Film Review: SO LONG AT THE FAIR (1950) **** out of *****

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© Gainsborough Pictures

Reportedly admired by Hitchcock, who later adapted it twice for his TV show, Hitchcock Presents, So Long At The Fair (1950) is a highly effective period thriller.

The plot is a familiar one by now, variations of it appearing in many movies and TV shows, most famously in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). A young woman, Vicky, and her brother Johnny, travel to late 19th century Paris to attend the Exposition Universelle. Shortly after arrival, Johnny feels ill and retires to his hotel room early. The next day, Vicky wakes up to discover that her brother is nowhere to be found, his room gone, and that no one in the hotel seems to remember him ever being there. Has she gone mad, or is there something more sinister at play?

Fans of Hitchcock, and classic mystery fiction for that matter, will probably guess the solution to the puzzle long before the credits roll. But directors Terence Fisher and Anthony Darnborough keep things moving at such a brisk pace and with such technical elegance, that even if the viewer knows the outcome, the film remains absorbing and suspenseful. Most of the weight lies on Jean Simmons' shoulder as Vicky, and she handles it with aplomb, even if aspects of her performance are a bit of their time. And Cathleen Nesbitt as Madame Hervé, the conniving hotel owner, is a terrific villain. A young Dirk Bogarde is unimpressive, not having yet blossomed into the British art-house icon he would become in the 1960s and 70s.

Co-director Anthony Darnborough mainly worked as a producer throughout his career, but Terence Fisher would later become the wizard behind some of the best British Horror films of all-time, with his groundbreaking work with the iconic Hammer Studios, and elements of his controlled, visually fluent style are present here.

Even if the ending doesn't have the impact it should after more than an hour of superbly crafted build-up, So Long At the Fair remains a terrific thriller, and with a running time of just over 80 minutes, is a fast-paced watch. Highly recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Introducing THE DARK FANTASTIC PODCAST

If you're a constant visitor to this website, then you know it's dedicated to all things movies, books, and TV, especially hidden gems in all genres.

We have now launched The Dark Fantastic Podcast, an expansion of what is featured on the site, with exclusive audio short stories, and interviews with writers, filmmakers, and creators in all fields.

This latest episode, features Ahmed Khalifa talking about why he thinks Dean Koontz is, in some ways, better than Stephen King; a brief history of pulp fiction's greatest character, The Shadow; and an exclusive interview with author Will Murray, whose latest book, Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow, is out now. Enjoy!

Listen to "Episode 2: Dean Koontz Returns and The Shadow Rises, W\Author Will Murray" on Spreaker.

THE OVERVIEW: Malignant (2021) - The Noise by James Patterson and J.D. Barker - L.A. Times by Stuart Woods

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The Overview: A collection of shorter reviews of books and movies.

© WB Pictures.

Malignant (2021) *** out of *****: It can’t be stressed enough how weird a movie Malignant is, and not in a good way. Directed and co-written by James Wan, the man who basically re-invigorated the horror genre in 2010 with his stylish and brilliantly inventive Insidious, Malignant is a movie that could only have been made by someone like Wan. Wan, thanks to his numerous billions-grossing blockbusters like Furious 7, The Conjuring series, and Aquaman, has the cache to arm-twist studios into giving him a few million dollars to make whatever he wants. Malignant is the result. It’s a fun movie, but it’s also self-indulgent to the point of silliness, and the climax is nothing short of ludicrous. The fault lies with the messy script - there’s almost zero characterization - and Wan’s operatic approach, an homage to the Giallo genre, which is gratingly flamboyant. A spectacular misfire.

Book Review: RODERICK HUDSON (1875) By Henry James **** out of *****

© Harper Classics

I first discovered Henry James as a teenager. After watching a film adaptation of The Turn of The Screw and becoming fascinated with the story, I bought a cheap TOR paperback copy of the novella, and devoured its prose with ever-increasing joy and awe. It was my first introduction to James, and, in turn, to fine literature. Reading Henry James for the first time is, for people of a certain temperament, an epiphany. His stylistic choices, command of atmosphere, uncanny psychological insight into his characters, and, above all, his restraint, is a marvel to behold.

Roderick Hudson (1875), what Henry James considers to be his first novel (although he'd written a short novel, Watch and Ward four years prior), is a joy to read. It might not be the best introduction to his work (Washington Square, or a collection of his short stories would serve that purpose better), but it is fascinating nonetheless. Reading it, particularly the first version, not the revised one Henry James did for the New York Edition, is akin to watching an artist admirably struggle to hone his craft in front of one's eyes.

At first, Roderick Hudson looks like a simple, even frivolous, tale about the rise and fall of the eponymous young sculptor. But like most of James' work, his book's plot are deceptive, beginning as one thing, and slowly morphing into another. Here, James, like Hudson, keeps refining his sculpture, adding layers, definition, detail. By the end of the book, the characters are fleshed out, their nuances laid bare, and their fates wonderfully unraveled.

Roderick Hudson is somewhat unique in James' oeuvre in that, here, he quite clearly loses control of the novel's tone more than once, veering into melodramatics typical of the era. Even the tragic ending, as effectively shocking as it is, is somewhat abrupt, flawed. In the 1907 preface to the New York revised edition, James criticizes Roderick Hudson, saying it lacks "verisimilitude" and that the "time-scheme" is inadequate. But these blemishes don't take away from the overall effect of the book, which is of a fascinating journey through the minds and hearts of three compelling characters: Hudson; Mallet, Hudson's benefactor; and Christina Light, who would reappear in James work as the Princess Casamassima.

