York: Egmont
2014
361 pages




Most people are familiar with the story The Amityville Horror, either in book or film form. The movie version with Margot Kidder and James Brolin was one of the first haunted house movies I was allowed to watch.

I remember when the story of the Lutz family was published in such magazines as Good Housekeeping. There are so many websites about them and their house, and people are still debating as to whether or not they were telling the truth. The movie has been updated and sequelized and prequelized and transformed so often that it is unrecognizable. This story has probably influenced all haunted house movies and books since it came out.

Of course, the house still stands and people live in it, quite happily by most accounts. But ghost hunters and gawkers still make pilgrimages to see the famous house.

Micol Ostow, a New Yorker, has taken up the challenge of writing a new fictional teen story about the Amityville house. Our story is split between a time about ten years ago, following Connor and his dysfunctional family's move into the house, and Gwen with her family in the present day. Both families have hopes for a new beginning in this house, but the house has other ideas. And yes, this house seems to be alive with a plan of its own for its occupants.

Slowly, in both timelines, our main characters respond to the house. Weird noises are heard, the boat house door bangs and taunts. Various family members see things or respond violently to the atmosphere of the house and have to leave. We end up uncertain as to whether our two main characters are victims or are tools of destruction.

This story does maintain some of the horror and tension needed for a scary story, although I was rather distracted by all of the back and forth, including a change in the fonts for Connor's story and Gwen's. I think I would have preferred having Connor's story as background, and maybe a merging of stories at the end. It is also told by the characters themselves, and possibly that in itself detracted from the horror. I think it is hard to convey the horror of the situation through one person's limited point of view. I don't get the impression that some characters, such as either mother, really seem to notice the atmosphere of the house or the strange behavior of their children.

I think Amity was worth reading, but it wasn't as frightening as it could have been. I'm somewhat disappointed since this story is so familiar. But if you are a collector of haunted house stories, as I am, you should give it a try.

It doesn't look like a haunted house, does it?

The Shining

The Shining
by Stephen King
Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books
2005
Read by Campbell Scott
14 sound discs (16 hours)


Every winter, I listen to the audiobook of The Shining on my long drive back and forth to work. It has become a ritual of mine, as has listening to Duma Key, also by Stephen King, in the summer.  I really hate winter and especially driving in it, and you would think that listening to a story about a family at a secluded and hauntingly evil hotel in the winter is pretty weird for a person who doesn't like snow, winter, and being cold. Actually, listening to the description of the howling winds around the Overlook Hotel, and about Mr. Hallorann's terrible drive up the canyon on that last day, makes my drive seem less onerous, and I find both a sense of sympathy and understanding for the Torrance family and also a sense of relief that I don't have to face what they do in the story. Besides, I also really like haunted house stories and this one is probably the ultimate!

In this year's listening, I was struck by the descriptions of the wasps' nest and the images of destroying it. We encounter the wasps several times:

1. Jack finds a wasps' nest in the roof of the Overlook when he is re-shingling. The wasps are sluggish and he is able to kill them and remove the nest for Danny to see.
2. The wasps somehow return to the nest and life when the nest is in Danny's room. They come out to sting Danny while he is vulnerable in sleep, and this is the first stage in driving doubt into the relationship Jack has with his wife and son.
3. Jack recalls the occasion when he and his brothers watched his father burn a wasps' nest with gasoline. The event seems like it could have been dangerous, not just to the wasps, but to the young boys, and shows the cruelty of Jack's father as he obviously enjoys the destruction.
4. Danny tries to read the mind of the Woman in Room 217 but finds out it is like "sticking your hand in a wasps' nest". She only has thoughts to sting and hurt, like the wasps he encountered earlier.
5. The descriptions of the snowmobile in the tool shed compare it to a wasp. Its colors and sounds resemble a wasp, and Jack's reaction is a desire to destroy it so that it can't hurt him and his plans to leave the Overlook.
6. The black cloud of evil spirits leaving the Overlook as it is burning is likened to wasps swarming from a nest.
7. Mr. Hallorann also has an experience as a youth with a wasps' nest when he was a boy and recalls the he experience, which is quite similar to Jack's.

