In 2005, BBC4 revived the series, beginning with an adaptation of James’ story “A View from a Hill”, and there have been seven films made intermittently in the years following, all M.R. James adaptations barring one.

In the spirit of Christmas spooks, and the old tradition of gathering around the fire to tell a ghost story (as Dickens himself loved to do; he was responsible for many famous writers of the day giving ghost stories for anthologies specifically for Christmas, including Wilkie Collins and Robert Louis Stephenson), in this edition of Ranked we at The Film Magazine are taking all sixteen films, including the classics and the new releases, and ranking them for your reading and viewing pleasure. Sit back with a mug of cocoa, a roaring fire, and get ready to feel a little chill go across the bones. These are A Ghost Story for Christmas Films Ranked.

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16. The Ice House (1978)

The second of two original stories created in the original run, The Ice House is the film which pretty much closed up shop on the series for nearly three decades.

In this tale, a gentleman staying at a luxury hotel in the countryside befriends the owners, a young brother and sister duo who seem to have the best interests of their residents at heart. But occasionally Paul feels some cold spells pass across him, and there’s definitely something strange and secretive about a modern, up-to-date establishment like this, with all its fridges and freezers, still having an ice house down the end of the garden.

The first film in the series to be directed by someone other than Lawrence Gorden Clark, the film suffers from being decidedly un-spooky, with a lack of chills save for perhaps one scene nearer the end. Irritatingly, it is also very uninteresting.

Ghosts are lacking in this ghost story, and whilst the performances try to lend… something, to the tale, it never really manages to rattle any chains. The final reveals are bland, and it’s easy to finish the film having forgotten pretty much everything as soon as it was said.

15. Stigma (1977)

The first of the two original stories from the original run, Stigma sees a mother at the mercy of an avenging spirit when a great boulder is moved from their garden. Now she’s bleeding everywhere, though there’s not a mark on her body, and her very life may be in danger…

Stigma is a fun concept, and it was certainly a risk for the series to both set a film in the modern day, and not be an adaptation of a previous work. Filmed in Avebury in Whiltshire, which was also used that year for the underrated family dark fantasy/folk horror serial ‘Children of the Stones’, there’s an attempt to blend past and present, bringing the traditional ghost story into the modern viewing age with an emphasis on bright red blood (hence the stigmata of the title) which possibly reflected the increase in explicit violence in film and TV happening in recent years. Despite this, the film just sort of… ends, and you can throw as much blood on the screen as you want; if it doesn’t chill the bones, it isn’t what we’re after.

Watch ‘Children of the Stones’, if you want good, spooky folk horror in the same setting in the same year.

Recommended for you: Blood Junkies (1993) Review

14. Martin’s Close (2019)

Peter Capaldi had acted in two ‘Doctor Who’ stories written by Mark Gatiss in the past, and now, not only is he back under Gatiss’ writing thumb, but also his directorial control (point to note: you’ll see many more ‘Doctor Who’ links as this list progresses).

This M.R. James adaptation has Simon Williams’ narrator regale us with a tale about a strange court case from the past, in which Capaldi’s Dolben must present the evidence for the conviction of a young man, Mr John Martin, on trial for the murder of a young woman. The strange part is, she has been seen by multiple witnesses, after she died.

This adaptation isn’t necessarily bad. The acting is strong (especially that of Peter Capaldi, but we all expected this), the direction is fine, and everything is generally ok. But therein lies the rub; it is ok. Nothing stands out, nothing really gets you sitting back in the armchair with your fingernails scratching at the leather.

Whilst the storyteller dramatisation idea with Simon Williams in his home is a commendable idea to recreate the story-by-the-fireside cosy feeling, it functions to interrupts the flow of the story when it shouldn’t, and constantly brings you out of any kind of immersion you might have felt. Despite everyone trying their best with what they have, it just doesn’t come together.

The Father (2021)
Director: Florian Zeller
Screenwriters: Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell

Old age eventually finds us all, regardless of any efforts we may make to deter it. It may find us gently or it may bring about a debilitating journey; one that causes our mind to gradually betray us as we tiptoe our way back toward the blank slate we once were. With a disease like dementia, some may even recede into themselves, bodies turning into shells that house what remains of a capacity to recognize one’s surroundings. For those who watch their loved ones go through this devastating disease, it can be equally devastating to wonder whether they’ve done enough to relieve some of that suffering.

