Casting The Runes is an adaptation of an M.R. James’ short made for television and aired in 1979 on ITV Playhouse. It is the tale of a Satanist who exacts his revenge on a book editor and then against a group of people who work for a television station which broadcasts a program that defaced his image. He somehow manages to bring them under his curse, a curse which gives them a limited amount of time left on this Earth before they die. How they die is the question. Can they find a way to destroy the curse before it’s to late or will the Satanist prove to be more then they can handle?

I think if you were born around the time this made for TV movie came out your going to be okay, but for those of us who have been spoiled by incredible special effects and caliber acting and writing, well, we might turn our collective noses up to this outdated farce. Headless heads wobbling like a bad movie projection on spinning globes, a floppy spider monster, a villain we hardly get to meet. As a short Twilight Zone episode it kind of works but I guess I was expecting something a bit more incredible. I guess back when the author first began writing his ghost stories this was revolutionary stuff but the execution of story here is bogged down by too much bad acting, bad special effects ( I know, revolutionary for their time as well), and a story that feels stinted by possibly time restraint. Assumption that our villain has such powers means nothing if it’s not delivered with a bit more malice then what we see on screen. In any case the results of his curses are more laughable then anything and by the time the film has ended I found myself actually rooting for a reboot. Again, if this was your generation, enjoy. For the rest of us, not so much. As always final judgment is yours.