What is the best way to remove a wasps' nest anyway? Besides calling an exterminator, that is. Is dousing the nest with gasoline and burning it up really a good idea? 

Several websites advise no, burning the actual nest can only cause the wasps to leave quickly and angrily. Using  smoke can be effective, however, because it makes them sluggish when they fly away and then you can remove the nest.Several websites mention insecticides like Jack's bug bomb, but they also say there are better, more natural ways of removing them. Water, dish soap, or a shop vac are also mentioned as methods. Waiting until evening to use any method is also a good idea because the wasps will also be more lethargic. And always wear your protective gear!

The explosive burning of the Overlook at the end, like dousing the wasps' nest by Jack's father, causes the ghosts there to leave hurriedly, but they are not obviously harmed. Mr. Hallorann encounters them in the tool shed where they desperately attempt to make him complete their mission, but Dick gets away and the shed burns, too. We are then supposing that this might be the end of the ghosts as they have no home to fasten on to, but for those of you who go on to read Doctor Sleep, we find out that the ghosts of the Overlook are far-reaching and still very much a danger to Danny and others as they search for new places to build nests.

Most people have an instinctive fear of flying insects that sting. Our natural reaction is to run and swat. As we see with the ghosts at the Overlook, running and swatting doesn't work either. Danny, despite his young age, has to use his intelligence and insightful powers to out-think the Hotel mastermind, employing patience in the face of fear if he and his mother are going to have a chance to survive.

One last word about the audio version, Campbell Scott. Campbell Scott is the son of famous actors, George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst. He also is the reader/performer for another classic Stephen King book, The Cell. I find his voice clear, soothing but not soporific, engaging, and one of the main reasons I listen to the audiobook version rather than reading the book myself. 

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
starring Kim Darby and Jim Hutton
Directed by John Newland
1973
74 minutes
Unrated

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce
and Bailee Madison
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
2010
99 minutes
Rated R

When I was a little girl, I loved scary haunted house movies, as I do now. Of course, my parents were sensible and did not take me to see them at the movie theatre, so I had to watch them on television. One of the movies that made a big impression on me was Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. I had a hard time forgetting the creepy little creatures that came out of the fireplace and scared Sally (Kim Darby) to death. It didn't help that we had two fireplaces in our home and that my parents refused to brick them up to keep any creatures from getting out.

Imagine my joy to discover that the scariest movie of my childhood was remade by the famed director, Guillermo del Toro! True, there are changes, but the new version is equally great in its own right.

In the original movie, Sally and her husband Alex inherit a mansion from Sally's grandparents. They decide to keep it and fix it up. There is a mysterious room in the house that Sally finally breaks into and decides she would like to use it as a study, as her grandfather had done before her. The only problem with the room--the fireplace is mysteriously bricked up and the grate is bolted on tight. Sally asks the handyman, Mr. Harris (William Demarest),  about why this might have been done and how to undo it. Mr. Harris reveals that he was the one who bricked it up after her grandfather disappeared, and he has no plans to undo and advises that Sally leave it alone. And, of course, she doesn't!

I watched this version again recently on dvd and was struck by how scary this movie still is, despite the distractions of the 1970s clothing, hairdos, decor, and the obvious phony little creatures. Kim Darby is very good at playing the character of a rather shy woman who doesn't quite know how to deal her unusual problem. She is lucky that she has a friend, but her husband (Jim Hutton) just thinks she is neurotic. Would my husband believe me if I told him I was seeing scary little creatures in the house? He might tell me they are just the children and get over it.

Throughout the movie I was shouting comments: "Mr. Harris, please tell Sally why you blocked up the fireplace in the first place!" "Sally, don't open that grate--you'll be sorry!" "Knucklehead husband, take Sally on the trip with you so she won't be alone!" "Sally, don't drink that water! It has those sleeping pills in it!" "Friend Joan, just take Sally to your house!" "Sally, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"

The new version directed by Guillermo del Toro is quite different, although the same basic premise is the same. Sally (Bailee Madison) is now a young child, which actually works quite well in the story. Children often "see" things that aren't there and the grown-ups don't believe them. They also "see" things that are there because they are often more observant than the grown-ups, and their imaginations do not impede their belief in the unlikely. This young Sally has been shipped off to live with her father (Guy Pearce) and is depressed about the change. To make matters worse, her father is living with a new "mom" figure, Kim (Katie Holmes).

