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M. R. James is one of the finest English language ghostwriters
ever published. These short stories are not only classics
of their genre, but are outstanding examples of beautifully
paced understated terror and sociological horror - reaching
to the dark expanse of the unconscious mind...
Montague
Rhodes James (1862-1936) was a British mediaeval scholar and
prodigious writer of ghost stories, much admired by H. P.
Lovecraft and often held to be the best twentieth centuries
writer of ghost stories.
Fantom
Films have fulfilled the wishes of their audience by following
up the excellent Tales
of the Supernatural: Volume One,
with a second volume. This second outing is read by Gareth
David Lloyd, filling in time before the return of Torchwood;
Phil Reynolds, who is quickly becoming a Fantom regular; and
Ian Fairbairn, who has been on our screens, in many guises,
for many years.
The
double CD set contains a further four stories: The Ash
Tree (1904), A View from a Hill (1925), The
Tractate Middoth (1911) and Canon Alderic's Scrapbook
(1895). All fall into the British tradition of healthy scares
without a multitude of severed limbs and copious buckets of
blood and will appeal to fans of Dennis Wheatley's work or
the sort of horror that Hammer used to put out at its height.
The whole thing runs to a very reasonable 135 minutes.
All
the stories are well read, but if I had to pick a favourite
it would have to be Phil Reynolds reading of The Tractate
Middoth, a convoluted story of a will hidden in a book.
Of course, as it's a M. R. James story, there's a lot more
going on, involving black robed phantoms going bump in the
night.
One
of the things which will need to be pointed out to a modern
audience is M. R. James's use of language, which would have
been fine for his contemporaries, but whose rhythms and construction
can sometimes sound a little anachronistic.
The
only thing which lets the set down is the packaging. It would
have been nice to have a list of who had read what, but mostly
the biggest problem was with the blurb which introduces the
three vocal talents whose text is so small as to be rendered
unreadable without a magnifying glass.
Unusually,
for a CD, the package comes with extras. For PDA owners who
like to read on the train, Fantom has included the four stories
in PDF format. Also there is the first part of In
Conversation with Ian Fairbairn, which is the
same as the original audio produced by Fantom, good bargain
if you didn't buy it, a bit of a p*sser if you did.
Still,
these are minor niggles which, given the quality of writing
and the vocal talent involved, can easily be ignored. Fantom
have produced a quality product for horror fans everywhere,
so there is only one thing left to ask, how long till volume
three?
 
Charles
Packer
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