‘Ghost Stories for Christmas’ @ The Beacon

Long before Christmas became synonymous with sparkle and cheer, winter was a time for gathering in the dark and trading tales meant to unsettle. Beacon Cinema’s annual “Ghost Stories for Christmas” honors that tradition — and this year, it adds a thrilling new chapter.

Alongside a classic from the BBC’s legendary “A Ghost Story for Christmas” series, the Beacon is premiering an all-new film: “The Occupant of the Room,” the narrative debut of Canadian horror authority Kier-La Janisse. Best known for the folk horror documentary “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched” and her horror memoir “House of Psychotic Women,” Janisse here adapts an Algernon Blackwood story into a hushed, icy nightmare. A schoolteacher stranded at an Alpine hotel accepts the room of a missing guest — and spends the night discovering why vacancy can be more terrifying than company.

That contemporary chill pairs beautifully with “Schalcken the Painter” (1979), one of the eeriest entries in the BBC’s “A Ghost Story for Christmas” cycle. Leslie Megahey’s adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s tale unfolds like a haunted Old Master painting, sparse and quietly devastating.

These films aren’t about cheap shocks and gore. They’re slow-burn, late-night experiences, rich with atmosphere, dread and style. It’s perfect viewing for anyone who prefers their holiday traditions with a little unease baked in. And we’re lucky, there will even be a candlelit intro from one of the cinema’s founders, as in previous years. But don’t sleep on getting tickets, as this annual feast of the phantasmagoric tends to sell out.