The father, Alex, and Kim are renovating a giant historical mansion in Rhode Island, owned by the late Emerson Blackwood, a wildlife painter who mysteriously vanished after the also mysterious disappearance of his son. The house is a showcase! Filmed at the Drusilla Mansion in Mount Macedon, Victoria, Australia, the house has everything from a large library, parlors, amazing staircases, lots of bedrooms, a huge garden, and a secret room with a bolted up ash pit. Wow, how amazing!

The Druscilla Mansion in Australia

The Blackwood Mansion in Rhodes Island

I liked how del Toro tied the creatures to the fairy world, making them a very frightening version of the Tooth Fairy. Kids like Sally would have been responsive to the idea of tooth fairies, since we are all familiar with the stories, but some fairies are actually malicious, devious, and tricky in folklore. The old tales tell of fairies who capture humans and keep them hostage, never to return to their families again. You can read more about the many types of fairies here. There are several references to this sort of fairy lore in the movie, including a lovely fairy ring of mushrooms.

Little Sally seems rather more enterprising in the del Toro version. She is very thoughtful and stocks up on supplies to help her deal with the creatures, such as the camera and other sources of light. Her helplessness is quite understandable since she is only a child and can't go where she pleases, although she does try to get away by running away from home. But the unsympathetic parents bring her back and just make her go to bed--right where the creatures want her!

The creatures were more believable and scary in the newer version of this movie, but mostly because technology in film making has advanced so much. I personally wouldn't want to meet either of these types of creatures.

If you would like to see trailers for these movies, here are the links:

• 1973 Trailer
• 2010 Trailer

The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh

The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh
starring Aaron Poole, Vanessa Redgrave 
Directed by Rodrigo Gudiño
2012
84 minutes
Unrated

Here is a very unique ghost story by Canadian director, Rodrigo Gudiño, making his debut into horror movies with The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh. This movie has one actor on the screen for the entire film, a man named Leon Leigh (Aaron Poole), the estranged son of Rosalind who has just died. Rosalind is still present in the house and we hear her story told by Vanessa Redgrave who tries to explain her situation to her son.  Besides the physical presence of Leon and the voice presence of Rosalind, we have a third major character, the atmospheric presence of Rosalind's astonishing and eerie house.

Rosalind Leigh, a member of a strange angel cult called God's Messengers, has just died in mysterious circumstances. Her son, Leon, an antiques dealer comes to her home, a house he has never visited while she lived there as Rosalind's voice informs us, to tidy up her estate. When he arrives he finds a house overwhelmingly full of antiques, many of them religious in nature. We also learn through a phone call that Rosalind has been buying up antiques that Leon has sold through his business agent, and Leon is naturally unhappy to find out that his mother has purchased these items, supporting him without his knowledge.

"Do you believe in angels?"

Through the course of the movie, we learn more about why Leon left home and refused to see his mother. Leon's father, another cult member, committed suicide, but the cult leaders were exonerated. His mother continued in the cult, trying to indoctrinate her son, her own "angel", into the cult beliefs. She had a ritual "game of candles" that she would use to try to get Leon to say he believed or else the angels among us would turn his back on him and he would lose their protection. It didn't work and he rejected her beliefs and eventually ran away never to return.

We follow Leon's exploration of the house. The camera shots are very interesting throughout the movie, not only following Leon's action, but panning the rooms showing all of artifacts of Rosalind's life. The set designer was very good at designing a house that is crowded without being absolutely cluttered, and also creating a very gothic atmosphere. Here and there are more personal touches left by Rosalind, including her photograph and several wall samplers with mysterious adages placed around the house that add to the ominous feeling.

"If a fork, it will be neither a man nor woman."

You might think this would be a boring movie, just following this guy around an old creepy house, looking at old stuff. But then things happen that are unexplained. Leon takes some items down to the basement and finds an angel figurine that brings back unpleasant memories of the "game of candles". When he heads back upstairs, the lights go out, so he heads back to look for the fuse box. Then the lights go back on. We see the angel figurine again on the television in the living room and Leon panics and calls his former girlfriend/psychiatrist. She talks him down from the panic, but things are not the same for Leon in the house. He has an visitor at the door (after dropping a fork during dinner), a neighbor who is also a cult member who tries to get Leon to come to a meeting. We see Rosalind's video on television of a meeting that shows evidence that she was still heavily involved in the mysterious cult. Watch out for the large angel statue, though.

