These disturbing experiences live on as stories only that still rank the finest works of the folk horror genre. They do not lose their spooky impact a hundred years on. One fine example is the story ‘Casting the Runes’ which was adapted into a film ‘The Night of the Demon’ (1957) and while it looks dated now in black and white, it still has the power to give people the shivers at the end. There s a careful build up to the last scene on the train involving the accepting of the paper Rune curse. The character of the occultist Mr. Julian Karswell is very likely modelled on Aleister Crowley about whom James would have heard a lot in the early 20th Century. Many modern horror scriptwriters and film directors and could really learn a lot from the slow and authentically 'managed crescendo' of M.R. James’ work.
Others like Bill Wallis go along with Gatiss and say that his stories were his own 'unlived' life, his own personal catharsis replete with sexual symbolism as these experiences tend to be described as 'hot' 'pink' 'clammy', 'sticky', 'horny' and 'hairy'. This could help explain why he always resisted the pressure of his father- the heroic Leo struggle- for him to become a priest. James had no 'patience' for sex scenes in ghost stories and he was probably right. But it lurks off stage somewhere in the shadows.
Actor Christopher Lee, one of the finest ever to embody the role of Dracula and who was actually interviewed by M.R. James himself at Eton, said the James' stories were so real they were like a "wall of terror than enveloped you" and that James was even a better writer than Bram Stoker as he managed to create a sense the evil is present lurking in the most everyday events where people are 'undisturbed by forebodings' until of course it is too late.
