The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureCinema

Mystery & Imagination: A gothic double bill at the BFI

Mystery & Imagination: A gothic double bill at the BFI
6 November 2013
Laura Jorden
Avatar
Laura Jorden
6 November 2013

As part of the BFI’s enthralling Gothic: The Dark Heart of Cinema season, a pair of very different Bram Stoker related features were screened. The first was the 1970 Thames Television feature The Curse of the Mummy, based on Bram Stoker’s lesser known 1903 horror novel The Jewel of the Seven Stars.

The intelligent adaptation was preceded by an absorbing introduction from its acclaimed writer John Russell Taylor. After a slightly dated opening, the tale of archaeologist Abel Trelawny’s dangerous plot to resurrect powerful Queen Tara of Egypt (who bears an uncanny resemblance to his daughter Margaret) unfolds with pace and charisma. The talented cast is persuasive, including Patrick Mower (now known to millions as Emmerdale’s Rodney Blackstock). The late renowned Scottish actor Graham Crowden gives a particularly compelling performance as archaeologist Abel.

Following a brief round of applause to acknowledge the tremendous work of Russell Taylor, Nightmare: The Birth of Horror by Professor Christopher Frayling was shown – a rivetingly revealing episode from the BBC’s 1996 documentary series exploring the life and inner worlds of legendary Dracula creator Bram Stoker.

Frayling’s engaging style is both incredibly informative and hugely enjoyable as he traces Stoker’s fascinating mental and physical footsteps, from a recurring sexually charged nightmare that would become a bedrock chapter in his blood-soaked novel, to his avid interest in extraordinary European folklore discovered in obscure library books. Even Stoker’s family vacations to places like the ancient northern seaside town of Whitby, where he was told strange tales by the sailors, became drops of inspiration and vital plot points in later works. He kept meticulous notes of his seemingly random ideas, so it is possible to see the fragments falling into place over the six years as he began to weave those obscure elements, ideas and myths into his classic horror masterpiece published in 1897. 

Stoker’s impact on popular culture is unprecedented: he sired an entire industry, his cloak-wearing fanged Count laying down the rules for a whole genre of un-dead still thriving today. Without Stoker there would be no Twilight or a need for any of his immortal “children of the night” to keep a diary.

BFI’s marvellously macabre season features re-released classic screenings and many enthralling events, with plenty to sink your teeth into.

Laura Jorden

The BFI’s series Gothic: The Dark Heart of Cinema is on at various venues nationwide over the coming months, for further information or to book visit here. 

Related Items

More in Cinema

Assassins: Exclusive new clip

The editorial unit
Read More

Schemers

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

The Queen of Black Magic

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

Coded Bias

★★★★★
Ghazaleh Golpira
Read More

The Capote Tapes

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Dig

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Filmmaker’s House

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Assassins

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Synchronic

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • The Capote Tapes
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Assassins: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Schemers
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Away: An interview with animator Gints Zilbalodis
    Interviews
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Andrea Begley at Union Chapel | Live review
Halloween Slaughter House Hospital hosts new music at Proud Camden | Live review