Ghosts Series Four (2022)

Ghosts Series Four (2022) written, created by, and starring Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond

See my reviews of series one, series two, and series three!

Another set of adventures are in store for Alison and Mike, two owners of a grand English estate called Button House. The property is haunted by a bunch of ghosts from the history of the land, starting from a caveman all the way up to a smarmy 1990s politician. They all died there and have not moved on yet. Alison can see them since she had a knock on the head. The ghosts are a bit tedious at times, demanding a lot of attention and not respecting personal space or time. They try to be helpful at times, with mixed results.

Alison and Mike's plan to rent out the guest house finally comes to fruition, causing them a lot of stress as B&B hosts who want good ratings and more customers. Typical shenanigans ensue. There was a surprising moment when one of the ghosts moved on, which is played for laughs and pathos quite effectively.

Mildly recommended--you could jump into the series here but it's better to have more of the backstories to the characters.

Book Review: Holy Ghosts by Gary Jansen

Holy Ghosts or How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night by Gary Jansen

Gary Jansen is a writer and publisher in New York who had an extremely colorful year in the 2000s when he finally decided to deal with a problem in his house. The house is over a hundred years old and his parents bought it when he was five. It was a fixer-upper that had a lot of creaky parts and some colorful history. He lived in the house all the way up to his marriage in 1999. He wound up buying the house, somewhat reluctantly, a few years into the marriage. It helped his parents and got them out of her parents' house. In 2007, he started experiencing weird phenomena, especially in his son Eddie's room. He'd feel an electric shock go up his spine, as if he stepped on an exposed wire. The house still creaked. Occasionally he and his wife would see things out of the corners of their eyes. Soon, Eddie didn't want to sleep in his room. With an increase in odd activity and a flood of memories of childhood oddities, including his mom's instance that there was a woman in the front room, he started researching ghosts both in secular writings and in Catholic theology in an effort to figure out what to do. 

His story, which is true, is full of odd and spooky moments as he relates his predicament. It's also a nice look at people who take the existence of ghosts seriously (both Catholic and non-Christian), a group Jansen did not initially belong to. He writes well and gives a lot of history of his area and his family, making him a very sympathetic person. Plus, who doesn't worry for a family plagued by odd events that can't be explained rationally? The resolution is unexpected and a bit anti-climactic, but very satisfying.

Recommended. This is no sensationalistic diatribe, just an honest story.

TV Review: Ghosts Series Two (2020)

Ghosts Series Two (2020) written, created by, and starring Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond

The travails of young couple Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) continue as they try to turn their inherited haunted house (Button House) into a money-maker. The set of ghosts haunting the home are just as much a hinderance as a help. This second series of adventures provides a lot more of the same from the first series, with the addition of a Christmas episode, because the British love their yuletide ghost stories. A special standout is the episode where one of the ghosts is caught on film, drawing a lot of paranormal investigators to Button House. The actual ghosts are not interested in being exploited in such a cavalier manner, so Alison and Mike have to fake supernatural shenanigans in their actually haunted house. The writing on the whole series is very good. The premise gives them a lot of room for comedy and pathos, with characters from many different periods in English history having their own perspectives, foibles, and moments to shine. 

Recommended, though this is not for little kids--too many adult shenanigans.

TV Review: Ghosts Series One (2019)

Ghosts Series One (2019) written, created by, and starring Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond

Young couple Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) are hunting for a cheap apartment when she gets a call. A distant relative, Lady Button, has recently died. Alison is the only relative left on the family tree so Button House (a grand house and estate) goes to her, if she wants it. The couple are excited about the prospect, hoping to convert it into a posh hotel. The only problem is Lady Button did not do much maintenance, so there's a lot to fix up. Also, the house is full of ghosts of people who died on the grounds, dating from caveman Robin (Laurence Rickard) to smarmy politician Julian (Simon Farnaby). Also, the basement has a group of plague victims who were buried in a pit under the house (they at least stay in the basement).

The ghosts balk at having someone new live in the house, especially with the renovation plans. As Alison is leaning out a window to check on the roof, the one ghost who can move physical objects gives her a push and she falls one story. Mike rushes her off to the hospital. The ghosts' rejoicing is short-lived as the couple returns. Thanks to Alison's bump on the head, she can now see and hear the ghosts. At first, she and Mike write it off as post-concussion hallucinations. Eventually, she is convinced they are really there, even though no one else can see or hear them. Comic antics ensue as the couple tries to make some money out of the house while the ghosts vacillate between trying to get rid of Alison and Mike and trying to help them stay.

The premise is very creative and the varied cast gives lots of opportunities for jokes and pathos. The cast is universally excellent, turning stock characters like a Regency-era poet or a 1980s Scout leader into real people. The ghosts have a good family dynamic as they struggle with being together in the house and what to do about the latest visitors.

Highly recommended--I would rewatch this in a heart-beat. Some of the humor is adult, so use your judgment about allowing pre-teens to see it.

TV Review: The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

The Haunting of Hill House (2018) created by Mike Flanagan based on the novel by Shirley Jackson

The Crain family were house flippers, fixing up old, dilapidated homes and selling them for a profit. They were on the verge of retiring when they bought Hill House, the ancestral New England estate of the Hill family. Parents Hugh (Henry Thomas) and Olivia (Carla Gugino) bring their five children to the palatial mansion where they quickly settle in and get to work. But odd things start to happen, especially to the children. The parents explain away a lot of stuff as dreams or youthful imagination but viewers know there is more going on. The mom is especially vulnerable to the malign influences of the house. 

