The Christmas season is as much about joy as it is about death (especially as it relates to the year’s end). The British have made peace with this for a while now and have embraced ghost stories as an integral part of the festivities. From Dickens to M.R. James and the subsequent BBC Christmas horror anthologies, the closing month of the year just feels like a fitting time to reflect on the things we’ve lost just as much as the things we’ve gained. There’s nothing better than a ghost story to reflect on this, and Shudder, Severin Films, and filmmaker Kier-La Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror) want in on it.
In comes The Haunted Season, an annual Christmas horror anthology that will release one new episode every December on Shudder. It follows in the tradition of the UK’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series, which also follows the same release schedule. The new tradition begins with a moody and very British tale called “To Fire You Come at Last,” directed by Sean Hogan (The Devil’s Business).
The story, shot in black and white, follows a group of men in rural 17th century England who set out to bury the son of the man who brought them together for the task. They have to bring the son’s coffin to the cemetery by hand. The four men start revealing damning things about one another, heightening the tension between them, until a ghost and more than a few odd happenings start driving them closer to a terrifying end.
“To Fire You Come at Last” does a good job of establishing the series’ identity. The focus lands squarely on intimate character work and how the secrets between the people involved open doors for tortured ghosts to come through. Given each line of dialogue has the potential to sow discord among the four men, the story values buildup above all else for its horror to land. Essentially, a game of dark revelations unfolds until the ghost becomes a violent inevitability. It’s an ode to the classics that should satisfy fans of Victorian-era horror literature and early 20th-century ghost stories.
This first entry, in what I hope becomes a years-long run for The Haunted Season, also succeeds in creating the ominous atmosphere that seasonal ghost stories are known for. You can feel the cold that lashes against the characters, and you’ll catch yourself clutching the sheets for warmth as the trek to the cemetery extends further into the night. It all works to place you rather quickly in that 17th century mindset, where superstition had more purchase and people held on to their fears more publicly.
All that said, the dialogue can be somewhat tedious as every other line features some old British saying or word play that tries too hard to capture the times. It can turn things into a caricature of old England, though never to a damning degree. This extends to the performances, which can go overboard in parts. Also, the parting shot of the episode was not entirely necessary and even felt a bit out of place. None of these things ruin the experience, but they’re noticeable.
Christmas ghost stories aren’t specifically about Christmas. They’re about the elements that surround the season. Isolation, cold, decay, near-empty houses, pesky family secrets, hauntings, and locked doors holding terrible secrets are what make these types of tales. The Haunted Season proves to be a reliable vehicle for these things, earning its spot among the other horrors that come out to haunt us in the very last month of the year. Here’s to many, many more.
