Macbeth (1948)

Macbeth is the 1948 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play. This is directed by Orson Welles. Welles stars as Macbeth, and Roddy Macdowell is Malcolm. The play is abridged and altered for this movie, so this won't be a substitute for seeing the actual play performed.

Empire Online says, "A powerhouse performance from Orson Welles as the troubled Prince." Rotten Tomatoes critics average a score of 88%.

Bitter Grounds

Bitter Grounds is a 2003 Neil Gaiman short story. You can read it online here. It begins,

In every way that counted, I was dead. Inside somewhere maybe I was screaming and weeping and howling like an animal, but that was another person deep inside, another person who had no access to the face and lips and mouth and head, so on the surface I just shrugged and smiled and kept moving. If I could have physically passed away, just let it all go, like that, without doing anything, stepped out of life as easily as walking through a door, I would have done. But I was going to sleep at night and waking in the morning, disappointed to be there and resigned to existence.

Poison for the Fairies

Horror movies are not dangerous or evil like I've seen some people claim. Let's just get that out there where we can see it. Some horror movies may be about evil, but so also can film noir or children's movies or Bible stories or classic literature or mystery/detective films. Horror is a film genre that dates back to the beginnings of film, as horror stories date back to the beginnings of story-telling. Horror movies range from old silent animated comedy shorts to classic films that are psychological dramas or thrillers.

All of us have film preferences, but it can be hard to know where to start with a film genre you don't like the idea of and know nothing about. As I was with romantic comedies, so many people are with horror. I'd like to give a few examples of places to start with horror.

The Husband doesn't like horror in general, but he enjoys

• The Halloween Tree

and old monster movies like these:

• Dracula
• Frankenstein
• Bride of Frankenstein
• King Kong
• The Wolf Man
• The Mummy
• Creature from the Black Lagoon

and the seasonal comedies like these:

• The Haunted Mansion
• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• The Addams Family

The Daughter doesn't like horror in general but does like these:

• Picnic at Hanging Rock
• Carnival of Souls
• The Haunting
• Nightmare Before Christmas

The Younger Son doesn't like ghost stories but does like dark fantasy like these:

• Pan's Labyrinth
• City of Lost Children
• Coraline

I might also suggest one of these, being among my personal favorites:

• Cat People
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
• The Uninvited

Whether or not you share my particular hobbies, I'll invite you to join me in a seasonal cuppa and a pleasant visit with the T Stands for Tuesday bloggers.

Poison for the Fairies is a 1984 Mexican horror film. It has fairies, witches, and children, with a child being the most horrifying.

trailer:

The Spinning Image says, "This is an eerie and poetic children’s horror that really gets under your skin." Rotten Tomatoes has an audience score of 78%, so over 3/4 of critics gave it a positive review.

57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides

57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides is an award-winning 2013 horror short story by Sam J. Miller. You can read it online here. It begins,

1. Because it would take the patience of a saint or Dalai Lama to smilingly turn the other cheek to those six savage boys day after day, to emerge unembittered from each new round of psychological and physical assaults; whereas I, Jared Shumsky, aged sixteen, have many things, like pimples and the bottom bunk bed in a trailer, and clothes that smell like cherry car air fresheners, but no particular strength or patience.

2. Because God, or the universe, or karma, or Charles Darwin, gave me a different strength, one that terrified me until I learned what it was, and how to control it, and how to use it as the instrument of my brutal and magnificent and long-postponed vengeance.

Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Viktor Frankenstein is a 2015 film. It's the Frankenstein story told from the perspective of Igor, who is played by Daniel Radcliffe. We picked up the DVD used, because we're always up for another look at Frankenstein. Radcliffe does a wonderful job.

trailer:

The Lady's Maid's Bell

Edith Wharton (c. 1895)

The Lady's Maid's Bell is a 1902 short story, the first ghost story written by Edith Wharton. The story takes place beginning in October. You can read it online here. It begins with this,

It was the autumn after I had the typhoid. I'd been three months in hospital, and when I came out I looked so weak and tottery that the two or three ladies I applied to were afraid to engage me. Most of my money was gone, and after I'd boarded for two months, hanging about the employment-agencies, and answering any advertisement that looked any way respectable, I pretty nearly lost heart, for fretting hadn't made me fatter, and I didn't see why my luck should ever turn. It did though—or I thought so at the time. A Mrs. Railton, a friend of the lady that first brought me out to the States, met me one day and stopped to speak to me: she was one that had always a friendly way with her. She asked me what ailed me to look so white, and when I told her, "Why, Hartley," says she, "I believe I've got the very place for you. Come in to-morrow and we'll talk about it."