Next, James would go on to write The American (1877), a better, more assured novel, with a splendid third act, and which benefits greatly from the lessons he learned writing Roderick Hudson.

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Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Book Review: STORIES. Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. *** and a 1\2 out of *****

I fell out of love with short story anthologies a long time ago. There are dozens of them published every year, and only a handful that are worth the paper they are printed on. The deciding factor, always, is the editor. Stories, an anthology of tales that span many genres, but with a special focus on the fantastic, and edited by author Neil Gaiman and author and veteran editor Al Sarrantonio, is, for the most part, one of the better ones.

In his introduction to the collection of stories, Neil Gaiman says that all good stories, regardless the genre, have to have this one factor: While turning the pages, the reader has to keep asking him/herself, "And then what happened?". Out of the 27 stories included here, 16 had me asking that question as I lost myself in the tales. 16 out of 27 ain't bad, right? So, in my book, that makes this collection a success.

Out of these 16 stories, stand-outs include "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains" by Neil Gaiman, a thrilling story of revenge and magic; "Unbelief" by Michael Marshall Smith, a clever little tale about a hitman, with a neat twist; "The Stars Are Falling" by the incomparable Joe R. Lansdale, a touching and highly atmospheric story about a man who returns from a war to discover that the life he left, including a loving wife and a son, no longer exists; "Polka Dots And Moonbeams" by Jeffrey Ford, a wonderfully weird tale about two lovers stuck in time, that hops genres with astounding ease; "Leif In The Wind" by Gene Wolfe, a disturbing Sci-Fi tale that manages to pull off in 13 pages what many writers fail to achieve in a novel; "The Therapist" by Jeffrey Deaver, a clever tale about a psychopath who thinks he's possessed; "Parallel Lines" by Tim Powers, an entertaining ghost story; "The Cult Of The Nose" by Al Sarrantonio, a superb psychological horror story, and the best tale included here; "Stories" by Michael Moorcock, a touching and compelling tale about the lives of writers; "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon"  by Elizabeth Hand, a wonderfully moving story about a group of friends who set out to recreate a film for a dying friend; and "The Devil On The Staircase" by Joe Hill, a frightening tale about a boy from a poor village who comes face to face with a devil, and how that encounter changes him forever.

So if you are in the mood for a bunch of good short stories, some of them true examples of the art form, then look no further. Stories is it.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2013 - 2021.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

The Dark Fantastic is sponsored by VHS Books:

Book Review: FORTITUDE By Hugh Walpole. **** out of *****

Reading Hugh Walpole is a strange and wonderful thing. Sometimes he's brilliant (The Prelude to Adventure), sometimes he's good (Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill), and sometimes he's barely passable (Jeremy). Fortitude (1913), Walpole's homage to the works and styles of Dickens and Henry James, is nearer to brilliant on that spectrum.

It follows the life of one Peter Westcott, from his boyhood to the onset of middle-age, tracking his attempt at transcending a hard life, including a disturbed, abusive father, poverty, and, ultimately, succeeding as an author. The plot is layered, sprawling, even meandering at times, but Walpole is at his most ebullient here, driving vigorously onwards through a breakneck narrative, pulling the reader with him.

I guess it would be considered sacrilege to call Fortitude as good, or even better than, a lot of Dickens' coming of age tales, but Walpole comes close. He also attempts to mimic James' psychological mastery, but here, he doesn't really succeed, although his characters are interesting enough, some even fascinating. The protagonist, Peter Westcott is a flawed character if ever there was one, and in the hands of a lesser, and less humane, writer, he would have been thoroughly unlikable, but Walpole makes him not only compelling, but sympathetic as well.

Aside from the sheer storytelling joy of Fortitude, with its twists, turns, and occasional forays into hackneyed melodrama, Walpole is aiming for something more, something higher. Like in this exchange between Westcott, after the successful publication of his first novel, and Henry Galleon, arguably a thinly disguised surrogate for Walpole's idol, Henry James. Galleon says to  the young author: "Against all these temptations, against these voices of the World and the Flesh, against the glory of power and the swinging hammer of success, you, sitting quietly in your room, must remember that a great charge has been given you, that you are here for one thing and one thing only ... to listen..." The whole of Galleon's speech, is sublime, in fact; and sublime is what Walpole, in his own flawed way, achieves with this novel.

Fortitude is unputdownable, moving, sensational, unabashedly melodramatic, somber, and, in the most surprising of ways, uplifting. A great book that deserves to be rescued from the shadows of obscurity.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

THE OVERVIEW: The Notch by Tom Holland - Trapped by J.A. Konrath - The City of The Dead (1960)

Introducing The Overview, a round-up of short reviews of movies, books, and everything in between.

The Notch by Tom Holland *** out of *****: Tom Holland, the Master of Horror behind Fright Night (1985), Child's Play (1988), Thinner (1996), among others, makes his fiction debut with The Notch, an entertaining if unremarkable novel of speculative fiction, about a ten year-old boy who appears out of nowhere, has the ability to heal and bring the dead back to life, and seems to have brought an apocalyptic plague with him. The high-concept plot starts promisingly enough, but soon falls into a kind of rhythm that is less than compelling. The large cast of characters is adequately drawn, but none are memorable, and the story doesn't really go any place special. But Holland is a born storyteller, and his short chapters keep one reading till the satisfying conclusion. But fans should know that, what The Notch isn't is a horror novel.