Take One Step Beyond with 'The Clown'

"One Step Beyond" was a television series that was hosted and primarily directed by John Newland. It was similar to "The Twilight Zone" in content, but generally more lowkey and supposedly featured stories inspired by real-world paranormal experiences. Original episodes aired on ABC from 1959 - 1961, which were then later widely syndicated during the next two decades.

Today, we're giving you an opportunity to watch a complete episode of the series, right here, at Terror Titans. It's one of the more horror-oriented episodes of the series... and that's even before one takes the widespread fear people have of clowns into account. We're confident it will awaken the Halloween Spirit within you!

The Clown (1960)

Starring: Mickey Shaunessy, Christopher Dark, and Yvette Mimieux

Director:  John Newland

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A murderer (Dark) thinks he is being stalked by the vengeful clown (Shaunessy) who witnessed the crime.

"The Clown" is one of the most intense episodes of the classic television series. With just a couple minor changes, it would even feel like something you might see on network television or some streaming service today.

The characters featured, and the actors portraying them, are what makes this episode so great. They.are ones that you love to hate, or which you just love. There's a possessive, abusive, cradle-robbing husband (played in a perfectly vile fashion by Christopher Dark) who moreso than most villains I wanted to see get what was coming to him; there's his young wife (played with believable innocence and self-unawareness by the underappreciated actress Yvette Mimieux in her second major role) who is old enough to recognize that she's beautiful but not mature enough to not delight in every bit of attention she can get; and Pippo the Clown (Mickey Shaunessy, in a performance that's gentle and completely sympathetic) who ends up paying dearly for his attempt to make the young woman happy. But not as dearly as she does...

When this episode was produced in 1960, the rules for what could and couldn't be shown on television were far more stringent than they are now. Because of restrictions on showing blood and violence, the murder that puts the story on track toward its climax is a little less horrific than it could have been, and even a little confusing. And that is the only thing that keeps this episode from getting a Nine of Ten Stars.

But don't just take my word for it. Click below... and take One Step Beyond!

'Quicksilver Highway' is one ot stay away from

Quicksilver Highway (1997)
Starring: Christopher Lloyd, Matt Frewer, Missy Crider, and Raphael Sbarge
Director: Mick Garris
Rating: Three of Ten Stars


It's hard to go wrong with an horror anthology movie, and if you're adapting stories by Stephen King and Clive Barker to the screen, you'd think it would be even harder. But no. Screenwriter/director Mick
Garris managed to completely botch the effort with "Quicksilver Highway."

Maybe the idea here was to make an anthology featuring darkly humorous tales, ala the likewise King-based "Creeopshow" anthology films, and they simply failed to be funny. If a desire to make a horror movie that drew upon the absurd, it would explain a lot about the choices of stories, the nature of the framing sequence, and several other quirky aspects of the film. In fact, I am assuming that it's was supposed to be more funny than it is, as it's the only way I can write this review without relegating it "Movies You Should [Die Before You] See."--it's something I would hate to do with a film featuring actors I live, based on stories from writers I like. IF this is a failed horror comedy, the two featured short films ("Chattering Teeth" and "Body Politic") are a little less awful, because one assumes they were intended to be absurd to begin with.

But even so, part of me feels that maybe the Three Star rating I am giving "Quicksilver Highway" is too generous.

The film starts to go wrong with the framing sequence. Having a narrator link the stories via introductory bits is a well-established convention for these movies, but Christoper Lloyd is so off-putting as  a weirdo in a rune-engraved leather collar telling stories to total strangers who made the bad decision to visit his establishment that the smart viewers might have taken it as a sign of things to come. This warning would probably be even more evident to those smart viewers when he repeatedly states his stories have no point. I was not among those smart viewers, so I kept watching.