Such is delicately on display in The Father, the directorial debut of writer Florian Zeller as adapted for the screen from his award-winning stage play of the same name. The Oscars Best Picture nominated film is centered around 80-year-old Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) and his struggle with a deteriorating memory. The correlation between the names is completely intentional, as the character’s name was updated from Zeller’s original play to suit Hopkins. The parallel even goes so far as to use Hopkins’ actual birthdate in the screenplay when the character is examined by a doctor. While the film focuses on Anthony’s struggle with some form of dementia, his specific illness is never actually named. It’s clear that his main symptom is severe memory loss as he seems to drift between space and time with an uncontrollable abandon, yet it is always explored from the personal rather than the clinical. We see Anthony start to do something, pause, and then move on to do something else. In an early scene, we see him unloading some groceries when he suddenly finds himself wondering where the empty bag in his hand has come from.

Anthony’s primary companion is his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman), who has been making sacrifices in her recent life to care for Anthony. While visiting Anthony’s flat, Anne informs him that she has met a man and will be moving to Paris. In her place, she tries to find Anthony a caretaker, but also considers the ease of putting him in a nursing home as Anthony has historically been very difficult with his previous caretakers. The film circles around this idea, while primarily focusing on Anthony’s experience navigating his own mind.

The Father functions like a mystery film as we are each immersed in Anthony’s unreliable perspective. Like a magician, director Florian Zeller brilliantly fashions illusion out of disillusion, challenging us to try to distinguish precisely what is true in a confusing environment. Zeller uses conventions of film like a master manipulator, creating a space that always exists conceptually as opposed to literally. The production design of the film represents Anthony’s confusion, as lampshades seem to change color and a painting that once hung above the fireplace has suddenly vanished. At times, the layout of the furniture seems to rotate and even the kitchen tiling has replaced itself. The physical world of the flat is constantly shifting so slightly that it’s easy to miss how deeply we’re being fooled. Even characters seem to appear from nowhere claiming to be someone that they’re not, at least according to what we’ve previously been led to think.

In a film that deals with dementia, you’d expect that we’d be able to trust reality through the other characters, yet it is specifically them who present inconsistencies in what they say. Like Anthony, we are regularly receiving new information that is contradictory to what we’ve already been told. One moment, Anne is moving to Paris and in the next she expresses frustration that Anthony continues to make that idea up. For the viewer, the circumstances of the film reveal itself like a distorted puzzle that is continually changing its own picture. If we cannot trust the world as we are experiencing it, then how are we ever supposed to find a foundation in what is real? Whenever it feels like we’ve figured out the mystery, Zeller alters reality once more. It’s a disorienting viewing experience that purposefully places us in a muddled state of questioning that mirrors Anthony’s distress as he tries to find a grasp on reality.

Through the sly editing and staging of the film, we experience real time with Anthony as days or weeks seem to go by and sometimes return without any notice. We have no real sense of how much time is passing or if we are even seeing time presented linearly. In just a short moment, an entire day could go by completely unnoticed to Anthony or ourselves; pajamas and tea at 8:00 in the morning somehow becomes 8:00 in the evening in just the slight pause of a thought. At one point, Anne mentions a caregiver who visited only moments ago, yet it feels like days have passed since that visit occurred. A conversation plays out a second time despite Anthony’s insistence that the exchange has already happened. This idea is aided by the elusiveness of Anthony’s wristwatch, which he is constantly accusing other people of stealing. No matter how many times he puts it around his wrist, it always seems to disappear. He’s obsessed with having it, as if being able to tell the time at least gives him something real to hold on to.

While the entire cast brilliantly contributes to the experience of The Father, it is Anthony Hopkins who gives a career standout performance. Both kinesthetic and cerebral, Hopkins exhibits an intensifying frailty that brings physicality to a character that is already tremendously cognitive. More impressive yet is the extensive variety that Hopkins finds through many emotional conditions that range from a towering display of authority to a crippling vulnerability. Through his age and illness, we still see the shades of a once very intelligent and charming man. When Anthony first meets Laura (Imogen Poots), a potential new caregiver, he is flirtatious and delightful before turning on a dime into someone more calculating and even cruel towards those around him. “You’re not listening to what I’m telling you,” he’ll often declare as he tries to maintain that his reality is not deceiving him. Once Anthony begins to realize that things are not as they seem, we see the confusion start to wear him down. We bear witness to the tremendous pain that comes along with the resignation of Anthony knowing he is slowly in the process of losing himself. He recognizes that the world keeps moving around him and that his only choice is to accept what he is being told as he can no longer make sense of anything on his own.

