"How does a werewolf get onto the Yorkshire Moors? Why do the citizens of a remote village allow two American backpackers to walk to their doom? What is it like to be undead? John Landis' 1981 movie remains an unforgettable cinema experience. In this expanded version some twenty minutes of new story has been added, leading up to the violent and emotional climax on the streets of London. Reprising their roles from the movie, Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover and John Woodvine are reunited in this audio movie.
"A feminist film-maker and her crew visit the Suffolk coast to make a documentary about ghost story writer M.R. James. They hope to discover how an outwardly respectable bachelor could produce such disturbing horrors.
"Like one that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread, and having once turned round walks on, and turns no more his head; because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread.
Professor James Montague has recently published a book on witch trials and now he's suddenly an authority on the occult. Cranks queue up to interview him though the book is a work of social history. One rainy evening, while visiting his old friends Dr. John Rhodes and his wife, Laura, Montague tells them something that has been bothering him. Recently, he gave an interview on radio to what he was told would be an eminent authority in his own field. Instead, it was a five-star crackpot by the name of Dr. S. M. Gardini.
Montague became so irritated by Gardini that he called him crazy during the broadcast. This infuriated Gardini so much that he threatened to curse him, but oddly enough, a few days after the recording Gardini came around to Montague's to apologise. Before he left, Gardini gave James a book - a book that James would later come to realise masked a strange and inexorable curse: he has been 'hexed'.
That was a week ago. Since then, James has had trouble sleeping and having nightmares - the type of nightmares he hasn't had since he was a child. Told not to worry too much about it, Montague leaves to go home, though it's still pouring rain outside. But while walking home, James senses someone or something following him...
"The story of Faust, who sold his immortal soul to the devil in exchange for ultimate knowledge, has been re-imagined in a thousand different ways by writers, painters, film-makers and composers. Poet and singer Twm Morys investigates why we have been fascinated by this unlikely hero for the last five centuries.
"For the first time in over five years The League of Gentlemen comedy team reunite for a real life paranormal adventure spending the night in one of Britain's most haunted houses. Although this quartet of comedy writers and performers has been influenced by horror in book, stage and screen, they all remain sceptical concerning the existence of ghosts. By carrying out their own investigation they will either challenge or confirm their beliefs. Reece Shearsmith hosts the evening as he takes the team to Gloucestershire to visit The Ancient Ram Inn, a favourite location among ghost hunting groups.
The League of Gentlemen explore the reputedly haunted rooms of the house and take part in their very first ouija board session. Meeting a spirit medium, a psychic investigator and working with scientific equipment they examine the House's reputation and invite the spirits to appear - but would the spooks show up?
"The Vampire is dead, long live the Zombie. Natalie Haynes investigates our contemporary obsession with Vampires and Zombies from Buffy to the Walking Dead. She examines the various anxieties they express about food, addiction, sex and disease and talks to writers who've found themselves depicting these creatures in fiction. What happens when you put a vampire family in a semi in bradford? Do zombies know they are zombies? Why is an American High School the perfect setting for a Vampire slayer? The answer to all these and more as Natalie Haynes pits Vampires against Zombies.
"Glasgow's Southern Necropolis is an eerie place at the best of times but when two local policemen answered a call there in September 1954 they encountered a bizarre sight. Hundreds of local children, ranging in ages from 4 to 14, were crammed inside, roaming between the crypts. They were armed with sharpened sticks, knives stolen from home and stakes. They said they were hunting down "A Vampire with Iron Teeth" that had kidnapped and eaten two local boys.
The policemen dispersed the crowd, but they came back at sundown the next night and the next. The local press got hold of the story and it soon went national. There were no missing boys in Glasgow at that time, and press and politicians cast around for an explanation. They soon found one in the wave of American Horror comics with names like "Astounding Stories" and "Tales from the Crypt" which had recently flooded into the West of Scotland. Academics pointed out that none of the comics featured a vampire with iron teeth, though there was a monster with iron teeth in the bible (Daniel 7.7) and in a poem taught in local schools. Their voices were drowned out in a full-blown moral panic about the effect that terrifying comics were having on children. Soon the case of the "Gorbals Vampire" was international news.
The British Press raged against the "terrifying, corrupt," comics and after a heated debate in the House of Commons where the case of Gorbals Vampire was cited, Britain passed the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 which, for the first time, specifically banned the sale of magazines and comics portraying "incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature" to minors.
Writer Louise Welsh explores how the Gorbals Vampire helped bring the censorship of comic books onto the statute books.
