“A Ghost Story for Christmas: the Mezzotint,” the adaptation by the renowned Mark Gatiss for BBC 2 that was broadcast on Christmas Eve—the BBC tradition of cinematic releases of ghost storytelling before Christmas started in the late 60s, with the Omnibus screen version of “Whistle, and I’ll Come to You,” and has continued ever since—did not disappoint in the least. Everyone who criticises Gatiss for “appropriating” the whole Goth/ghost/Victorian/Edwardian TV-discourse seemingly denies the main point: thanks to him, we who love subtle Decadent suspense and old-fashioned horrors have got a real opportunity to enjoy our beloved genre without having to grieve that it was lost in today’s technological/heavily CGIed mainstream production forever.
Like Gatiss’s other adaptations of M.R. James, this one, yet again, is absolutely true to the original story, which feels quite refreshing these days, when we observe constant deviations from genuinely impeccable classical plots**. (It’s still a mystery to me why modern screenwriters have that constant need to perk up the original narrations: for most of the time it doesn’t look good, whatever the initial intentions were.)
As the BBC’s summary of The Mezzotint* goes, “1923. In the heart of an old English college, Edward Williams receives an engraving of an unknown country house with an imposing facade, a sweeping lawn—and, just perhaps, something else.” It suggests a lot. Given that the whole episode lasts only 30 minutes (as all classical BBC ghost films do), Gatiss managed to give the audience exactly what it needed: a spooky story in classical interiors with a good cast. I was pleasantly surprised to see Rory Kinnear, a mighty talent of modern English theatre, portraying the main character, Edward Williams. He was an excellent choice as well as the supporting actors (Robert Bathurst as Garwood and Nikesh Patel as Nesbit), and the ending was solidly creepy (spoiler alert: with a subtle reference to Nakata’s “Ringu,” which made it even better).
Overall, I feel satisfied with the film and, of course, want more. All hail to Gatiss and Co.
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