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Kensal Green Cemetery

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During a recent visit to London, a friend and I decided to explore Kensal Green Cemetery in the west of the city. Founded as the General Cemetery of All Souls by barrister George Frederick Carden in 1833, Kensal Green was inspired by the garden-style cemetery of Pere-Lachaises in Paris. Comprised of 72 acres of beautiful grounds, it was not only the first commercial cemetery in London, but also the first of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ garden-style cemeteries established to house the dead of an ever-increasing population. Campaigners for burial reform were in favour of “detached cemeteries for the metropolis” and in 1832 Parliament passed a bill that led to the formation of the General Cemetery Company to oversee appropriate measures and procedures concerning “the interment of the dead.” The company purchased land for the establishment of Kensal Green in 1831 and held a competition in order to select an appropriate designer. Among the prerequisites in the brief provided to entrants, we...
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The Ash Tree

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1975 Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark Part of the BBC’s annual series A Ghost Story for Christmas , which ran from 1971 to 1978 and featured some of the small screen’s most chilling moments, The Ash Tree was the last of several MR James adaptations directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Written for television by David Rudkin, It stars Edward Petherbridge in the dual role of Sir Richard, an 18th century aristocrat who inherits the vast estate of his late uncle, and of Sir Matthew, his 17th century ancestor whose role in local witch trials, and the death of Ann Mothersole (Barbara Ewing), haunts Sir Richard.  With a slim running time (just over 30 minutes) The Ash Tree is one of the shortest entries in the series, but it is also one of the densest. The amount of detail and information packed in, without compromising or diluting the impact of the source material, is admirable. Clarke manages to convey events and flashbacks by utilising an interesting narrative structure and some ...
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I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

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A year after they cover up their involvement in a fatal road accident, a group of friends are targeted by a mysterious, vengeful killer. In their desperation, the friends seek help from the survivors of a similar massacre from years before. The original I Know What You Did Last Summer   came hot on the heels of  Scream (1996) and was a huge hit in the late 90s. It was a taut, effective throwback to minimalist slashers of the 80s, and very much a part of the late 90s slasher film revival, unfolding as a compelling story of the (violent) end of innocence. It spawned a Bahamas-set sequel a year later, in which the murderous fisherman pursues surviving heroine Julie James and her friends to a tropical island retreat, and a further, unconnected supernatural sequel in the 2000s (the events of which are not part of the cannon established by the first film). The I Know films were never as critically acclaimed as the likes of Scream , but they were still slickly produced, effective s...
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