Of the stories, we first have "Chattering Teeth," based on a tale by Stephen King.  In it, a man who is saved from a psychotic hitchhiker by a pair of over-sized, wind-up toy teeth. At no point does this short even get tense, let alone scary, and to describe the resolution as anticlimactic might be too generous. It does, however,  deliver on the promise of Lloyd's character As lame as this one is, it pales in comparison to the one that follows.

"The Body Politic" is the second tale, and it was adapted from a very bad Clive Barker story about a surgeon whose hands rebel against the rest of his body--and then cause the hands of others to rebel as well. Setting aside the fact that the hands can do nothing without the muscles of the arms--and yet a hospital full of rebellious hands are dragging people around as the story builds to its ludicrous climax--there simply isn't anything scary about the story. It's even too stupid to be funny, although Matt Frewer's over-the-top performance as the doctor at war with his own hands was lots of fun, and it earns the "Quicksilver Highway" an entire Star.

While Frewer's performance was the only really good one in the film, I can't complain about any of the other cast members; they all did excellent jobs with the material they had to work with. I can't even really blame Christopher Lloyd for making me wonder if I really wanted to keep watching, because he was just being Christopher Lloyd doing the best he could with a bad part.

As regular readers know, I love anthology films, so I always hate nt being able to recommend them. In the case of "Qucksilver Highway, the only thing I can be truly positive about is.Frewer's performance--and that's not enough for me to recommend you waste your time on this botched effort.

Like a romance novel with a twist

Frozen in Fear (2000)
Starring: Catherine Oxenberg, Eric Roberts, Rod Steiger, Joan Benedict, Scott Plank, and Ellina McCormick
Director: Robin P. Murray
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

A Seattle art dealer (Oxenberg) travels to a remote mountain town to convince a talented but reclusive painter (Roberts) to sell his work through her gallery. She soon falls in love with the emotionally damaged man, but even as romance blooms, someone is creeping through the night and murdering women passing through the area. Is the killer the quirky sheriff (Plank), the much-feared town patriarch (Steiger), or the sensitive artist? And will our heroine become one of his victims?

"Frozen in Fear" is a made-for-TV movie that is as much a romantic chick-flick as it is a horror movie, complete with the fantasy of a woman healing a man's soul through the power of love. The cast of characters are basically off-the-shelf figures from gothic romances--and you'll quickly recognize each and every one of them as soon as they are introduced. And you'll eventually realize that none of these thinly written characters, whose actions are driven entirely by plot concerns whether there is any logic to them or not, will never rise above the status of stereotypical figures. The only thing that saves this film from being a total snooze fest is the horror aspect.

But even the presence of a mad killer can't save this film, because, even though there is a mildly clever twist surrounding his identity--at least if one views "Frozen in Fear" as a romance tale first and horror story second--he emerges as such a ludicrous figure that the horror is undermined almost from the outset. And as if the writers wanted to make sure the film remained on the level of trash they throw am ill-conceived "surprise twist ending" that tries to elevate our high mountain stalker to the level of a Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers. The lame ending alone drags this film down a Three Rating when it might otherwise could have been a Four or maybe even a low Five.

'Carny' is a decent monster flick

Carny (2009)
Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Simone-Elise Girad and A.C. Petersen
Director: Sheldon Wilson
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When a honest-to-God monster escapes from the carnival freak show where it has been on display, a small-town sheriff (Phillips) faces danger not just from the monster itself but from those around him and their hidden agendas.


"Carny" is one of those rare films that showed up on TV under the "A SyFy Original Movie" banner that is a great monster flick. The special effects are a little dodgy at times, but the acting is decent all around, the dialogue is solid, the characters are well enough drawn that the viewer comes to care about them, and the story is well-paced. The final showdown between hero Lou Diamond Phillips and the escaped creature is one of the better monster fights to grace a first-run film on the SyFy Channel.

I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up again this October--it should... it's one of their better films. Check it out if it does.

