As tradition dictates, the following is a round-up of all the year’s viewing, reading and working. 2025 has been a somewhat tricky year and I’ve decided to not be quite so exhaustive in writing up the detail of my viewing in particular, not least because the quality of films has been somewhat lower than previous years. Juggling the requirements of my work with a few … Continue reading 2025 Review
Local Haunts was released at the end of March by Influx Press, and has been on sale for around two months at the time of writing. I’ve resisted talking more about it on here so far, largely because I wanted to see what the general reaction was rather than pre-empting it. Thankfully, after having done a number of events in which the response has been … Continue reading Local Haunts (Influx Press, 2025)
Arcadian Folklore The lost realm of Arcadia was noted for its vast array of folklore and customs. Many unusual tales are at the centre of a rich and diverse research field which has painstakingly assembled a wealth of material from a huge variety of sources. This essay can only give a brief overview of some of the more unusual and seasonal based customs, superstitions and … Continue reading Arcadian Folklore
This interview was originally was published on the Small Cinema Liverpool website with thanks to Sam Meech and the BFI. However, since the closure and destruction of the cinema by Liverpool developers, the website has since been closed. This interview is saved here for posterity and in appreciation of a much underrated editor, filmmaker and artist Celluloid Wicker Man: In terms of filmmaking, how did … Continue reading Interview: David Gladwell on Cinema and Requiem For A Village
On a rather muddled day in early autumn, I decided to visit M.R. James. In recent years, I’ve become interested in the places that James frequented, usually because they have had clear and profound effects upon his ghost stories. Visiting them with a sense of curiosity seems to invert the man’s clichés back upon him; walking in search of the known as opposed to the … Continue reading Wanders: M.R. James’ Grave
This November sees the 50th anniversary of one of Hammer Studios’ strongest and most complex films: Roy Ward Baker’s Nigel Kneale adaptation, Quatermass And The Pit (1967). Sometimes known under the title of Five Million Years To Earth, the film takes Kneale’s BBC script from the original broadcast serial and turns it into something far more unnerving than the other films produced by the studio in … Continue reading Quatermass And The Pit (1967) @ 50
Note – Since the publication of this article, a publisher of Aickman’s has been in touch with more details surrounding the photographs. They were taken by his friend Jean Richardson on a number trips taking place in the mid 1970s and not on one singular trip (as Aickman’s limited wardrobe falsely suggests). The stone is King Doniert’s Stone in Cornwall whilst the coastline with the … Continue reading Responses: Robert Aickman’s Holiday Photos
Above is the trailer for my only narrative film this year, Green Teeth. There has been a huge gap in my film projects recently, caused by writing a second book and having a huge chunk of time taken up with a project that fell through late last year. Green Teeth as a project came along quite by chance when adventuring on several walks with the … Continue reading Trailer – Green Teeth
I cannot remember when exactly I first read Alan Garner’s The Owl Service (1967). Like its inspiration, The Mabinogion, or the Stone of Gronw that sits at the centre of its mystery, it seems to have always been there. It’s an unusual feeling because the novel is not particularly old by standards of literature – it turns fifty on the 21st of August – and yet it feels old. It may … Continue reading Owls and Flowers: Alan Garner’s The Owl Service At 50
Celluloid Wicker Man 