Inside Rosalind Leigh's bedroom shrine

Leon finds the key to his mother's bedroom inside the angel figurine and unlocks the door. It is an odd room with a stairway down into darkness. Of course Leon goes down the stairs and we must follow. There we find the scene of the video, full of angel figures and other religious symbols. What was this room really used for?

The scariest part of the movie is the monster that comes from the back garden. It looks dog like and ferocious, and we think that Leon has managed to lock it out, but it somehow gets into the house, terrorizing him in his sleep. What unearthly creature is it? Maybe it is the loneliness that Rosalind hints at that "ate" her alive, waiting for her son to come back to her.

The ending of this movie was a surprise for me. I won't give it away, but part of the horror is that we are left wondering who really is the ghost here. Is it Rosalind, the dead woman who has been talking to us and her son after her death? Is it Leon, who may or may not have really been in the house at all? Or is it the house itself? Maybe it's all three. Watch and decide for yourself.

The Awakening

The Awakening
starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, 
and Imelda Staunton
2011
107 minutes
Rated R

This weekend was a good movie-watching one for me. Besides The Picture of Dorian Gray, a classic movie based on a classic book, I watched a "haunted house" film, my favorite type of horror movie. This one, called The Awakening, was filmed at Lyme Park, a beautiful yet eerie National Trust house in the Peak District in England. There are very few satisfying haunted house movies, especially recently, and the English seem to do it so much better than anyone else. This movie is no exception. It may have its flaws, but I found it quite satisfying and suitably spine-tingling.

The time is 1921. England is still recovering from the massive loss of life in World War I, and everywhere people are searching for comfort from spiritualists. Rebecca Hall plays Florence Cathcart, a ghost hunter who specializes in exposing phony mediums. She has written a book on the subject and is known for her expertise and intelligence.

Directly after a successful and exhausting hunt, Florence is visited by Robert Mallory (Dominic West), a teacher at a boys' boarding school where a child ghost has been seen by many of the boys. The ghost has appeared in the class photographs over the years, and the headmistress of the school (Imelda Staunton), a devotee of Cathcart's book, would like her to come and investigate.The catalyst of the request, however, is a recent death of student and the other boys are convinced that the ghost had something to do with it. Despite Florence's exhaustion from her last hunt, she is intrigued by the case and agrees to go with Mallory to the boarding house.

Once at the boarding house, we learn that it used to be a private home and a young boy had died there. Using the latest ghost-hunting apparatus, Florence quickly discovers the non-ghostly cause of the student's death. The case is closed and she packs up and prepares to leave. The school is shut down for half-term and all of the boys depart, all but one. 

Strange things begin to happen directly to Florence. She sees someone in the lake and falls in. She sees scary little dolls in a dollhouse version of the boarding school that look like people in the school, set in scenes from her activities.She sees a boy where none should be, and flashes of other people appear. Things like this aren't supposed to be happening to a realist like Florence. Add a budding romance between Florence and Robert Mallory, a rather odd headmistress, and a psychotic groundskeeper and you have the makings of a really satisfying old-fashioned ghost story.

Here is a trailer for the movie. The R rating is for scariness, nudity and sexual content.

After watching movie, I was interested to learn more about the location of the boarding school. Lyme Park is a National Trust home and you can visit. Here is a website to learn more. Fans of Jane Austen movies will recognize it as Pemberly, the estate of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (1995, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle).

Lyme Park, Disley, Cheshire, England

Since I am also interested in art, I was interested to see another spooky painting in this movie. "It came with the building, it's the boys' favorite." Mallory thinks it is a painting of the beheading of John the Baptist, but erudite Florence corrects him and identifies it as Judith Slaying Holofernes, taken from the biblical story of Judith in which she kills the Assyrian general after he has fallen asleep drunk, thus delivering the Kingdom of Israel. Many painters have dealt with this bloodthirsty topic, including Titian, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Donatello, and others but the painting shown in the movie is by the Italian early Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1611-12) and is especially gory with blood. It doesn't refer to any other part of the movie's story but is just another interesting fact, perhaps to illustrate Florence's intelligence.