'Ghost Whisperer' got off to a strong start

I was gifted with Seasons 1 and 2 of "Ghost Whisperer" some time ago, and I recently got around to start watching them. So, I will be reviewing the episodes in this space. I only watched the show once in a blue moon during its five year run on CBS, but every time I did, I was impressed by Jennifer Love Hewitts two great talents. She's also quite an actress.


Ghost Whisperer (Untitled Pilot Episode) (2005)
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, David Conrad, Aisha Tyler, and Wentworth Miller
Director: John Gray
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Her entire life, Melinda (Hewitt) has been able to see and communicate with ghosts. As she grew up, she began to pass messages from them to the living, so the restless spirits would feel relieved of their earthly duties and finally be able to move onto the afterlife. Even on her wedding night, she spends time with both the living and the dead... when for the first time one of the dead (Miller) invade her very home in search of help.

"Ghost Whisperer" got off to a strong start with its 2005 pilot episode. A deftly written script that introduces us to likable newly-weds Melinda and Jim--she sees dead people and tries to help them move onto the next life, he is a paramedic and tries to help people stay in this one, which is an interesting arrangement that I'm sure will get play as the show unfolds--and Melinda's sassy employee at the antique store she runs. I expect Melinda's doting and supportive husband will give rise to nearly as many plots as the ghosts he will help as I watch this series... and I expect her employee will come in at a close second, probably not directly but rather through antiques that she brings into the shop that Melinda owns and operates.

The pilot also presents what I know to be the show's formula from what few I've already seen: Melinda encounters a ghosts here and there, but one or two become her focus. After some initial sleuthing and plot complications, she finds the key to helping them resolve the issues that are keeping them in this world. After a tearful goodbye with family members and loved ones, the ghost moves on, and Melinda returns to the arms of her loving husband.

But the pilot also features a near-perfect mix of sappy and creepy that made the best episodes of the show that I've seen so much fun. Just when you think the schmaltz might be going on just a little too thick, scary ghost stuff starts happening.

What I found most entertaining about the pilot episode was the way it time and again made me wonder what it would be like to go through life never knowing if the person sitting across from you is alive or dead... until you realize that you're the only person who can see him. If the show keeps that aspect alive, I think this is going to be lots of fun.

--
Things Learned About Ghosts and The Afterlife in This Episode: Major life-changes for those the departed care about may "awaken" their slumbering, lingering spirits and draw them to the location, even if they don't know why. Ghosts somehow communicate even with the ghosts who are stuck in this world... and sometimes they tell those who are stuck to seek out Melinda for help.

'Moon of the Wolf' is okay, but not spectacular

Moon of the Wolf (1972)
Starring: David Janssen, Barbara Rush, Bradford Dillman, and Geoffrey Lewis
Director: Daniel Petrie
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A small Louisanna town is terrorized by a string of brutal, savage murders. Sheriff Whitaker (Janssen) gradually comes to the realization that the murderer isn't quite human, and the trail leads to the front door of the town's leading citizens, Louise and Andrew Rodanthe (Rush and Dillman). But can such a thing as a werewolf really exist?

"Moon of the Wolf" is a pretty straight-forward werewolf movie, complete with the skeptic initially saying "there isn't such a thing as werewolves", the fortune teller who sees doom for the next victims, the wealthy family with a history of strange illnesses, and a list of possible candidates for who the werewolf might be, thus lending a "who-dunnit" aspect to the film until the creature is revealed.

Given that this is a made-for-TV movie that dates from the 1970s, it perhaps goes without saying that the werewolf (when is finally revealed) is in a less than impressive costume--but at least the director seemed to have realized this, and he tries to dwell on it as little of as he can, and he doesn't foolishly attempt any on-screen transformations that his budget doesn't allow for. So, the somewhat underwhelming werewolf doesn't harm the movie any.

