GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS ft. Kier-La Janisse's THE OCCUPANT OF THE ROOM

O come, you wandering spirits, and gather round the cinematic hearth on the longest night of the year, as we take part in the centuries-old tradition of GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS. In celebration of the winter solstice, 7th House, joined by their good friend Astraleyes—curator, publisher, and founder of the LA small press Bibliomancers—have conjured an evening of eerie yet creepily cozy tales for the screen. The night opens with a very rare theatrical presentation of two classic British adaptations, THE SIGNALMAN (1976) and STIGMA (1977), both directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the defining filmmaker of the BBC’s annual A Ghost Story for Christmas telly tradition, and culminates with a special screening of Kier-La Janisse’s new film THE OCCUPANT OF THE ROOM (2025)—her narrative film debut and a beautifully realized homage to the genre from the acclaimed author, filmmaker, and curator.

With roots reaching back to medieval times, the once-oral ritual of spine-tingling storytelling for dark winter nights was firmly forged on the page in the Victorian era by defining literary voices like Charles Dickens (whose spectral yuletide canon extends far beyond Scrooge), J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and M.R. James. Over a century later, these classic, creepy stories became a beloved annual television tradition through the BBC’s iconic, long-running A Ghost Story for Christmas broadcasts—which established their heyday in the 1970s with a remarkable run of adaptations by the series’ defining director Lawrence Gordon Clark.

THE SIGNALMAN is Gordon Clark’s chilling and evocative adaptation of Charles Dickens’ ghost story, set in a remote railway station. The film follows a narrator who meets a solitary, troubled signalman (played by Denholm Elliott - A Room with a View, Raiders of the Lost Ark), haunted by strange visions of a ghostly figure that seems to appear before tragic accidents on the tracks. In STIGMA, Gordon Clark creates a tense and atmospheric tale of psychological horror steeped in druidic mystery and ancient witchcraft—a story of obsession, paranoia, and strange visions set beneath the spectre of ancient standing stones. With their isolated settings and fog-shrouded landscapes, captured with cinematography rich in shadows and muted tones, Gordon Clark creates a mysterious mood of unease as the stories’ suspenseful melancholy and their haunting blur of reality and madness quietly mount.

The evening's finale, Kier-La Janisse’s THE OCCUPANT OF THE ROOM, is based on the classic chiller of the same name by Algernon Blackwood and tells the tale of a schoolteacher’s late-night arrival at a hotel in the Alps. Without a reservation, he is left with no option but to accept the room of a missing hotel guest—leading to a sleepless night full of strange and uncanny occurrences. A renowned film scholar whose written works include the indispensable compendium House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films and whose filmography features the definitive folk horror documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Janisse’s long-awaited narrative film debut exhibits her deep knowledge of the genre’s rich visual language and deliberately creepy pacing and an expertly commanded air of atmospheric eeriness. Starring renowned actor (Exotica, Last Night) and screenwriter (No Other Choice, Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould) Don McKellar, THE OCCUPANT... marks a remarkable debut, a welcome new entry in the Canadian horror canon and an affectionate nod to the Ghost Stories for Christmas subgenre.

Astraleyes says:

Get cozy and huddle with us on this dark, long wintry night as we celebrate a beloved yuletide tradition with a rare program of tales of quiet terror on the big screen!

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With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email [email protected].

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