Bram Stoker Festival & Film: Trumbo

Yesterday, the annual Dublin Bram Stoker Festival went virtual. Whoopee! Several events happening over the weekend - and most seem to be free. One, I booked for yesterday evening - called Eternal, it's an immersive audio experience, designed for someone lying in bed, alone, with headphones on and the lights off. Woohoo, was looking forward to that! Something to do with how far you'd go to achieve eternal life - and of course, vampire-related, for the festival that's in it. I borrowed my mother's headphones - didn't have room to pack my own, when I moved back.

They advise you to start to prepare 20 minutes beforehand - certainly, it took me 10 minutes, and I had already installed the Darkfield Radio app, as instructed. Well, I did have to unpack the headphones, whose packaging was as tricky as you'd expect - they're new. You do have to allow the app time to "prepare" the event - oh, the suspense as the countdown clock ticked down. When the instructional voice comes on, you're advised, again, to lie on a bed on your own, in a darkened room. And to close other apps, and turn on Do Not Disturb on your phone. Interestingly, you're also advised to have space in the bed, to your left..

As you'd expect for something that insists on headphones, this immersive experience has sounds coming from specific angles - you really do need the headphones. And yes, there does appear to be someone in the bed, to your left.. although he moves around. It's only 20 minutes long, but oh wow, that's quite enough! The scariest part is - you're not supposed to open your eyes. The instructional voice recommends, if you think you'll be tempted to open your eyes, that you use a blindfold. And let me tell you, it is terrifying to lie there for 20 minutes, as realistic sounds appear to come from different parts of the room, and not be able to open your eyes.. if there really had been a door in my room where the sounds indicated there were, crikey, I'd have been even worse!

Let me assure you, I was creeped out for a long time afterwards. Very, very eerie - as they say, not recommended for those of a nervous disposition. Four more shows this evening, and again tomorrow - and I highly recommend it for horror fans! Darkfield also has a couple of other shows running, for couples - again, had I someone to try them with, I'd love to experience those myself too.. And just as I took off the headphones at the end, wouldn't you know it, my mother was making noises in the bathroom next door, and I hardly knew whether they were real. Timing!

Another spooky thing to do for Hallowe'en is Paranormal Researchers Ireland's livestream from Loftus Hall, advertised as Ireland's most haunted building. €9.99 covers you for the weekend, and I've signed up. In fact, they're streaming right now - and it's quite spooky watching t cameraperson explore dark and deserted hallways - glad I did this. They're going interactive from 9 tonight, apparently, so you can tell them what to ask the ghosts.

Later last night, it not being Hallowe'en yet, I watched a non-horror on the telly. I'd never seen Trumbo, but was always interested - Bryan Cranston, in the most serious role I've ever seen him play, is the real-life Hollywood screen writer who's blacklisted and imprisoned in the 40s for his left-leaning political views, under the House Committee of Un-American Activities. They think he's planning a Communist insurrection, you see. Diane Lane is his faithful and supportive wife, Helen Mirren an influential gossip columnist and staunch supporter of the Committee.

It's really interesting - it is truly terrible to see how writers, among others, were blacklisted and unable to find work - through sheer prejudice. Trumbo, in particular, who continued to write under an assumed name after his release from prison, won two Oscars that he couldn't even openly acknowledge until years later! It wasn't until the more enlightened days of the 60s that he could reveal that he had really written the script for Roman Holiday..!

Afterwards, back to the Bram Stoker Festival, and another couple of (free) audio clips - I tried Dracuha, a compilation of specially commissioned spooky stories, set in Dublin, by different writers, and Warmbloods, a tour of some items in the National Gallery of Ireland, courtesy of two lady vampires. Pictures are included. Mainly jokey, these were very enjoyable - I still have things to check out in the Bram Stoker Festival, and will give it another look tonight.

I also decided to check out the Raindance site - this is an annual film festival in London, which this year has gone partly online. What's available seems to be in the short film categories, and is free. Anyway, I registered for the mailing list, and got an email today about a livestreamed horror film - started late because of technical difficulties, running right now. Check the festival out.. runs till the 7th.

What I must also do is watch the concert we were reminded of at the last minute, courtesy of the World Music Meetup, which took place on Thursday at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. A sell-out, apparently, and now available at several different links.

And after all that, on Monday, wooo.. the Crick Crack Club is celebrating the Day of the Dead with a livestreamed show featuring just about everybody! I booked my ticket weeks ago.. it's listed as Tuesday on the site, which is a misprint. I think it's being broadcast from Bristol. They just sent me my Zoom link.