We sat near the front of the room, and as the movie started, I could hear lively muzak piped in from the lobby - to save the atmosphere of the film I went and shut the open door (normal practice, don't you think?) even if it made me look weird.
I had been looking forward to the movie ever since this spine-chilling teaser trailer:
**SPOILER ALERT** (Scroll past if desired)
I have read the original novel, and seen the long-running stage play, and in comparison the movie is totally ridiculous.
For a start, the nine hostile and unfortunate villagers are heavily exaggerated in comparison to the lively, quite friendly - and much larger - market town in the novel.
The history of the ghost - the Woman's young son is sucked into a mud swamp in a carriage and she goes mad and dies of a 'broken heart' - is pretty overstated.
I could not believe my eyes when they used a motorcar to drag the carriage from out of the causeway, find the decomposing body of the boy, and place him in the house to 'reunite' him with the ghost and stop the hauntings.
Needless to say, it fails, but the original sad and understated, creepy story is somewhat flogged to death.
**SPOILERS END**
Still, if you don't know the story and just want a well-shot and scary horror movie, go see it. Personally, I think reading the short novel leaves a more lasting chill than the movie, despite the bloody good "jumps."
Finally, today I treated myself to an American approximation of the classic British dish, beans on toast. The beans tasted kinda sweet which was disappointing, but it suited my craving just about.
I got a very strange look from a person on the next table. They were clearly just jealous.
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