Where this film does stand out, however, is that it doesn't take the usual movie route and portray the smalltown Southerners as a bunch of moronic bigots, nor are the wealthy people shown as exploitive racists. Instead, it shows a community where everyone works together... and interracial relationships happen and are accepted. In other words, the film gives a truer portrayal of a small town in the late 20th century than most movies bother to give us. And that keeps the movie in the "Fresh" category. The film also offers an interesting little tidbit: In the world of this movie, lycanthropy can be controlled with the right sort of medication, if taken in the right, timely doses. This is a small (but crucial) part of the plot, and it's the one semi-original thing that the movie brought to the table.

"Moon of the Wolf" has a solid cast that give good performances, and a decent script that brings a couple of minor variations to what we're used to from this sort of movie. I believe lovers or werewolf films will probably enjoy it, but it's not a "must-see.

'The Mephisto Waltz' oozes 1970s horror

The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
Starring: Jacqueline Bisset, Alan Alda, Barbara Parkins, Bradford Dillman, and Curt Jurgens
Director: Paul Wendkos
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A dying pianist (Curt Jurgins) makes a bargain with Satan to have his soul put into a younger man's body (Alan Alda). The younger man's wife (Jacqueline Bissett) realizes slowly something is different about her husband... and realizes something is seriously wrong people around them start dying mysterously.

"The Mephisto Waltz" is an unsettling little horror film from the 1970s (and it oozes '70s sensibilities from every frame, along with an unsettling sense of dread) that features a surprising twist as it enters the third act and an even more startling ending. It's not often that I am taken completely by surprise by a film's direction, but I was with this one. (And I've just taken three cracks at hinting at the twist while drafting this review, but each time I felt like I was revealing too much and possibly spoiling the film. I feel the surprsing story development here has to be witnessed "cold" to have its full impact.)

As impressed as I am with the ending of the film, it doesn't start out strong. The filmmakers make a tremendous mistake at the beginning of the film by revealing beyond doubt that Alda's character has been possessed by the old man, and that we are dealing with true Satanic magic. By showing us this up front, it removes a degree of mystery and uncertainty that could have make the movie even more suspenseful.

Still, the film does recover nicely from the early blunder, delivering lots of chilling moments, some suitably eerie dream sequences, and one of the best-handled summonings of Satan I've ever seen. It's a film that's worth seeing, and it's a film that doesn't deserve the obscurity it currently endures.

The Complete Night Stalker, Part Five

With Halloween less than a week away, we come to the end of the line for the original "Night Stalker" television series. Sadly, it went out not with a bang, but with a wimper.

Episode Eighteen: The Knightly Murders
Director: Vincent McEveety
Rating: Nine of Stars

A string of murders--all committed with authentic weaponry dating from the Middle Ages--have the police baffled. When Kolchak notices the victims are all involved in a venture that will convvert a small museum into a discoteque, he first suspects the curator of being being the killer. But maybe it's the exhibits themselves are resisting such humilation?

This is one of the best episodes of the series. The danger to Kolchack seems very real during every encounter with the supernatural, and the humor is top-notch, both that evolving from a self-important, publicity-hungry cop that Kolchak deals with, as well as that coming from some of Kolchak's investigation of and confrontation with the killer. If all the episodes had been been this good, maybe Darren McGavin wouldn't have hated working on the series so much.


Episode Nineteen: The Youth Killer
Director: Ron McDougall
Rating: Two of Ten Stars

Unknown senior citizens are found dead in Chicago parks and streets. Kolchak's investigation turns up that they were young only days before, and they were all using an exclusive dating service run by a woman of epic beauty. Naturally she's Helen of Troy who is sacrificing young victims to the Greek gods to maintain her youth, and only Kolchak can stop her!

From lame plot conveniences, to story problems so huge that even the fact characters comment on them doesn't make them less problematic, this is one of the very worst episodes of the series. It also doesn't help that Kathy Lee Crosby (as Helen) can't act worth a damn.


Episode Twenty: The Sentry
Director: Seymour Robbie
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

When surveyers at a super-secure underground storage facility recover some strange rocks from a new section that's under construction, murder and mayhem breaks out. Kolchak discovers that a lizard creature that's trying to protect its young is responsible.

