The Tractate Middoth (2013)

The original collection of stories from the Seventies on the whole were great productions, each penned by the great M. R. James, sad;y they came to an end, thankfully in 2013 Mark Gatiss decided to adapt The Tractate Middoth. It is a super smart story, so much is crammed into the limited thirty five minute running time. It's slick, eerie, and best of all manages to capture the DNA of the original episodes, it could have easily been a failed bolt on to the series, but it feels very much a part of it. The acting is terrific, John Castle and Sacha Dhawan in particular give superb performances. The direction is slick and the special effects pretty good also. There is a great twist in the ending, it feels like it could have easily come from the Seventies. Really enjoyed, 8/10

The Tractate Middoth is one of James's weaker stories and although I was looking forward to a recent adaptation of his work I was surprised that this was the story Gatiss chose.Unfortunately, despite really wanting to like this, I found it absolutely dreadful. I really thought Gatiss would come up with something good but the whole thing reeked of a student production. The acting was horrid by everyone involved other than the lead and the way it was directed was very poor, significantly the end sequence with the ghost. The whole thing felt like a horrible cliché with no thought given to atmosphere or originality. The open-ending was just pure cheese. I also really wish Gatiss hadn't shown us the face of the ghost as it was totally ineffectual.I think if a 10 year old happened to watch this they might have found it enjoyable and grow up with vague fond memories of a ghostly short film at Christmas time (when it was screened) only to seek it out in adulthood and be eminently disappointed.A good example of how James's work should be adapted is Whistle and I'll Come To You from 1968, which is a fabulous, atmospheric, well made short film. And of course there is the brilliant Night of the Demon (1957). The Tractate Middoth pales in comparison.

From actor, writer and director Mark Gatiss is an adaptation of a short ghost story from M R James whose previous ghost stories used to be a staple at BBC adaptations in the 1970s around Christmas.Gatiss better known as a performer with The League of Gentlemen and as writer on Doctor Who and Sherlock is an aficionado on horror and Victorian literature.This is short simple, spooky tale. It has very little by way of tricks or fancy visual gimmicks. You have familiar British stalwarts from Roy Barraclough, Una Stubbs to John Castle with Sacha Dawan playing an earnest Librarian in 1950s set Oxbridge whose disposition gets rather nervous after a spectral encounter when looking for a book in Hebrew.Some might find the adaptation flat or uninspiring but it misses the point. Its a throwback to the old days when you had a plain ghost story told in a straightforward manner and still provides a few chills.

I always enjoy a good ghost story, but having only intermittently watched these intermittent BBC Christmas schedule fillers over the last four decades can't consider myself a genre expert. And this one is also based on one of M. R. James' lesser short stories that I've not read. My reading of horror short stories peaked with H. G. Wells' The Cone and my appreciation of horror films hasn't progressed beyond Night Of The Demon.Rather serious young male student helping out at university library is asked by a mysterious hopeful borrower for a copy of Hebrew book The Tractate Middoth – which apparently merely relates to the measurements of a temple – but is thwarted twice by uncanny events. The fabulous title might have been less impressive sounding if the book had been even more mundane, however it's what has been enclosed within the pages by a dying man and what it's worth that is the McGuffin. Suspend belief because! The uncanny events lead to the student's nervous breakdown, complemented by a breathtakingly outrageous plot contrivance and on the way to the (apparently faithful) trite but swift conclusion there's more unsettling spooky moments. This is my key experience of James: there always has to be a couple of unsettling spooky moments in his stories, and Mark Gatiss as writer/director gets this requirement over well. Acting and production were high quality; my cleverer daughter gave it a thumbs up although niggled by the updating of the setting to the 1950's. The programme was lean and slick and all I'd hoped, expected and desired, overall imho a good directorial debut by Gatiss who appears to be swarming all over the BBC at present. If only for the sake of continuing a good BBC Christmas tradition I can only hope it leads to many more James' from him!