Chris Halliday
- 22
- reviews
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- helpful votes
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The Conception of Terror: Tales Inspired by M. R. James - Volume 1
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: M. R. James, Stephen Gallagher, A. K. Benedict, and others
- Narrated by: Robert Bathurst, Tom Burke, Rosa Coduri, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
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A collection of four ghostly tales inspired by M. R. James: Casting the Runes, Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbott-Thomas and A View from the Hill.
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Brilliant modern ghost stories
- By Chris Halliday on 10-02-19
- The Conception of Terror: Tales Inspired by M. R. James - Volume 1
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: M. R. James, Stephen Gallagher, A. K. Benedict, Jonathan Barnes, Mark Morris
- Narrated by: Robert Bathurst, Tom Burke, Rosa Coduri, Alice Lowe, Pearl Mackie, Anna Maxwell Martin, Andy Nyman, Jeff Rawle, Reece Shearsmith
Brilliant modern ghost stories
Reviewed: 10-02-19
Being an M.R. James fan, I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy these reimagined classic tales. When I saw they were a Bafflegab production, any concerns evaporated. These are masterful modern ghost stories, told as full-cast audio dramas. Everything from the performances to the sound design is spot on. I’m very glad I didn’t listen to these in the dark.
Roll on Volume 2!
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
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The Dalek Audio Annual
- Dalek Stories from the Doctor Who Universe
- By: Terry Nation
- Narrated by: Nicholas Briggs, Louise Jameson, Matthew Waterhouse
- Length: 2 hrs and 32 mins
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The Daleks rampage in this collection of vintage stories from Terry Nation’s Dalek Annuals of the 1970s. Urgent message to all Anti-Dalek Force agents: the Daleks are coming! Defend yourself with The Dalek Audio Annual, packed with exciting tales of galactic terror, global invasion and the adventures of plucky human resistance fighters. Special ADF agents Nicholas Briggs, Louise Jameson and Matthew Waterhouse read five stories of battlefield reportage.
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Oops - bad purchase
- By C. A. Bailey on 14-01-19
- The Dalek Audio Annual
- Dalek Stories from the Doctor Who Universe
- By: Terry Nation
- Narrated by: Nicholas Briggs, Louise Jameson, Matthew Waterhouse
Dalek nostalgia from the 70s
Reviewed: 07-12-18
This took me back to the late 1970s, when Christmas meant hoping that Mum had bought me the latest Dalek annual (she did. Thanks Mum!), then diving into the colourful pages to devour these dark tales of the deadliest enemies of humanity. Without the presence of the Doctor, these stories often ended very badly for mankind, which somehow made them even more enjoyable.
This selection of stories and features from the annuals is a delight. Narrated by Nicholas Briggs, Louise Jameson and Matthew Waterhouse, there’s a lot to love here.
Highly recommended for Dalek fans of a certain age!
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Pilgrim: The Collected Series 1-4
- The BBC Radio 4 fantasy drama series
- By: Sebastien Baczkiewicz
- Narrated by: Paul Hilton
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
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The first four series of the original BBC Radio 4 fantastical drama series set in a world almost, but not quite, like our own. Paul Hilton stars as William Palmer, the immortal, reluctant and unthanked hero protecting mankind from an enemy they resist believing in: the Grey Folk. Thrilling, dark and contemporary, the dramas are set in a recognisable present day but one haunted by the folktales of the British Isles: drowned villages, changeling children, werewolves and unruly nature spirits.
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Pilgrim
- By gepocock on 19-06-16
- Pilgrim: The Collected Series 1-4
- The BBC Radio 4 fantasy drama series
- By: Sebastien Baczkiewicz
- Narrated by: Paul Hilton
Uniquely enchanting
Reviewed: 01-10-18
There’s nothing quite like PILGRIM; the tale of a cursed immortal forced to walk between the worlds of magic and men. That summary makes it sound like a dozen other urban fantasy stories, but the reality is very different. PILGRIM draws from the deep well of British folklore and mythology, filling its tale with characters simultaneously fantastical and believable. PILGRIM is beautifully written, cast, performed and produced, one of the masterpieces of BBC radio drama.