The final episode of the series looks and feels like just that... the final episode of a series. It's got a cheap feel about it, and the thing that'll stick with viewers more than anything is Carl driving around in a golf cart. The introduction of a woman police LT who has everyone but Carl wrapped around her finger is the one high note of the episode--her banter with Carl is some of the funniest dialogue in the entire series. Still, it wasn't the best of notes to end on.

The Complete Night Stalker, Part Four

"Kolchak: The Night Stalker" is a show that many people my age think fondly of, half-remembering episodes that scared the bejeezus out of us as kids. Viewing the entire series as an adult, I found that there were many episodes that warrant those warm feelings. However, as I continue my survey of all 20 episodes in the series as part of the 31 Nights of Halloween, I it is clear that today's batch represent the series at its height.

If the majority of the show had been as good as Episodes Thirteen through Sixteen, and if ABC and Universal  Television executives had dealt more fairly with star Darrin McGavin (instead of reneging on promises of creative control and co-producer status of the series), maybe it would have earned a second season.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
(The Complete Television Series Reviewed, Part Four)

Episode Thirteen: Primal Scream
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Director: Robert Scheerer

A trail of brutal dismemberment murders that start at a research lab analyzing core samples retrieved from the North Pole brings Kolchak face-to-face with savage man-apes that have spontenously regenerated from thawed-out cells.

This episode is pure scientific nonsense of 1950s monster-movie variety. In think even in the 50s, audiences would have rolled their eyes at the notion of life-forms as complicated as a meat-eating primate regenerating from a few single cells. What makes this episode fun is Carl's interaction with the incidental characters and the supporting cast back at the INS office. Ron in particular gets to shine in this episode.

The monster here is lame, and Carl's heedless pursuit of a creature that is so plainly dangerous to whomever it comes across is pure idiocy (even by Kolchak Standards) but the non-monster related interaction definately saves this episode.


Episode Fourteen: The Trevi Collection
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
Director: Don Weis

Before a source can give Carl a promised scoop, the source is murdered. As Carl investigates, he uncovers disturbing facts about the House of Trevi, a ritzy fashion design studio: The lady it's named after is witch, and deadly curses are being tossed left, right, and center... at anyone who seems to threaten the supremecy of Trevi. And that includes Our Man Carl.

This is one of my very favorite episodes, despite the somewhat dubious way Carl is drawn into the situation. I love the way the story's many twists and the way Carl's gung-ho monster-hunting attitude (where he blazes ahead without having all his facts straight) ends up making the situation far more deadly. A subplot about mobsters chasing Carl for information also adds a lot to this episode.

The episode is also enlivened by a guest appearance by Lara Parker as the fashion designing witch who will let nothing stand between her and success. She is so good that I may down the "Dark Shadows" movies she starred in.


Episode Fourteen: Chopper
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
Director: Bruce Kessler

Aging, former members of an outlaw biker gang are being murdered, all decapitated by an impossibly strong killer. Kolchak investigates, and then he becomes the next target of a headless ghost biker who has come back from the dead for revenge.

This is one of the great "Night Stalker" episodes. There's plenty of horror and plenty of laughs in this excellently written episode. The tension remains high until the very moment--there hasn't been such a strong sense of danger for Kolchak since "The Zombie".

This could have been a Ten-Star episode if not for the absolute laziness with which the headless biker was created. I realize it was the 70s, they didn't have the sort of computer effects we have today, and television budgets and shooting schedules were tight, but there MUST have been a better way to do the biker ghost than just have a stunt driver pull his jacket over his head. In life, the biker just have been known as "Johnny Long Torso" because his chest is about one-head length too big.

This bit of shoddiness undermines what could have been a truly great episode.


Episode Fifteen: Demon in Lace
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Director: Don Weis

Young men are being frightened to death on a college campus. Kolchak traces the cause back to an ancient tablet and the demon who dwells within it. Will anyone believe that a priceless historical treasure must be destroyed before any more lives are lost?

