How comfortable are you with ambiguity?

[Guttersnipe]

I like ambiguity; it's what makes a horror story great. Too much detail has the (perhaps counter-intuitive) effect of boring me. I want a lingering dread, not a three-second shocker. Then again, overly ambiguous writing risks alienating the reader and the story can become incomprehensible.

 

[BAYLOR]

Ramsey Campbell's novel Midnight Sun succeeds at this. Also, Algernon Blackwood story The Willows.

 

[Fried Egg]

Perhaps Aickman was the king of ambiguity and I love his stories. He pointedly revels in ambiguity. But I believe it is too much for some people.

 

[Randy M.]

Perhaps Aickman was the king of ambiguity and I love his stories. He pointedly revels in ambiguity. But I believe it is too much for some people.

Good example. It also makes Aickman a writer I can't seem to read much of at one time. I need to gnaw on a story or two at a time before going on.

Randy M.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Me too. I used to hate Scooby Doo.

I liked the one where Scooby was actually a monster in a Scooby Doo mask

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. The ambiguity is never resolved, so the story creeps you out on two levels at the same time... (also the references to Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle create a sense of foreboding)

 

[sagonige]

I'm a BIG fan of ambiguity. I love the atmosphere of creepy books much more than the in-your-face style of writing. However, some stark horror is cool too. I just think that the ambiance and tone is more important. I'll remember the mood of a book for far longer than the plot.

 

[BigBadBob141]

I like my horror to be black & white (am but a simple soul), I hate ambiguity, it can drive me up the wall, sometimes I think it's just lazy writing or the author has painted him/herself into a corner and can't be bothered to think of a way out, or he/she is just being an annoying clever dick.
I live in a simple universe, where monsters are seen in plain daylight, and villains,come to a satisfyingly sticky end, after spending the time and energy reading a book or watching a film or series, only for it to not end properly, leaving everything plot wise open and unanswered is the height of frustration.
If you want to see what I mean watch "The Sopranos", the ending is as if the makers ran out of film and couldn't be bothered to carry on, compare that to the ending of " Breaking Bad" where all the important plot points are nearly tied up in the end, that is how things should be written!!!
P.S. Did you know that in the book "Doctor No" unlike the film (where he gets boiled alive in a water cooled nuclear reactor ) the villain is buried alive under a pile of dried bird poop, now thats what I call a sticky ending!!!

 

[BigBadBob141]

I meant neatly not nearly, damn you spell checker!!!!!!!!!

 

[paranoid marvin]

Either can work if done well. The musical build up is much more scary than the actual shark in Jaws, and in Aliens the beep-beep-beep on the gun monitor's really ramps up the tension before the aliens appear. But those films do show their 'monsters' so would be seen as unambiguous (but still scary).

Do we need to know the reason why the evil/monster/baddie goes on a killing spree? Well it helps in Dracula to have the background story, but in much of M R Jame's work, it helps the story to not know whether the supernatural being is real or simply a combination of coincidence and the narrator's overactive imagination.

And yes I agree that black and white horror is often better than colour. Night of the Demon is one of my favourite horror movies, and that would not be quite the same in colour. In relation to that movie, whilst the horror - when we eventually see it - is genuinely scary, Mr James original story is much more ambiguous and probably better for it. On a similar note, the film adaptation of Oh Whistle (also in b&w) is a great example of showing and not showing the horror that follows the protagonist.

 

[Phyrebrat]

the film adaptation of Oh Whistle (also in b&w) is a great example of showing and not showing the horror that follows the protagonist.

Yes, that Omnibus short is supremely good. Sir Michael Hordern's Parkins became the inspiration for one of my characters. The less said of the dreadful 2010 remake, the better IMO

pH

 

[paranoid marvin]

Yes, that Omnibus short is supremely good. Sir Michael Hordern's Parkins became the inspiration for one of my characters. The less said of the dreadful 2010 remake, the better IMO

pH

I genuinely don't know what they were thinking about by re-writing the story for the remake. TO be fair , some of the more recent adaptations of Ghost stories for Christmas (Number 13, View From a Hill, Tractate Middoth and - most recently - Martins Close) have all been very good, but Oh Whistle was incredibly poorly done, despite having a top actor in John Hurt.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I genuinely don't know what they were thinking about by re-writing the story for the remake. TO be fair , some of the more recent adaptations of Ghost stories for Christmas (Number 13, View From a Hill, Tractate Middoth and - most recently - Martins Close) have all been very good, but Oh Whistle was incredibly poorly done, despite having a top actor in John Hurt.

