The best supernatural horror flick I've seen in 40 years

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2015)

Most critics allude to young writer/director David Robert Mitchell's gem as having "borrowed" from previous teen slasher movies such as Halloween etc. I beg to differ, I suspect the author marches to the beat of a very different drummer. Perhaps David Rose's 1988 "Paperhouse" was an influence, in the way its supernatural happenings follow a rigidly structured contextual logic? But I also wonder if the director ever read works by Dr M.R. James? I see many ideas from the late M.R. James's tales in the plot structure. "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad": a terrifying ghost comes after a hapless professor through an artifact discovered in the ruins of a templars' preceptory. "Canon Alberic's Scrap Book" a sacristan rids himself of a malevolent demon by selling priceless manuscripts to an unsuspecting collector. "Casting the Runes": the victim narrowly escapes death by surreptitiously returning the runic manuscript to its perpetrator. "A warning to the Curious": the vindictive ghost tricks his victim into following him to his doom by imitating his two companions. Few young authors get it so right so early in their careers; Mitchell has the keen instinct to avoid all the usual plot clichés, gratuitous boo moments and silliness that have ruined 99% of those unwatchable failures of this genre. I enjoyed this movie so much, I'm almost tempted to try my hand at writing a script of my own.