The reason viewers are clued in is because the story is told from two time periods. The first period is the family in the house. The second period is about twenty years later as the adult children are drawn back together from their separate paths as tragedy looms over them again. Oldest son Steven (Michiel Huisman) has made a writing career out of telling haunted house stories, starting with the family's experience at Hill House. He does not believe in the supernatural and is just making a buck off its popularity, much to the chagrin of his siblings. Oldest daughter Shirley (Elizabeth Reiser) has become a mortician and is just as much a control freak as she was as a child. Her sister Theo (Kate Seigel) lives in her guest house and works as a psychologist, though she has some psychic powers based on touching others, so Theo wears gloves all the time to avoid her issues with reality becoming worse. Twins Nell (Victoria Pedretti) and Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) are pretty messed up. Luke is a drug addict who has a very hard time staying clean and winds up mooching off the rest of the family, often stealing from them. Nell is sweet but never quite over her experience, making her very unstable. The ghosts that haunted them in the house start showing up again, encouraging some very bad decisions that lead to a lot of drama.

The story is very exciting and thrilling. The scares are mostly non-gory and are the results of tense situations and the awful consequences of past and current decisions. The show slowly explains what happened at the house over the ten-episode arc, building tension as little details are revealed along the way. The contemporary story of family problems also slowly reveals their problems in a dramatically satisfying way.

The TV series is nominally based on the classic Shirley Jackson novel. A lot of the characters share names with those in the book though they are totally different in motivation and personality. The house is very similar (the creepy spiral staircase in the library and the weird statues). Some of the classic lines (like Mrs. Dudley's "we never come to the house in the night...in the dark") are retained. But the story is very different. There's not a group of psychic investigators who are in over their heads. Here is an unfortunate family who are in over their heads.

I enjoyed the series as a family drama and a spooky story. The filmmakers do a good job showing how damaged the family is by their experience and how they are forced to cope with a situation they tried to leave behind. The first nine episodes are great. Then the tenth episode tries to shift the focus and understanding of what's going on, as if it was a great plot twist. But it does not fit in with what happened in earlier episodes--the ending does not pay off the build up but instead sells it short. The family drama ends well (perhaps too well) and the spooky story is rendered completely ridiculous and incomprehensible. 

Slightly recommended--this is nine-tenths of a great show. Unfortunately the last tenth lets it down. If you can stop watching after the ninth episode and just leave the story unresolved (which would require supernatural effort), that would be for the best. If I could go back in time and tell myself not to watch the last episode, I would. My younger self probably wouldn't believe me and watch anyway.

I watched on Netflix but there is a DVD set available with additional footage. If my local library had it, I would borrow it to see the deleted scenes.

Movie Review: The Changeling (1980)

 The Changeling (1980) directed by Peter Medak

New York composer John Russell (George C. Scott) loses his wife and daughter in a horrible accident which he witnesses. Months later, he moves to Seattle to teach at a university, more so to get away from bad memories. He winds up renting a house from the local historical society. It's an old house with a grand music room, seemingly perfect if a little too large for one man to live in. He starts hearing noises that have no logical explanation. The noises lead him to a hidden room where a young boy was killed. Russell is terrified and fascinated by the mystery. He calls in help from the psychiatry department of the university. In an unnerving seance, a medium makes contact with the ghost who provides some details that suggest the boy's true identity. The secret is not one that everyone wants to keep.

The movie is a quintessential slow-burn horror/mystery. The story moves at a slow pace, providing a lot of atmospheric music and odd scenes that gives the house a daunting and melancholic tone. The people from the historical society provide a slow but steady trickle of information (doing research before the age of the internet was a slow process). Scott gives the right level of frustration and determination to his character, making him very sympathetic. The gore is minimal but the depiction of the boy's death is very disturbing. The movie delivers on the chills and provides a satisfying ending.

Highly recommended--easily in the top ten haunted house movies ever made.

Halloween 2018

My youngest one dressed up as a ghost for Halloween this year. He's still a preschooler, so we went to the library's spooky story time with costume parade afterward. We had a great time.

A guy with a lot on his mind

Parading through the library

Visit by the t-rex!

Getting treats from Ursula!

The librarian was dressed as Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid, but she promised to be good for the day. At the end of class, in addition to giving out treats, she read some Halloween-themed jokes:

Q. What is Dracula's favorite holiday?
A: Fangsgiving.
Q. Why does a witch ride a broom?
A. Because a vacuum cleaner is too heavy.
Q. What do you call a witch's garage?
A. A broom closet.
Q. Why did the ghost go to the carnival?
A. To ride the roller-ghoster.

A fun time was had by all and it was a good opportunity to test the costume out.

After dinner, we went to Carroll Baldwin Hall for their haunted house, which was delightful and short. Just the older kids went, along with a reluctant grandpa.

A haunted hall?

This graveyard wasn't here the last time we visited!?!

Going in to our DOOOOOMMM!

Waiting in line

The organizers gave us the option for scary or not-so-scary. We opted for scary and had a fun trip through. At the end, they had a table with candy!

Snacks for the brave

Back at the house, we suited up and headed out for trick-or-treating. My daughter wanted to take the year off, so she stayed behind and gave out candy. The weather was so nice, we set up a station at the end of the driveway.

Jazz man

Ghost 2!

Giving out candy

The candy haul was impressive. Of interest was the most educational candy, Twix, which teaches you your left from your right.

Twix

The non-candy item this year was Play-Doh. We got two or three jars!

I guess it's edible