The Father is a deeply unsettling depiction of how memory can betray a person, leaving someone alone in a desperate search for reality until their ability to recognize their surroundings is no more. Like a branch losing its leaves, one after another.

22/24

Written by Peter Charney

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The Favourite (2019)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Screenwriters: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
Starring: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Mark Gatiss, Joe Alwyn

An early reading of the C word by Nicholas Hoult set the tone for Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest dark comedy, the delectable dialogue of this subversive period drama being as much of a high point of this film as its framing of the set decoration for which it is at first most striking.

“He had charm to burn, and I guess he did”, Weisz’s Lady Sarah Marlborough explains of an off-screen character in the midst of the film’s opening moments, the reference being seemingly as much about the director of this piece as any fictional character in the world he brought to life, Lanthimos’ very particular and unique vision often criticised for blanketing itself in the director’s off-kilter sensibilities. The Favourite was hardly any different, only quite obviously more grandiose in scope, itself confronting the odd notion of the British period drama (and thus the unneeded extravagance of privilege) with an unflinching eye that was both in-keeping with the sheer absurdity of the class divide at the time and the current culture that still salutes it.

One particular scene, which presents Weisz’s high ranking Lady dancing vigorously with a young Lord, is so damming in how over the top it is that it’s bound to draw a laugh from even the most expectant of cinema goers, the scene doubling down as an attack on how ostentatious royal balls are, whether in a period drama or indeed in real life.

The Favourite is perhaps not as note perfect as Lanthimos’ The Lobster, the 2015 release being arguably the most neat and tightly cut of all of his work and a piece that manages to find the comedy in tragedy at just the right note, but the ambition is much greater in this release and the individual elements of cinematography, set, acting, screenplay and editing are each of such an extraordinarily high standard that The Favourite is perhaps the more rich of the two offerings overall.

There seems, throughout every aspect of the film, layers to unravel in search of yet more satisfaction, The Favourite taking clear inspiration from the very best of the period drama sub-genre, Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon included, to offer more than just fancy set dressing and its own historically inaccurate take on privileged Britain.

It was however the Golden Era of Hollywood that seemed to provide the most inspiration for this piece, at least from a visual perspective, a throwback editing style of phenomenal cross-fades complimenting the timeless close-ups to offer a smart and stylish visual palette worthy of a museum, as well as some of the very best lighting put to screen in years.

Messrs Stone, Weisz and Colman were each truly wonderful as the centrepieces around whom the film was constructed, their awards season recognition being entirely deserved for delivering performances that required a mix of astute comedic timing, moments of blind viciousness and a surprising fragility, Colman’s performance as Queen Anne being the standout and therefore making her a clear Oscar front-runner. In support of the central most trio upon whom the film was rested was a plethora of British male talent headlined by Nicholas Hoult, an actor with an increasing presence as a widely acknowledged top class performer and the actor whom stole almost every scene he was in with a camp extravagance that was the source of many of the picture’s biggest laughs.

As is so typical of Lanthimos’ films, the director afforded his cast the time and space through which to earn their rave reviews, often lingering on their reactions to opposing dialogue for just a stretch longer than would ordinarily be the case, the very deliberate choice to avoid typical conversational camera choices creating an atmosphere much like a stage play while simultaneously crafting each frame as if a renaissance painting, the beauty simply pouring from the screen as the performances engaged and the narrative revealed itself piece by piece via a series of miniature revelations.

The Favourite is by no means a typical period drama and nor should we judge it as such given the history of its director, but it did offer all of the splendour expected of such a film and was terrifically constructed from top to bottom, everything from the dialogue to the score forging its own point of interest for one of the most satisfying viewing experiences of this awards season – a truly spectacular achievement.

22/24

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Here’s the full list of nominees per category…

Best British Independent Film:
– The Death of Stalin
– God’s Own Country
– I Am Not a Witch
– Lady Macbeth
– Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Screenplay (Sponsored by BBC Films):
– The Death of Stalin (Armando Ianucci, David Schneider & Ian Martin)
– God’s Own Country (Francis Lee)
– I Am Not a Witch (Rungano Nyoni)
– Lady Macbeth (Alice Birch)
– Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)

Best Director: 
– Armando Ianucci (The Death of Stalin)
– Francis Lee (God’s Own Country)
– Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch)
– William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth)
– Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best British Short (Supported by BFI Network):
– 1745
– The Entertainer
– Fish Story
– Work
– Wren Boys

