Haunted Season: The Occupant of the Room, on Shudder

You would think Algernon Blackwood would be the BBC’s favorite ghost story writer, since he worked for the broadcaster in the late 1930s. Instead, M.R. James has been their go-to for their annual A Ghost Story for Christmas seasonal series. However, this is Shudder’s yearly holiday horror anthology, Haunted Season. Blackwood finally gets a well-deserved adaptation that isn’t “The Wendigo” when Kier-La Janesse’s “The Occupant of the Room” premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Who would want to vacation in a remote Swiss Alpine resort at the height of winter? Evidently, many folks do, because when Minturn arrives at the dead of night, he finds the inn is entirely booked. Technically, there is maybe one room, since the strange “English Woman” occupant hasn’t been seen since she left on a hike. Of course, he takes it. Its cold outside.

However, as Minturn settles in, the room seems to exert an unsettling influence over his state of mind. Something is wrong there, in some way related to the rightful occupant.

“Occupant” is an understated and elegant ghost story, very much in the structural and tonal tradition of The Yellow Wallpaper, or Repulsion, while maintaining its refined British sensibilities. It is a slow-builder that makes good use of its full half-hour running time. This is definitely Janesse’s best work as a director so far (especially since her folk horror documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched largely repeated the same commentary, repeated over and over).

Don McKellar freaks out nicely as Minturn, in an aptly restrained and British kind of way. Also, Ben Petrie and Delphine Roussel are suitably creepy, but without overindulging, as the hotel’s porter and proprietress. Indeed, the disciplined approach displayed by Janisse and the small ensemble are quite impressive, but the production might be too classy for horror fans more accustomed to Art the Slasher Clown.

Regardless, “The Occupant of the Room” is better than several of the BBC’s more recent installments of A Ghost Story for Christmas. There are subtle elements that require the viewer’s full attention, but that is a good thing. The wintery setting also shrewdly emphasizes its ‘seasonal” appropriateness. Highly recommended, “The Occupant of the Room” starts streaming tomorrow (12/1) on Shudder.