M.R. James' The Ash Tree (1975)

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'The Chapel of Infernal Devotion'

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  This is a running review of the book Spirits of the Dead. Find out more  here . My opinion on the penultimate story in this collection has not changed since I first came across it 2015 in a collection of works inspired by Arthur Machen. So... Ron Weighell's 'The Chapel of Infernal Devotion' is not just an erudite horror story but an extended essay on Machen's cultural significance. It follows a book collector who fails to secure a particular illustration at an auction. His researches reveal a link between the mysterious artist, who used the name Adam Midnight, and Machen. Midnight, whose real name was Philip Youlden, seems to have had a more than purely aesthetic interest in the occult. Our hero is inspired to try and find out more. Thus begins an odyssey that takes the protagonist from the relatively comfortable world of book dealers to the strange house of Plas Gwyllion, where an elderly musician guards Youlden's bizarre and dangerous legacy. Along the way we e...
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Phobia 2 reviewed

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The first Phobia movie was a fun anthology movie that followed the usual pattern - some stories light and silly, some altogether more serious, the overall feel a bit of a mixed bag. My opinion of it is here . I recently had the pleasure of viewing the second in the series, and found it equally enjoyable - though a lot bleaker, in some parts. Phobia 2 (original title Ha Phraeng ) consists of five short stories. 'Novice' begins with a young man having head head shaved as part of his initiation for a Buddhist monastery. Pey is not there voluntarily - his mother is trying to conceal him among the saffron-clad monks because he has committed a long series of crimes, the last ending in a death. But despite being urged to stay and repent, Pey acts like an arsehole. When he is supposed to be fasting he sets out to steal food offerings left for hungry ghosts. This is a nicely-made, rather grim segment that revolves around the idea of karma. The hungry ghosts of Thai legend are n...
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