Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The zombie is maintaining strength into 2016 with the awaited return of The Walking Dead in Spring also. 

 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies appears to be following the trend of the grotesquely rotting corpse; as opposed to a pale and wide eyed animated body as in their earliest risings, or simply a bleeding viral victim as in 28 Days Later (2002.  

I'm particularly intrigued by how skin will be treated in the film and to what extend the bodies 'rot' - or as in Warm Bodies (who took a step back from the 'rotting' likely because it's probably a step to far to fall for a guy with a weeping eye socket) the 'zombification' is more stylised when romance is also at play. 

So, really hoping that early reviews are correct and that the film is as good as I am hoping it will be - or at least interesting enough that I will have lots to say about it!

Vernon Lee

I've been re-reading Lee's Hauntings and I REALLY recommend them. 

My favourite story in particular is 'Oke of Okehurst' about a painter commissioned by a couple to paint their portraits (shockingly!).  Once he arrives he is immediately stuck by the wife, Alice who always seems as if she is in a distant place and mercilessly teases her husband (who is also her cousin, of course) about a murder committed by their ancestors who also share their names.  Alice is enthralled by their family's history and even dresses in her ancestor, Alice Oke's clothing- much to the annoyance and concern of her young husband.  

I won't spoil the end of the story but it is a ghost story, although it makes you consider whether the ghosts are that of the past, or of our own making. 

The use of clothing as masquerade, as costume, as heirloom and as haunted item is really interesting to me and it is one of things I'm looking at in my research.  

This is the version I'm reading from; I like this one because it has a fantastic introduction by Patricia Pulham and Catherine Maxwell (you should also read Pulham's book on Art and the Transitional Object in Lee's fiction - the chapter 'Madonna Portraits and medusa Mirrors' should draw you in alone!).  Also there are some interesting essay snippets at the back, one by Lee herself writing about the Supernatural in Art. 

If anyone else has any recommendation of stories/articles/books, gothic/ghost/creepy clothing or otherwise, I would love you to share them! 

-- I've also not forgotten about Vampire Knight and I'm going to try and get a few more episodes in this weekend with a mid-season review!