You might also be interested in listening to the entire hymn,  Be Still My Soul, which is sung in the movie and uses the beautiful theme from Finlandia by Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.

Wait for What Will Come

Wait for What Will Come

by Barbara Michaels

first published in 1978

about 280 pages, depending on edition

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, one of my favorite authors, Barbara Michaels aka Elizabeth Peters, died this month. The books she wrote under her pseudonym Barbara Michaels are gothic thrillers, usually with a supernatural connection. I want to read many of these over again, some I haven't read since high school. The first I read was Wait for What Will Come because I had it on my nook already.

Carla Tregellas is the last of an old Cornish family. She is tracked down by a lawyer and learns that she has inherited the old family mansion in Cornwall. There is no money with the legacy to take care of the place, and it's in bad shape, but Carla decides to go and spend her summer vacation there learning about her heritage before it has to be sold. It will be an exciting opportunity that this math teacher may never have again!

I imagine the Tregellas mansion on a Cornish cliffside similar to this.

Upon her arrival, the elderly housekeeper shrieks and practically faints. "It is Lady Caroline back from the dead!" Who is Lady Caroline, you might ask? We learn that Lady Caroline Tregellas disappeared 200 years ago and was said to have been kidnapped by a selkie on Midsummer's Night and taken to his watery kingdom, never seen or heard from again. And now it is going to happen again and Carla will be taken away by the selkie, or at least that is what Mrs. Pendennis the housekeeper believes!

I think some of you might not know about the selkies. Mythological creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish folklore, selchies (silkies, selchies) live as seals in the sea but shed their skins on land to become human. In the stories, male selkies kidnap human women to be their wives and take them to sea. This is the legend explored in this book. For more on the selkies, this Wikipedia article will be helpful.

Carla has a lot to put up with in this story. We have Mrs. Pendennis, the elderly housekeeper who can hardly bear to look at Carla because of the curse and Lady Caroline. Then we have Mike, Mrs. Pendennis' grandson who is living in the house and taking care of the garden. Carla thinks he is surly, but she is also attracted to him. Mike used to be a fairly well-known dancer, so why he is here mucking about? He tells Carla that he would like to buy the house with his mysterious friend, Tim, but he hopes she will take payments.

Other love interests are Allan, the suave lawyer who has been entrusted to advise Carla on estate matters. Also Simon, a folklore-loving local doctor who is only too happy to tell Carla all about the selkie story. Then we also have John, the local vicar, who is keen on solving the mystery of Lady Caroline in time to save Carla from a similar fate.

This book has all of the elements of a good gothic thriller: the spooky house of doom, the archetypal hero (although at first we don't quite know which of the four young men is the hero), and the portent of evil. Despite the rather corny possibilities this could lead to, Carla is a very level-headed young lady who is not easily frightened. Although I somewhat doubt that any young woman could receive so many marriage proposals within such a short time, having only met all three men within a couple of months of their declarations, it works in the story, especially when you find out which one(s) are not sincere.

The ending of this story, which I am not going to give away, leaves us wondering if there might not be some truth to the selkie story after all. I heartily approve of Barbara Michaels' leaving us with this possibility. Some things are just better left unexplained. 

Rebecca

"Last night I dreamt I was at Manderley again...."

Rebecca
by Daphne Du Maurier
first published in 1938

Rebecca
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier George Sanders, and Judith Anderson
1940

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is the only book I had to read again directly after finishing it for the first time because the "book withdrawal" was too painful. I could not stand the idea that I was finished with the story, that I was unable to spend more time with the characters of Maxim and the unnamed Mrs. de Winter and find out what happens next with them. I knew what happened to them, since that is explained somewhat in the beginning of the story, but I was having a hard time getting my brain from the dramatic burning of Manderley to the de Winters' life in exile. I guess Maxim and Mrs. de Winter must have had the same problem, since they couldn't bear the thought of even going back to England to live somewhere else. You would think, though, that Mrs. de Winter would be rather happy that the house haunted by the past was destroyed and they could finally be free from Rebecca.