The next day, when I called, she told me the lady she'd in mind was a niece of hers, a Mrs. Brympton, a youngish lady, but something of an invalid, who lived all the year round at her country-place on the Hudson, owing to not being able to stand the fatigue of town life.

"Now, Hartley," Mrs. Railton said, in that cheery way that always made me feel things must be going to take a turn for the better—"now understand me; it's not a cheerful place i'm sending you to. The house is big and gloomy; my niece is nervous, vaporish; her husband—well, he's generally away; and the two children are dead.

You can have it read to you:

A Bay of Blood

A Bay of Blood (a.k.a. Carnage, Twitch of the Death Nerve, and Blood Bath) is a 1971 thriller/horror film directed by Mario Bava. There's an inheritance of land, fraud, and murder. This one is violent in a 1970s way -a machete-in-the-face way- so if you're squeamish take a pass. Also, there's some nudity.

Slant Magazine gives it 4 out of 5 stars. Horror News calls it "a “bridge film” as it bridged the gap between European thrillers and contemporary horror." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 80%.

The Breakfast

After Breakfast, by Elin Danielson-Gambogi

The Breakfast is a 1961 short story by Amparo Dávila. You can read it online here. It begins,

When Carmen came down to breakfast at the family’s usual hour of seven thirty, she hadn’t dressed yet, but was wrapped in her navy-blue bathrobe with her hair in disarray. This wasn’t all that caught the attention of her parents and her brother, though; it was her haggard face, with hollows around the eyes, like the face of someone who’s had a bad night or is very ill. She said good morning in an automatic way and sat at the table, nearly collapsing into her chair.

“What happened to you?” her father asked, studying her carefully.

Mill of the Stone Women

Mill of the Stone Women is a 1960 Italian horror film, the first filmed in color. It's about a 19th century art professor in Holland who is trying to keep his sick daughter alive. She falls in love with a visiting assistant who rejects her in favor of his childhood sweetheart.

Moria says,

What makes Mill of the Stone Women stand out is the colour photography and the production design. The mill’s most striking set-piece is the carousel where we see mannequins moving around in a circuit depicting various tableaux of witches at the stake, women being hung, poisoners and a representation of Kali. These are vivid and striking.

DVD Talk calls it "an artfully contrived horror concoction". ClassicHorror.com says, "This neglected gem is a masterwork of gothic terror that deserves to be ranked among the highlights of a decade filled with macabre Italian delights."

The Wizard of Oz

I remember the first time I saw this movie. I was quite young, sitting next to my younger sister in Daddy's brown Naugahyde (remember Naugahyde?) recliner in front of the television. I didn't make it past the wicked witch's ride past the window:

It was years before I made it through the entire film. It's definitely a horror movie, and you'll not convince me otherwise. The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 film very loosely based on the L. Frank Baum book. 17-year-old Judy Garland was much too old to play 11-year-old Dorothy as she's depicted in the book. You can read it online or listen to it read to you. The book begins,

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cooking stove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole, dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap-door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.

Here's the film's trailer:

We have this on DVD, and I don't know if they still broadcast it on TV every year. It looks like it can be rented on Youtube and Google Play. Everyone should see it at least once, and October's a good month for horror.

I think I'll have a cozy cuppa while I watch a seasonal flick:

Please join me over at the T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering, where we share a drink.

Dracula

Dracula is a book written by Bram Stoker. It has inspired many another book and countless films. You can read it online here. It begins,

CHAPTER I

JONATHAN HARKER’S JOURNAL

(Kept in shorthand.)

3 May. Bistritz.—Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish rule.

We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem., get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl,” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I don’t know how I should be able to get on without it.

Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels with Mina.

In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (Mem., I must ask the Count all about them.)

I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window...