This is a solid, middle-of-the-road episode. The story is okay and well thought out--it even provides a reason for why Carl isn't fired and/or locked up for good at the end--and there's a nice balance of humor and horror as a frustrated Kolchak battles not only the police and college campus bureacrats, but also has to contend with a journalism student who shares many of his worst personality traits. It's funny to see Carl get a dose of his own medicine.


Episode Sixteen: Legacy of Terror
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
Director: Don McDougall

Someone armed with a dull blade has been cutting out the hearts of physically-perfect men and women, killing each victim is found on a higher and higher prime numbered flight of stairs. Kolchak's investigation puts him at odds with bizarre Aztec cult seeking to revive their mummified god at the correct celestial alignment. To prevent the mummy's resurrection, Kolchak must prevent the sacrifice of their fifth, "perfect" victim on the highest flight of stairs in Chicago.

This is one of the better episodes as it features a high creepiness factor, high humor factor, and there's a strong sense that Kolchak may be in over his head during the climax, but the lengths to which the writers go to make their story believable (by filling the viewer in on details regarding Aztec mythology) sometimes gives it a feeling of a doctoral thesis gone waaaay of the rails. Still, it's an etertaining, fast-paced, and exciting episode. The cult/conspiracy angle it takes also strengthens it immensely; the supernatural monster doesn't appear until the very end.

(Speaking of the monster, the final shot of the mummy shows its eyes flicker a bit. I'm not sure if that's sloppy editing or intentional, but it was certainly startling, since Carl was certain he'd prevented the gods resurrection... at least until the stars align again.)










Please join me again next week, as I finish the trip through all 20 episodes of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker", just in time for the monster explosion that is Halloween!

The Complete Night Stalker, Part Three

With episodes Nine through Twelve, some of the inconsistent quality of the first few episodes is seeming to creep back into the series. Nothing is as bad as the worst of those, however, and some of the greatest moments of the entire series can be seen in these episodes.

But the ups and downs quality-wise will continue to be a problem.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
(The Complete Television Series Reviewed, Part Three)

Episode Nine: The Spanish Moss Murders
Director: Gordon Hessler
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A bizarre string of muders that are linked only by the presence of spanish moss at the crime scene has the police baffled. Kolchak eventually discovers at additional link--hot-tempered Cajun transplant Paul Langois. He has a sure-fire alibi, in that he has been kept asleep in a lab while the murders have been happening. When Kolchak attempts to get Langois awakened, he becomes the next target of the moss-dripping monster. How will one reporter stop a nightmare monster?

This episode has some really tense moments, and the use of a "dream monster" is pretty clever. Keenan Wynn also joins the cast as one of the many homicide officers that Kolchak drives up the wall--one of the few unfortunate enough to have to cross Carl's path more than once. It's not one of the best, but it's pretty good.


Episode Ten: The Energy Eater
Director: Alexander Grasshoff
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

While covering the opening of a newly constructed, state-of-the-art hospital on Chicago's lakefront, Kolchak experiences some bizarre electrical overloads in its basement, which is also unbearably hot. After exhausting all the possible natural causes for the troubles, Kolchak tracks down a Native American shaman who was part of a workcrew who quit the construction project shortly after it began. From him, he learns that an ancient, hungry spirit--the Bear God--has been awakened, and that if it isn't returned to its state of hibernation, much more than just the hospital will be destroyed. The shaman is too scared to face the creature, so it's once again up to Carl to solve matters on his own.

This episode has some amusing moments--mostly from the womanizing Indian shaman Jim Elkhorn--and the idea of a powerful spirit being reawakened by the interference of modern man is a neat one, but the episode just sort of drags, with repetative scenes of Carl visiting the hospital with different advisors. The truly great moment is when Carl tries to assemble a bunch of pictures he took into the image of Bear God... and realizes that all he got was the unseen gigantic creature's eyeball.