And Manderley is definitely haunted. Everywhere we look there are signs of the title character, Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter. We don't have to meet her or see her ghost, she is there everywhere for us to run into unexpectedly. Her name is on the stationery in the morning room, her monogram is on the table linen, her name is invoked by the servants, and even the dog misses her. Who could match up to somebody who was so talented, beautiful, involved, and organized? Certainly not the new Mrs. de Winter, who is a little mouse of a girl, much younger than her new husband and totally unused to life in a large house as a society wife.

This is a story about bad marriages. We eventually come to find out just how bad the marriage is between Max and Rebecca, despite appearances, but what about the marriage of Maxim and his new much younger wife? It doesn't have the best of beginnings, with a casual proposal and a joke about white frocks and conservatories. Our narrator thinks so little of herself that she doesn't expect a more affectionate proposal; this one was a complete surprise, and I think it means much more to our narrator than to Maxim. I also think Maxim's disregard of his new wife's feelings and experience shows that he has not embarked on a better, more equal marriage. She hesitatingly tries to tell him about her fears and inadequacies, but he pushes them aside without really listening. Mrs. de Winter asks him several times throughout the story if they are really happy together, that their marriage is a success. I think if she has to ask, it probably isn't.

But our biggest sign that this new marriage is not a "marriage of true minds" is that Maxim never once tells his new wife about his real feelings for Rebecca. Mrs. de Winter would not ask him herself, she is too insecure and has had heard from Mrs. Van Hopper about how devoted Max was to Rebecca. He didn't have to confess to her death, but he could have and should have told his new wife that their relationship was not paradise on earth. I know he wants to forget Rebecca and the disaster of their marriage and her death, but how could he not prepare his new wife for what she would face at Manderley? What total insensitivity! And it would have saved a lot of trouble later. But then what would happen to the story? Where would it be without that conflict and uncertainty?! Okay, I admit it, without Maxim being an insensitive man, the story wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Recently I showed the Alfred Hitchcock version of Rebecca (1940) during my public library Classic Movie series. This movie won an Academy Award as Best Picture (Hitchock's only Best Picture win), and rocketed Daphne du Maurier's book to its place as one of the best gothic horror stories of all time. How does it compare to the book? Well, for me it has good points and bad points.

Laurence Olivier and
Joan Fontaine

The main stars of this movie are Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, with Judith Anderson and George Sanders. I think Laurence Olivier is superb as the suave, sophisticated, wealthy, broody Max de Winter. Joan Fontaine, however, does not match my mental image of the new Mrs. de Winter. First of all, she is much too pretty, I think. The age difference between these two actors is or seems minimal, whereas the book characters are definitely about twenty years apart. Also, Joan Fontaine does not come across as a gauche girl/woman who doesn't know much about the herself, let alone society.

The true star of the book and the movie is Mrs. Danvers, played in the movie by Judith Anderson. Mrs. Danvers is the epitome of the creepy housekeeper. She may be good at her job and seems to run Manderley quite well, but she is the main reason that Rebecca is allowed to haunt the house. She enshrines Rebecca in the West Wing, keeping everything just as it was on Rebecca's last night. She constantly refers to Rebecca and the way she wanted things done. Strong people like Maxim might think that Mrs. Danvers' obsession with Rebecca is normal since she was with her from the time Rebecca was a girl. As long as the house runs smoothly! But how could a new wife unaccustomed to running a household or servants deal with this obsession? Obviously, Mrs. de Winter can't. She is absolutely terrorized by Mrs. Danvers, not only by her inexperience, but Mrs. Danvers' subtle campaign against her.

What could Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) be whispering
 to Mrs. De Winter (Joan Fontaine)

I think that Rebecca's true character is subdued in the Alfred Hitchcock movie--in the book, she is much worse. She is like the rose in William Blake's poem:

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

But the worm inside her not only destroyed her life, it very nearly destroyed everyone around her.

If you enjoy stories about the complexities of relationships, as well as how people can affect each other even after death, you will find this story intriguing. Add to that the scary big house, the crazy housekeeper, the mystery of Rebecca's death, and the haunting and you have all the makings of a very satisfying ghost story.