Here's a list of the vampire- and Dracula-related movies I have blog posts on:

1880s

Le Manior du Diable (1886)

1910s

A Fool There Was (1915)

1920s

Nosferatu (1922)

1930s

Dracula (Bela Lugosi, 1931)
Vampyr (1932)
The Vampire Bat (1933)
Mark of the Vampire (1935)

1940s

Dead Men Walk (1943)
House of Dracula (1945)

1950s

Dracula in Istanbul (1953)
The Horror of Dracula (1958)
Curse of the Undead (1959)

1960s

Blood and Roses (1960)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
The Vampire and the Ballerina (1960)
Samson vs the Vampire Women (1962)
Blood is the Color of Night (1964)
Planet of the Vampires (1964)
Dark Shadows (1966)
Queen of Blood (1966)
Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)

1970s

Count Dracula (1970)
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
The Night Stalker (1972)
Crypt of the Living Dead (1973)
Leptirica (1973)
Messiah of Evil (1973)
Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Blood for Dracula (1974)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1975)
Dracula (Louis Jourdan, 1977)
Martin (1977)
Fascination (1979)
Nocturna, Granddaughter of Dracula (1979)

1980s

The Hunger (1983)
Lifeforce (1985)
Vampire Hunter D (1985)
Near Dark (1987)

1990s

Bloodletting, the Vampire Song (1990)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Chronos (1993)
Nadja (1994)
The Addiction (1995)
From Dusk Til Dawn (1996)

2000s

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Trouble Every Day (2001)
Underworld (2003)
Van Helsing (2004)
30 Days of Night (2007)
The Burrowers (2008)
Let the Right One In (2008)
Blood Creek (2009)

2010+

Priest (2011)
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Harbinger Down

Harbinger Down is a 2015 science fiction/horror film. Following a pod of beluga whales in the Bering Sea, scientists discover a downed Soviet spacecraft that was part of a failed experiment to radiation-proof their cosmonauts. The creature effects were a nice change from all the digital effects I see. This film gets to the point and tells its story without getting bogged down in too much interpersonal drama. I like my science fiction/horror to have enough relationship exploration so that the characters are real people without so much that it distracts from the reason I'm watching this kind of movie to begin with. This has a nice balance.

You can watch it at tubi tv or here via Youtube:

Here's a trailer:

Horror Freak News calls it "a fun pic". Moria says, "[Director] Gillis is operating with a modest budget, nevertheless manages to produce a film that captures the essence of Carpenter’s The Thing far more so than any other challenger to date." Modern Horrors calls it "a solid film".

Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle is an 1819 short story by Washington Irving. This is one of those stories I assume everyone has read, yet I find many people are only familiar with it through video adaptations or abridged re-tellings. It's worth reading the story itself. You can read it online here, or here, or here. It begins,

A POSTHUMOUS WRITING OF DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER.

By Woden, God of Saxons, 

From whence comes Wensday, that is Wodensday,
Truth is a thing that ever I will keep
Unto thylke day in which I creep into
My sepulchre—
CARTWRIGHT.

[The following Tale was found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old gentleman of New York, who was very curious in the Dutch History of the province and the manners of the descendants from its primitive settlers. His historical researches, however, did not lie so much among books as among men; for the former are lamentably scanty on his favorite topics; whereas he found the old burghers, and still more, their wives, rich in that legendary lore, so invaluable to true history. Whenever, therefore, he happened upon a genuine Dutch family, snugly shut up in its low–roofed farm–house, under a spreading sycamore, he looked upon it as a little clasped volume of black–letter, and studied it with the zeal of a bookworm.

The result of all these researches was a history of the province, during the reign of the Dutch governors, which he published some years since. There have been various opinions as to the literary character of his work, and, to tell the truth, it is not a whit better than it should be. Its chief merit is its scrupulous accuracy, which indeed was a little questioned on its first appearance, but has since been completely established; and it is now admitted into all historical collections, as a book of unquestionable authority.

The old gentleman died shortly after the publication of his work; and now that he is dead and gone, it cannot do much harm to his memory to say that his time might have been much better employed in weightier labors. He, however, was apt to ride his hobby his own way; and though it did now and then kick up the dust a little in the eyes of his neighbors, and grieve the spirit of some friends, for whom he felt the truest deference and affection, yet his errors and follies are remembered "more in sorrow than in anger," and it begins to be suspected, that he never intended to injure or offend. But however his memory may be appreciated by critics, it is still held dear among many folks, whose good opinion is well worth having; particularly by certain biscuit–bakers, who have gone so far as to imprint his likeness on their new–year cakes, and have thus given him a chance for immortality, almost equal to the being stamped on a Waterloo medal, or a Queen Anne's farthing.]

Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains; and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.

At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the light smoke curling up from a Village, whose shingle roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape. It is a little village of great antiquity, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the province, just about the beginning of the government of the good Peter Stuyvesant (may he rest in peace!), and there were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow bricks, brought from Holland, having latticed windows and gable fronts, surmounted with weathercocks.

In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time–worn and weather–beaten), there lived, many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple, good–natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of Fort Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good–natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient henpecked husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation, and a curtain–lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long–suffering. A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing, and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.

Listen to the story read to you here:

This is the 1921 film adaptation:

Son of Frankenstein

Son of Frankenstein is a 1939 horror film, the third in the Boris Karloff Frankenstein franchise. Boris Karloff makes his last appearance as The Monster in this film. Bela Lugosi is wonderful as Ygor. Basil Rathbone plays Baron Frankenstein, Lionel Atwill is Inspector Krogh, and Ward Bond has an uncredited role. Donnie Dunagan, a noted child actor who was the voice of Disney's Bambi, plays the youngest Frankenstein. Dunagan has a Memphis connection.

trailer:

Variety has a review from the time of the film's original release, as does the New York Times.

Classic Horror says, "It's a solid chiller from the studio that really knew solid chillers." Den of Geek says, "Simply put – an absolute delight." DVD Talk opens with this: "This first non-James Whale Frankenstein film has a lot going for it, besides its powerhouse cast." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 91%.

Kecksies

Marjorie Bowen (1922)

Kecksies is a horror short story by Marjorie Bowen (1885-1952), who was a prolific author. It was written in the 1940s but not published until the collection Kecksies and Other Twilight Tales was released in 1976. You can read it online here. It begins,

Two young esquires were riding from Canterbury, jolly and drunk, they shouted and trolled and rolled in their saddles as they followed the winding road across the downs.

A dim sky was overhead and shut in the wide expanse of open country that one side stretched to the sea and the other to the Kentish Weald.

The primroses grew in thick posies in the ditches, the hedges were full of fresh hawthorn green, and the new grey leaves of eglantine and honeysuckle, the long boughs of ash with the hard black buds, and the wand-like shoots of sallow willow hung with catkins and the smaller red tassels of the nut and birch; little the two young men heeded of any of these things, for they were in their own country that was thrice familiar; but Nick Bateup blinked across to the distant purple hills, and cursed the gathering rain. “Ten miles more of the open,” he muttered, “and a great storm blackening upon us.”

Young Crediton, who was more full of wine, laughed drowsily. “We’ll lie at a cottage on the way, Nick — think you I’ve never a tenant who’ll let me share board and bed?”

He maundered into singing,

“There’s a light in the old mill, Where the witch weaves her charms; But dark is the chamber, Where you sleep in my arms. Now came you by magic, by trick or by spell, I have you and hold you, And love you right well!”

The clouds overtook them like an advancing army; the wayside green looked livid under the purplish threat of the heavens, and the birds were all still and silent.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Bride of Frankenstein is the 1935 sequel to the Boris Karloff Frankenstein movie. We have this in a box set that was issued on one of the anniversaries. I often see this mentioned as the best of this franchise, but I much prefer the original.

You can watch it online at Internet Archive. Here's a trailer:

It's #18 on The Guardian's list of best horror films of all time. Variety has a review from the time of the film's release, as does the New York Times.

Film Site calls it a "classic masterpiece". Horror News says, "Bride Of Frankenstein is one of the few genuine classics of the genre." Classic Horror says it's "the best horror film of the 1930s".

Roger Ebert has it on his Great Movie list. Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 100%.

Scoured Silk

Scoured Silk is a horror story written in the 1940s by Marjorie Bowen. During Octobers I focus on horror films and stories, and I'd like to share this one for T Stands for Tuesday, a blogger gathering where the posts must contain a drink reference. This is an excerpt from the story:

Her thoughts were quite vague and amounted to no more than a confused sense that something was wrong, but she lost her satisfaction in the tea-drinking and the pleasant company, and the warm room with the drawn curtains, and the bright fire, and rose up saying they must be returning

I'm having a seasonal hot beverage while I read these spooky stories. Join me? Perhaps the company will take the edge off the horror to come.

