Tag: Christmas

In a 2017 article on Smithsonianmag.com, the plea was made to bring back the ghost story for the Christmas season. Colin Dickey wrote, “Telling ghost stories during winter is a hallowed tradition, a folk custom stretches back centuries, when families would wile away the winter nights with tales of spooks and monsters.”

Another character said, “A sad tale’s best for winter,” Mamilius proclaims in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. He added, “I have one. Of sprites and goblins.”

And the titular Jew of Malta in Christopher Marlowe’s play at one point mused, “Now I remember those old women’s words, Who in my wealth would tell me winter’s tales, And speak of spirits and ghosts by night.”

It’s a tradition I’m honouring cinematically. It’s too easy to always include Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and instead of this titular classic, I’m choosing which of the many adaptations I consider worth revisiting. This list is divided into two parts. One which mentions the holiday in the film and perhaps takes place during. The other is broader, using Winter as a metaphor. The movie has to be good. No rotten tomatoes are going to be mentioned here. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is mentioned far too many times and I’m going for the lesser known works.

Thanks go to Bloody Disgusting for the original list, to which I tightened the criteria because a ghost has to be crucial to the tale:

The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

This tale set during the holidays is a sequel to the original, and it’s described by Bleeding Cool as a feel-good tale rather than of pure horror. It’s a sweet coming of age tale which stars Anne Carter as Amy Reed, who befriends the ghost of her father’s first wife whom she’s never been told about.

This work is more fantasy than anything else, but it still contains the essential elements that define a ghost story.

Continue reading “Ghost Stories for the Holiday Season (Part One)”