This was an episode with lots of potential, but the creators didn't quite pull it off.


Episode Eleven: Horror in the Heights
Director: Michael Caffey
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

While working on a series of articles intended to call attention to the tragic conditions some senior citizens are forced to live in, Kolchak arrives at the conclusion that something far more sinister than rabid rats is lurking in the shadows of Chicago's run-down Heights neighborhood. But how does one fight an Indian demon that can change shape at will?

This is quite possibly one of the very best episodes in the series. Not only is it populated with a great cast of supporting actors (including one that provides some amusing continuity to "The Spanish Moss Murders", but the script (by Jimmy Sangster, who wrote some great scripts for Hammer Films) features not only some truly scary moments, but we end up with some great insight into Carl Kolchak's character. This episode--and the last few minutes in particular--make him seem like a real human being moreso than anything we've seen since the original "The Night Stalker" movie.

"Horror in the Heights" manages to be both scary and touching, and even serve up a little bit of social commentary without getting too preaching. There is some intended humor that falls flat in a scene in an Indian restraunt, but that's really the only misstep in this episode. This is certainly one of the installments that made the series a "cult classic."


Episode Twelve: Mr. R.I.N.G.
Director: Gene Levitt
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

While working on a puff-piece obituary of a scientist, Kolchak uncovers a government conspiracy to conceal the existence of a highly advanced robot that has developed sentience and a willingness to kill to ensure its own survival.

While this episode has some nice moments--Kolchak struggling to get the story recorded before the drugs he's been administered wipe it from his mind, the robot's efforts to make itself human, and some additional insight into Kolchak's nicer side--it is overall too slow moving to be all that entertaining. It also doesn't even provide the slightest twist to the "robot wants to be alive" plot, nor the Big Bad Government Is Hiding Things subplot. (Although, it could be that in the mid-1970s, the Big Bad Government storylines weren't quite as played out as they are today.)

Not among the worst episode in the series, but also not one of the best. However, it one that very clearly shows how this series was part of Chris Carter's inspiration for "The X-Files." Heck, they probably did an episode of that show that could have been shot from this script.

Please join me again next Monday for a look at another batch of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" episodes.

The Complete Night Stalker, Part Two

With episodes Five through Eight, the "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" televisions series looked like it's finally hit its stride. After a wobbly start--with episodes that ranged from good to downright awful, the series presented a string of decent episodes. I know continue the trip through the 1974 television series, as I review every episode in anticipation of Halloween.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
(The Complete Television Series Reviewed, Part Two)

Episode Five: The Werewolf
Director: Allen Barron
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

When Kolchak is sent on assignment to cover a swingin' singles cruise, he becomes the Reporter Who Cried Werewolf when a murderous beast starts tearing its way through crew and passengers when the full moon rises. Will Kolchak find a priest onboard the ship of sin, so he can get some silver bullets blessed before everyone becomes werewolf chow?

With this episode, the supporting cast at the INS office becomes a major part of the series, and I think the episodes benefit from it--even if Kolchak looks like a total heel with the way he's constantly manipulating and using them. These additional characters coming to the fore heightens the humor of the series, and it gives McGavin recurring actors to play off.

As for this specific story, it's a tense, funny, and fast-paced episode, although the Seventies fashions and "hip" swinger stereotypes can be quite painful to watch. (The couple whose marriage got stronger because they got divorced was pretty funny, though.) The only negative is some of the tall tales Kolchak tells the ship's crew. It's a bit out of character for him to tell such flimsy lies when he knows there's no escape once they're found out.


Episode Six: Firefall
Director: Don Weis
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When the friends and associates of a celebrated symphony conductor start dying in mysterious fires, Kolchak smells not only the odor of burning flesh, but also a story. However, what he hadn't counted on was that he would become the target of a restless spirit with a love of fires.