You can read the story online here. It begins:

This is a tale that might be told in many ways and from various points of view; it has to be gathered from here and there — a letter, a report, a diary, a casual reference; in its day the thing was more than a passing wonder, and it left a mark of abiding horror on the neighborhood.

The house in which Mr. Orford lived has finally been destroyed, the mural tablet in St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, may be sought for in vain by the curious, but little remains of the old piazza where the quiet scholar passed on his daily walks, the very records of what was once so real have become blurred, almost incoherent in their pleadings with things forgotten; but this thing happened to real people, in a real London, not so long ago that the generation had not spoken with those who remembered some of the actors in this terrible drama.

It is round the person of Humphrey Orford that this tale turns, as, at the time, all the mystery and horror centered; yet until his personality was brought thus tragically into fame, he had not been an object of much interest to many; he had, perhaps, a mild reputation for eccentricity, but this was founded merely on the fact that he refused to partake of the amusements of his neighbors, and showed a dislike for much company.

I'm typing on a new computer, and I can't tell you how happy I am we were able to take care of this issue without too much stress. I think I've managed to find everybody again, but I doubt I'll ever catch up *sigh*

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a 1943 film, 5th in the classic Universal Frankenstein series and a direct sequel to The Wolf Man. Lon Chaney, Jr. comes back as Wolf Man Larry Talbot and Maria Ouspenskaya returns as gypsy woman Maleva. Bela Lugosi is Frankenstein's Monster, Dwight Frye (a favorite around here) is a villager, and Lionel Atwill is the village's mayor. This isn't the best of the monster movies, but I'm a firm believer they should each be seen at least once.

Classic Horror opens with this:

From the first bubble of the elixir that forms the credits in chemical smoke to the last crash of the final battle of titans, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is quite a treat for the Universal fan. Not only do you get two exciting monsters for the price of one, but they're placed in a vigorous storyline that, while slight, is too much fun to dislike.

Empire Online says,

Silly but enormous fun, complete with gypsy musical numbers and an insane battle royal finish as the monsters rip each other apart while some loon dynamites the dam and the castle is swept away in a flood. This is one of the most-often excerpted films in movie history

DVD Journal calls it "stylishly effective, rollicking good fun". DVD Talk says it " is fast and fun and has some nice thrills". 1000 Misspent Hours calls it, "the beginning of the end for Universal in its role as America’s top horror studio." Rotten Tomatoes has an audience score of 55%, so over half of us like it, making it worth watching once anyway.

The Wedding Knell

The Wedding Knell is an 1837 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This story might be horrifying to the young and perhaps to those who have not come to a peaceful acceptance of death, but it's a solid story of one of life's truths brought to this elderly couple on their wedding day. A lost youth certainly doesn't mean that all is lost. My favorite quote: "The young have less charity for aged follies than the old for those of youth."

You can read it online here. It begins,

There is a certain church in the city of New York which I have always regarded with peculiar interest, on account of a marriage there solemnized, under very singular circumstances, in my grandmother's girlhood. That venerable lady chanced to be a spectator of the scene, and ever after made it her favorite narrative. Whether the edifice now standing on the same site be the identical one to which she referred, I am not antiquarian enough to know; nor would it be worth while to correct myself, perhaps, of an agreeable error, by reading the date of its erection on the tablet over the door. It is a stately church, surrounded by an inclosure of the loveliest green, within which appear urns, pillars, obelisks, and other forms of monumental marble, the tributes of private affection, or more splendid memorials of historic dust. With such a place, though the tumult of the city rolls beneath its tower, one would be willing to connect some legendary interest.

The marriage might be considered as the result of an early engagement, though there had been two intermediate weddings on the lady's part, and forty years of celibacy on that of the gentleman.

You can listen to it here:

The Snow Woman

The Snow Woman is a 1968 Japanese horror film directed by Tokuzô Tanaka. I enjoy the eerie nature of these sad ghost stories where there's no gore and nothing to make you jump. And that cold, snowy landscape is dramatic.