Julie Harris and The Haunting of Hill House

One of my favorite movie scenes.
Claire Bloom and Julie Harris

The actress Julie Harris died yesterday at age 87.

I will always remember her best for her performance as Eleanor Vance, in one of my favorite stories, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The book was written in 1959 and has become the most famous haunted house story of the 20th Century. No blog about scary books would be complete without discussing it!

The first movie adaption of this book came out in 1963. Julie Harris played the main character, Eleanor Vance, who comes to Hill House for a vacation. Yes, that's correct. A vacation, a holiday from home. You might be thinking, Is this lady nuts?! Well, actually, maybe.

Eleanor is told in her letter from Dr. Markway about the house and the experiment, but I don't think Eleanor gets it at first. She just sees this as a chance to get away--away from her past life of caring for her mother who is now dead, away from her unreasonable sister who has filled in their mother's shoes as another person who imprisons Eleanor in a life of drudgery. Eleanor is so reclusive and shy that I have often wondered how she dared break free, even with the promise of somewhere to go. The movie doesn't include the book's description of Eleanor's visit to the small coffeehouse in the depressing town near Hill House. I think this experience shows that Eleanor is more determined to get away than we might expect because I would probably have wanted to run back home myself after being stared at by those odd villagers.

At Hill House, Eleanor meets some interesting personalities. Dr. John Markway, the scientific parapsychologist, seems friendly and organized, if not a little naive about what a truly haunted house will do to sensitive people like Eleanor. Theo seems to be everything that Eleanor would like to be: sophisticated, independent, beautiful, talented, self-assured. Luke Sanderson is the heir to Hill House and is quite mercenary about the whole visit. And who can forget the Dudleys, especially the efficient and charming Mrs. Dudley:

Rosalie Crutchley as the creepy Mrs. Dudley

"I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at 6. I clear up in the morning. I have breakfast for you at 9. I don't wait on people. I don't stay after I set out the dinner, not after it begins to get dark. I leave before the dark....We live over in town, miles away.... So there won't be anyone around if you need help....We couldn't hear you. In the night.... No one could.... No one lives any nearer than town. No one will come any nearer than that.... In the night. In the dark."

Well, we have only arrived and we're not scared yet, right?

Quite soon we get into the haunting and everything you could want in a good haunting happens: spooky noises, walls that move, disembodied voices, phantom animals, mysterious writing on the wall, magically appearing blood stains, noxious smells. Add to that the extremely creepy past history lesson that Dr. Markway gives to his new students and it is no wonder this story scares most people. We do have some lighter moments, with Mrs. Dudley's rather comical insistence on adhering to a schedule, Eleanor and Theo painting their toe nails, dancing in the conservatory, and delicious meals in the dining room. But these moments only help prevent us from dying from fright.

Julie Harris as Eleanor Vance

I think Julie Harris does a good job of playing Eleanor as a rather mixed-up psychological mess. We are not really certain how much of what is going on is in her mind or not. Obviously it is not ALL in her mind, since we know in the movie and the book that the others see and hear things that are disturbing and frightening. Eleanor, the young woman who felt that she doesn't belong anywhere, begins to feel at home in Hill House not long after her initial repulsion of the invitation on the wall of "Help Eleanor come home". Something snaps inside her when she sees her own name on the wall of Hill House, and she (and we) begin to wonder, what does this mean? I certainly never thought Eleanor would willingly go back to her sister's home, the only home she had, once she had found the strength to leave at last. But where would she go after her time at Hill House? Maybe Hill House itself has found the answer.

There is another movie adaptation based on this book. The Haunting with Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Owen Wilson came out in 1999. Despite the excellent cast, I feel that the screenwriters were too free with their adaptation, including too many story changes. I hate cheap tricks in scary movies, and this one is full of them. Shirley Jackson and her phenomenal book deserved better.

I first read this story in high school and was suitably scared silly. I think I read this story and see the Julie Harris version of the movie at least once a year. I have inflicted it on others--family, friends, and library patrons. It is often quoted, especially the reference to "whatever walked there, walked alone." It is a high bar to clear when evaluating or writing other haunted house stories. Nobody who likes horror stories should miss this book, and nobody who likes horror movies should miss Julie Harris's movie performance.