Agreed! Tractate Middoth and View from a Hill are great.

 

[BigBadBob141]

I don't mind an open ending it there is to be a sequel, but at the end of the day I like to have all the loose ends tied up neatly.

P.S. Yes they made a real mess of "Whistle........." in the modern remake, some people just can't leave a good story alone, they have to mess with it and it never turns out right.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Recently I heard an adaptation of "Oh Whistle........" on the radio, it was very good, but unlike in the story the ghost speaks briefly at the end, the radio phonics workshop did an excellent job of creating a really creepy voice!
P.S. There is a lot of M.R.James material on You Tube, audio versions of the stories and some of the film's made by the BBC, my favorites are "Room 13" and " A View From A Hill".
P.P.S. Recently I stated that there was a very good Stephen King You Tube channel called S K Audio, it had some very good adaptations of his short stories that you can't find else where, sadly most of this channel has now been pulled/shut down, why I have no idea, maybe copyright reasons, but it's a great shame non the less.

 

[Phyrebrat]

P.S. There is a lot of M.R.James material on You Tube, audio versions of the stories and some of the film's made by the BBC, my favorites are "Room 13" and " A View From A Hill".

They are great! And even though they're more modern productions, they still retain that air of 70s-ness of the early AGSFC's. I think I'd have to say The Ash Tree is my favourite after Hordern's Oh Whistle. I'll get shot for this but my least favourites are Lost Hearts and A Warning to the Curious (!)

 

[paranoid marvin]

They are great! And even though they're more modern productions, they still retain that air of 70s-ness of the early AGSFC's. I think I'd have to say The Ash Tree is my favourite after Hordern's Oh Whistle. I'll get shot for this but my least favourites are Lost Hearts and A Warning to the Curious (!)

I agree about Lost Hearts, but A Warning I always enjoyed. The Michael Hordern audio readings are a real treat, as is the radio play adapted from Oh Whistle and telling the tale from a different perspective (again done by Hordern) - in fact it may be the version BigBadBob141 listened to.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Recently I heard an adaptation of "Oh Whistle........" on the radio, it was very good, but unlike in the story the ghost speaks briefly at the end, the radio phonics workshop did an excellent job of creating a really creepy voice!
P.S. There is a lot of M.R.James material on You Tube, audio versions of the stories and some of the film's made by the BBC, my favorites are "Room 13" and " A View From A Hill".
P.P.S. Recently I stated that there was a very good Stephen King You Tube channel called S K Audio, it had some very good adaptations of his short stories that you can't find else where, sadly most of this channel has now been pulled/shut down, why I have no idea, maybe copyright reasons, but it's a great shame non the less.

Yes, A View From a Hill is possibly my favourite too (after Oh Whistle of course). There is a newer one called Martin's Close which I'm not sure is on YT, and in a similar vein to MR James there is a BBC adaptation of The Signalman which is very good indeed.

I think what endears me to Hordern's television screening of Oh Whistle is that he makes the tale his own (even though it is faithful to the source material) ; that and the fact that I see more than a little of myself in Hordern's characterisation - for good or bad.

 

[HareBrain]

I think what endears me to Hordern's television screening of Oh Whistle is that he makes the tale his own (even though it is faithful to the source material)

I remember there's a brilliant line in it which isn't in the original story, but which for me made the whole thing more chilling. Alas, I can't quite recall what it is, but that's a good excuse to watch it again.

 

[Toby Frost]

I used to watch the MR James stories every Christmas eve when I was young. I remember the ending of "Abbot Thomas' Treasure" as being very scary, where a hooded figure approaches the narrator - and the film cuts.