Very highly recommended.
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Bad Medicine
- By: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
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Dark Adventure Radio Theatre's Bad Medicine brings three classic tales of horror and medicine to life in a 1930s-style radio drama. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" and H.P. Lovecraft's stories "Cool Air" and "The Picture in the House" are brought to life by a talented cast of professional actors, exciting sound effects, and thrilling original music by Reber Clark.
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Superbly creepy stuff!
- By Chris Halliday on 30-09-18
- Bad Medicine
- By: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
Superbly creepy stuff!
Reviewed: 30-09-18
I’m a big fan of the HP Lovecraft Historical Society productions, and I’m thrilled to see them available on Audible. This one’s a bit of a departure, adapting three stories (two from Lovecraft, one from Poe), but it’s a great introduction to the HPLHS. Give it a try, then pick up the rest. You won’t be sorry!
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Return To Hell House
- By: Nancy A. Collins
- Narrated by: Jamie du Pont MacKenzie
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1927 the infamous millionaire occultist Emeric Belasco disappeared without a trace, leaving behind dozens of dead bodies in the rambling, isolated mansion known as Hell House. In 1931 a team of parapsychologists entered Hell House in order to solve the riddle of Belasco's fate, only to meet with horror, insanity and death.
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Not quite as good as the original tale...
- By Mrs A on 25-06-15
- Return To Hell House
- By: Nancy A. Collins
- Narrated by: Jamie du Pont MacKenzie
Great story, rushed performance
Reviewed: 18-06-18
I really enjoyed Nancy A. Collins’ prequel to Richard Matheson’s classic HELL HOUSE, but I really hope this eventually gets a proper audiobook production with a real voice actor one day. The reading of the tale was paced entirely wrongly, maintaining a mile-a-minute speed that robbed the story of much of its suspense. It deserves a more measured, nuanced reading to really capture the atmosphere and horror of Emeric Belasco’s hateful home.
Collins does great work with this tale, filling in the narrative spaces that Matheson chose to leave to be filled by our own imaginations, only Collins does the remarkable job of making it worse than we could have imagined. In this tale, Hell House really earns its name.
A truly chilling haunted house novella.
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The Great Martian War: Counterattack
- Martian Front Series
- By: Scott Washburn
- Narrated by: Ray Greenley
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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As the Martian force tries to consolidate their position in the US, President Theodore Roosevelt gathers the best scientific minds and industry leaders to meet the Martian challenges. Staking everything on a roll of the dice, a joint army-navy force are in the midst of developing a landship to win the war. The big question is if they can complete it in time.
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Simple but compelling
- By Chris Halliday on 25-05-18
- The Great Martian War: Counterattack
- Martian Front Series
- By: Scott Washburn
- Narrated by: Ray Greenley
Simple but compelling
Reviewed: 25-05-18
The Great Martian War novels, inspired by the war game All Quiet On The Martian Front, are written by Scott Washburn with a simple elegance that belies their origin. Ingeniously told from both the human and Martian viewpoints, these stories are full of heroism, tragedy and action. There are stirring battles, reversals of fate, and some fantastic technology - not all of it Martian. Ray Greenley does a fine job of bringing a huge cast of characters to life, giving each a unique voice
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Dracula
- By: Bram Stoker, Jonathan Barnes
- Narrated by: Mark Gatiss, Joseph Kloska, Deirdre Mullins, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
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When a young solicitor, Jonathan Harker, visits the heart of Transylvania - ostensibly to meet reclusive nobleman Count Dracula - he cannot begin to imagine what horrors might lie in store for him there...or the chain of events he will set in motion at Castle Dracula. Soon, Dracula's bloodlust spreads to England's shores, and Harker's fiancée, Mina Murray, becomes embroiled in his affairs.
