Casting the Runes (1979) & Ghostwatch

Last night was Hallowe'en (I'm a stickler for that apostrophe!) and time for the traditional spooky evening of DVD watching in my household. We watched two cult items, and here are my thoughts on them.

ITV Playhouse: Casting the Runes

This 50 minute adaptation of an M R James ghost story was first shown as part of ITV Playhouse's eleventh season, and was recently released (inexplicably) on its own DVD by Network.

I've never read any of James's original stories, but am a great fan of TV and film adaptations of his work, so when I read that Ghost Story for Christmas aficionado Lawrence Gordon Clark was behind this, I had high expectations.

Sadly, it's not up to the same standard as Clark's finest work with the BBC. The story starts with an extremely atmospheric and well shot prelude where we see a man and his dog pursued by a strange something across a beautiful snowy field. The man is John Harrington, and his death seems to be down to the fact he wrote a scathing review of the latest supernatural book by author Julian ("big man") Karswell. Harrington ends up dead in a field, and his dog is never seen again (dogs never do well out of stories like this).

Some time later TV journalist Prudence Dunning mentions something derogatory about Karswell in one of her programmes, and soon enough she too has been cursed by the vengeful author. My advice is never become a writer if you can't take criticism.

But there's too much inconsistency and not enough brooding spookyness in this piece. Harrington's demise was thick with atmosphere, with a feeling of being watched and pursued, whereas all Dunning really gets is a giant rubber spider in her bed. Her efforts to break the curse by surreptitiously handing back to Karswell his runic slip of paper are half-hearted (donning a blonde wig and frilly blouse wouldn't even convince Stevie Wonder) and when she does finally manage to turn the tables, it's by impersonating a customs official at an airport, something I find so unconvincing (even for the pre-9/11 1970s) that it left me feeling disappointed and cheated.

I don't know if that's the same ending James originally wrote but it just feels like an all-too-easy attempt to be Tales of the Unexpected to me. The cast does a good job, but nothing that stands out, but it's Clark's location filming that makes the best impression - snowbound streets and countryside, and bonfires and fireworks, perfect viewing for a Hallowe'en night. It's just a shame the story's so unconvincing.

ITV Playhouse: Casting the Runes, originally transmitted April 24th 1979.

Written by Clive Exton from the M R James story; directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark.

Ghostwatch

Ghostwatch is infamous in the canon of cult British TV because of the almost hysterical reaction it got on its first (and only) broadcast. Produced and transmitted as part of BBC1's Screen One strand of one-off feature-length dramas, Ghostwatch attracted unprecedented media and public outcry because people thought it was real.

The problem was that it was made to look as if it was a live broadcast investigating hauntings at a house owned by a middle-aged mum and her two children. These days we're sick to death of this type of broadcast - Hospitalwatch, Springwatch, Crimewatch - but back then they were more popular, and more notice was taken of them.

Despite being billed as a drama, many were convinced it was real, happening live as they watched. There were strange cat noises behind the walls, scratches to the possessed teenager's face, "live" phone-ins, banging on the ceiling, quick glimpses of "something" lurking in the shadows and reflections of the house, and finally a full-on national seance, resulting in presenter Sarah Greene being sucked into a cupboard under the stairs, and Michael Parkinson being possessed in the studio.

It sounds silly, and some of it is. But back in 1992 so many people were convinced this was a real live broadcast, and that these girls were being possessed by a ghost, that switchboards were jammed, outraged leader articles filled the next day's papers and there was even one report of a young man killing himself because of watching Ghostwatch.

There's no denying that parts of it are effectively done. The scenes set in the studio, with a cynical Michael Parkinson interviewing the almost obsessive parapychologist Dr Lin Pascoe, are the most convincing, principally because of the trust the British public has in Parky. He was, and remains, a dependable figure, and provided an added layer of validity to the piece. This is also the case with Sarah Greene, a much-loved personality who had hosted children's TV through the 1980s and couldn't possibly be pulling the wool over viewers' eyes now...

Not so convincing is the use of cheeky chappy Craig Charles for the Outside Broadcast scenes (Charles was brought into this world simply to annoy, I think) and although the actress playing Pamela Earley was good, those playing her children were less skilled at pitching the reality right.

All in all, Ghostwatch is an effective and interesting piece of drama, a good experiment in distorting the narrative of both traditional TV drama and the up-and-coming reality TV. The quick glimpses keen-eyed viewers get of murderous disfigured paedophile Pipes are chilling, and the presence of Parkinson and Greene adds protracted weight until things really start getting silly toward the end.

Ghostwatch is much more convincing than some of the blatantly staged, desperate tripe today's Most Haunted trots out as entertainment.

Ghostwatch, originally transmitted October 31st 1992.

Written by Stephen Volk; directed by Lesley Manning.