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| Credit: Pixabay.com |
I've moved our fourth Monday Book-To-Movie (BTM) again, this time to this 5th Monday of October due to the overloaded schedule of the Halloween season. But, so you can get a groovy Halloween post, I made sure to give it to you before October passes us unlike I did with September’s BTM)! A story by the early 20th century British author, M.R. James, such as "Casting the Runes" probably won't ring a death toll bell as does Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher”. And unless you’re a big watcher of b-rated movies like me, not even the 1957 movie adaptation of “Casting”, "Curse of the Demon", will even ring much of a bell. Yet both short story and movie are made really good. One of the biggest changes made to the story for the movie is that the monster is actually shown while, yet, not taking too much away from the suspense of the original short story.
The Short Story: 'Casting the Runes'
"Casting the Runes" is about a committee officer, Dunning, who gets cursed by occultist Karswell whose paper on alchemy he had turned down from being read at a meeting. Out of vengeance, Karswell, slips a parchment of runes in Dunning's possession which brings on an invisible force of evil that terrorises Dunning. The committee man must find a way to return the parchment to Karswell without making it known to him in order to get rid of the unseen demon.
The demon in this story is described in very abstract terms most of the time because of its invisibility. In fact, it's the feeling of dread on Dunning's part that it's mostly described through rather than through its visage. The closest that we get to seeing a description of the monster is when it’s described biting someone. But often what can't be seen but felt is scarier. It's this holding back of details of the monster that keeps the reader in suspense and puts her more in the terrorised mind of the protagonist.
The Movie: 'Curse of the Demon'
In this movie, originally titled "Night of the Demon" for its original British version, the protagonist of the short story has been changed from committee man Dunning to skeptical U.S. parapsychologist Holden who goes to England for a convention on the paranormal. Instead of the rejection of a manuscript, the reason for Satanist Karswell slipping Holden the cursed parchment is because the latter attempts to disprove black magic of the former.
Unlike in the original short story, the demon in “Curse” is revealed, although only twice: once at the beginning and once at the end. According to an article in the October 2019 issue of “Famous Monsters of Filmland”, director Jacques Tourneur and producer Hal E. Chester conflicted over how often the demon should be shown in the film and so how much of the minimalism of the short story should be kept. However, I personally believe that limiting the demon’s appearance to only two points in the film was a good compromise which allowed the mere effects of its attacks to keep the audience in suspense and thinking more about the events of the story.
I had a couple of problems with the movie, though. One was actually a slight problem where, at one point, the monster grows from its human size to a gargantuan size for no apparent reason. The purpose is likely to have been competition with the atomic giant-monster films that dominated the U.S. cinematic market during that time that this British-made supernatural horror film was distributed to. However, one part of me was okay with it just because I'm biased for giant monsters. Yet, it caused a slight imbalance in the presentation of the story.
The acting was okay and so was the characterisation. However, Karswell's mom played comic relief too much for this mostly dark film and so, therefore, reducing the horrifying effect it’s supposed to have on its audience. Not that there wasn't a need for comic relief; there definitely was. But it was overdone with the middle-aged Satanist’s mother showing up all the time.
"Curse of the Demon" works good visually while "Casting the Runes", its source material, works good psychologically. It’s a supernatural horror film that goes good with Halloween because it’s set around that time of year. Yet, it isn't dependent on its Halloween theme and so this makes it good for watching anytime and so doesn't come across as exclusively seasonal like some horror movies do.
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Have you read anything by M.R. James? Have you seen "Curse/Night of the Demon"? Do you know of any other movies out there that are based on an M.R. James' story?
Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!
Think I'll look for the short story instead.
ReplyDeleteThe story's really good. Probably no movie adaptation can beat it!
DeleteI've not heard of either. I think featuring the monster only twice in the movie was a good idea. Less is best.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and more as they also say (less is more). Sometimes when the monster is revealed too much or too soon it takes away the terror and suspense and in some cases even from other elements of the story.
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