Best Actor:
– Jamie Bell (Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool)
– Josh O’Connor (God’s Own Country)
– Alec Secareanu (God’s Own Country)
– Johnny Harris (Jawbone)
– Paddy Considine (Journeyman)

Best Actress (Sponsored by M.A.C. Cosmetics):
– Emily Beecham (Daphne)
– Ruth Wilson (Dark River)
– Margaret Mulubwa (I Am Not a Witch)
– Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth)
– Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Supporting Actor:
– Steve Buscemi (The Death of Stalin)
– Simon Russell Beale (The Death of Stalin)
– Ian Hart (God’s Own Country)
– Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
– Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Supporting Actress: 
– Andrea Riseborough (The Death of Stalin)
– Julie Walters (Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool)
– Kelly Macdonald (Goodbye Christopher Robin)
– Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth)
– Patricia Clarkson (The Party)

Most Promising Newcomer (Sponsored by The London Edition):
– Harry Michell (Chubby Funny)
– Harry Gilby (Just Charlie)
– Cosmo Jarvis (Lady Macbeth)
– Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth)
– Lily Newmark (Pin Cushion)

The Discovery Award (Sponsored by Raindance):
– Even When I Fall
– Halfway
– In Another Life
– Isolani
– My Pure Land

The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director):
– Francis Lee (God’s Own Country)
– Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch)
– Thomas Napper (Jawbone)
– William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth)
– Deborah Haywood (Pin Cushion)

Debut Screenwriter:
– Francis Lee (God’s Own Country)
– Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch)
– Johnny Harris (Jawbone)
– Alice Birch (Lady Macbeth)
– Gabby Chiappe (Their Finest)

Best Documentary:
– Almost Heaven
– Half Way
– Kingdom of Us
– Uncle Howard
– Williams

Breakthrough Producer (Sponsored by Creativity Media):
– Brendan Mullin & Katy Jackson (Bad Day for the Cut)
– Jack Tarling & Manon Ardisson (God’s Own Country)
– Emily Morgan (I Am Not a Witch)
– Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Lady Macbeth)
– Gavin Humphries (Pin Cushion)

Best International Independent Film:
– The Florida Project
– Get Out
– I Am Not Your Negro
– Loveless
– The Square

Best Casting: 
– Sarah Crowe (The Death of Stalin)
– Debbie McWilliams (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool)
– Shaheen Baig & Layla Merrick-Wolf (God’s Own Country)
– Shaheen Baig (Lady Macbeth)
– Sarah Halley Finn (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Cinematography (Sponsored by Blackmagic Design):
– David Gallego (I Am Not a Witch)
– Tat Radcliffe (Jawbone)
– Ari Wegner (Lady Macbeth)
– Thomas Riedelsheimer (Leaning Into the Wind)
– Ben Davis (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Costume Design:
– Suzie Harman (The Death of Stalin)
– Sandy Powell (How to Talk to Girls at Parties)
– Holly Rebecca (I Am Not a Witch)
– Holly Waddington (Lady Macbeth)
– Dinah Collin (My Cousin Rachel)

Best Editing: 
– Peter Lambert (The Death of Stalin)
– David Charap (Jawbone)
– Jon Gregory (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
– Joe Martin (Us and Them)
– Johnny Burke (Williams)

Best Make-Up & Hair Design:
– Jan Sewell (Breathe)
– Nicole Stafford (The Death of Stalin)
– Julene Paton (I Am Not a Witch)
– Nadia Stacey (Journeyman)
– Sian Wilson (Lady Macbeth)

Best Music:
– Christoper Willis (The Death of Stalin)
– Matt Kelly (I Am Not a Witch)
– Paul Weller (Jawbone)
– Fred Frith (Leaning Into the Wind)
– Carter Burwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Production Design:
– Cristina Casali (The Death of Stalin)
– Eve Stewart (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool)
– James Merrifield (Final Portrait)
– Nathan Parker (I Am Not a Witch)
– Jacqueline Abrahams (Lady Macbeth)

Best Sound:
– Breathe
– Anna Bertmark (God’s Own Country)
– Maiken Hansen (I Am Not a Witch)
– Andy Shelley & Steve Griffiths (Jawbone)
– Joakim Sundström (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Effects: 
– The Death of Stalin
– Dan Martin (Double Date)
– Luke Dodd (Journeyman)
– Nick Allder & Ben White (The Ritual)
– Chris Reynolds (Their Finest)

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