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Great adaptation...
- By Stuart C on 20-02-18
- Dracula
- By: Bram Stoker, Jonathan Barnes
- Narrated by: Mark Gatiss, Joseph Kloska, Deirdre Mullins, Nigel Betts, Rupert Young, Katy Manning, Alex Jordan
Bloody good!
Reviewed: 05-02-18
Despite being a fan of Big Finish I’ve been reluctant to pick this up. I should have my head examined. It’s an excellent adaptation, remarkably faithful to the book, with a great script and cast, and Big Finish’s usual high-quality sound design. Recommended.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Blood on Satan's Claw
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Mark Morris - adapter, Piers Haggard, Robert Wynne-Simmons
- Narrated by: Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Thomas Turgoose, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
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Seventeenth-century England, and a plough uncovers a grisly skull in the furrows of a farmer's field. The skull disappears, but its malefic influence begins to work in insidious ways upon the nearby village of Hexbridge. First, the cows stop milking and the fruit turns rotten on the trees. Then, an insolent ungodliness takes hold of the local children, mysterious fur patches appear on limbs and people start disappearing.... Something evil is stirring in the woods.
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Folk Horror at it's best. A stellar adaptation.
- By Film Lover on 17-01-18
- Blood on Satan's Claw
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Mark Morris - adapter, Piers Haggard, Robert Wynne-Simmons
- Narrated by: Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Thomas Turgoose, Alice Lowe, Ralph Ineson, Rebecca Ryan
Genuinely chilling supernatural drama
Reviewed: 17-01-18
Going in to this, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew that with the involvement of Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith that I’d enjoy it. What I wasn’t expecting was a full-on period horror audio-movie. Everything about this production is pure gold, from the script and the performances to the amazing sound-design. Truly a delight for fans of British horror, and anyone who enjoys a really well-told scary story.
Very highly recommended!
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Ghostly Tales
- Audible Christmas Gift 2017
- By: Charles Dickens, E. F. Benson, J. H. Riddell, and others
- Narrated by: Simon Callow, Sally Phillips, John Banks, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer, and as Christmas approaches the time is high for some ghostly tales. As an exclusive gift for Audible members, settle down, snuggle up and listen to four chilling ghost stories, read by Simon Callow. Four great stories, one master storyteller - what could be simpler than that?
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really well read
- By Amazon Customer on 20-12-17
- Ghostly Tales
- Audible Christmas Gift 2017
- By: Charles Dickens, E. F. Benson, J. H. Riddell, Emelia B. Edwards, Joseph Lidster
- Narrated by: Simon Callow, Sally Phillips, John Banks, Dan Starkey
Thank you, Audible!
Reviewed: 18-12-17
A great collection of classic ghost stories, beautifully read by Simon Callow, wrapped in a very clever framing story. I loved listening to this, and can’t wait to do so again.
26 of 29 people found this review helpful
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Broken Meats
- A Harry Stubbs Adventure
- By: David Hambling
- Narrated by: Gethyn Edwards
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Weird things lurk in the dark streets of London in 1925. After a bizarre shooting incident, Harry Stubbs, former heavyweight boxer and sometime debt collector, is coerced into helping a visitor from Shanghai. Mr Yang, an agent of the feared Si Fan Society with unusual powers, is seeking information about a dead man.
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Terrific adaptation of a cracking story
- By Philip Hemplow on 28-01-17
- Broken Meats
- A Harry Stubbs Adventure
- By: David Hambling
- Narrated by: Gethyn Edwards
Lovecraftian Noir Thriller
Reviewed: 12-10-17
The second of the Harry Stubbs audiobooks, and what an improvement in narration! Gethyn Edwards really brings Stubbs to life in this thrilling homage to The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward.
The story is tautly written and rich in suspense, action and atmosphere. Harry Stubbs is a brilliant addition to the world of pulp horror, and I can’t wait to start his next adventure.
Very highly recommended for fans of Lovecraft and noir detective fiction.