This is another excellent episode that balances drama and humor quite nicely. The threat to Kolchak is once again clear and immediate--if he falls asleep, he's likely to spontaneously combust--and he has to put real thought and legwork into saving himself and the main target of the monster in this episode.

"Firefall" would rate Eight Stars if several early scenes weren't marred by reall bad, really cheap special effects. The episode would have been far better served if the crew had gone with even cheaper effects--simply jump cuts of an actor to it seem as though he was appearing and dissapearing.


Episode Seven: The Devil's Platform
Director: Allen Baron
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Kolchak is assigned to cover an Illinois State Sentate race where one of the candidates is receiving more than just finiancial contributions from infernal powers. When Kolchak gets too close to the truth, he is faced with a choice between becoming a servant or sacrifice of Satan.

This is one of the episodes I saw a long time ago, and it's every bit as good as I remember it. The strange dog stalking Kolchak after he accidentically takes possession of the evil politician's (played excellently by Tom Skerritt) amulet that is the focus of his demonic power is a particularly effective part of this episode. Another highpoint is the larger part played by the supporting characters in the newsroom. The ending is a bit too easy and pat, though.


Episode Eight: Bad Medicine
Director: Alex Grasshoff
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

While investigating a series of violent gem heists, Kolchak finds himself on the trail of a shapeshifting, dreamwalking Native American sorcerer who has been cursed with immortality and a never-ending quest for precious stones. Will Kolchak find a way to kill someone who can't be killed... or will he end up in that great newsroom in the sky?

This is another episode that balances comedy and suspense nicely, although I'm sure Richard Keil's Indian sorcerer character looks goofier to modern viewers than he did to those watching in the mid-70s. (And his appearance wasn't supposed to be one of the funny bits, I am certain.)

Kolchak has to use his brains to defeat the threat in this one, and that always makes for a more interesting episode than him just blundering around and getting lucky. The ending  is also pretty strong. All in all, one of the better installments in the series.

The Complete Night Stalker, Part One

Since horror movie reviews are nothing out of the ordinary here, I'm going to build up to Halloween by reviewing every episode in the classic Kolchak: The Night Stalker series. I already covered the two movies, so nothing seemed more appropriate than this.

(And if anyone out there would like write about that short-lived remake series from a few years back, I'm always open to guest posts!)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
(The Complete Television Series Reviewed, Part One)

Episode One: The Ripper
Director: Allen Baron
Rating: Four Four of Ten Stars

A serial killer is stalking the women of Chicago and beating the tar out of police officers by the dozens. Kolchak (Darren McGavin), along with his long-suffering editor Tony Vincienzo (Simon Oakland), have landed at INS, a small-time wire-service. As Kolchak (over Tony's objections) investigates the killings, he comes to believe that that he is the original Jack the Ripper, and that unless Kolchak stops him before he claims his fifth victim, he will vanish and resuface in a different city where the pattern will repeat itself.


If the plot of the first episode of the series sounds familiar, then that's because it is. It's basically the same as that featured in "The Night Strangler."

This is a dissapointing start, made even more dissapointing by the fact that there is never any real sense of menace in the story. Yes, a serial killer is on the loose, but Kolchak is never in any danger. On the upside, McGavin and Oakland are both as good in their parts as they were in the films.



Episode Two: The Zombie
Director: Alex Grasshoff
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Someone is murdering Chicago's gangsters and a chance conversation with one of his sources sets Kolchak on the trail of the culprit: A small-times numbers operator who has been called back from the grave to serve as the means to avenge his death.

I was as delighted by this episode as I was disappointed in the series' first installment. There wasn't a single element of the episode that wasn't an improvement over "The Ripper." The storyline was more original, the funny parts were funnier, and Kolchak's ability to survive the adventure intact felt as though it was in serious doubt on more than one occassion. While the threat of the mad slasher seemed distant and non-personal to Kolchak in "The Ripper", in this episode, Our Man at INS is under threat of sudden termination by illegal bookmaking operators, gangsters, corrupt cops, and, of course, the walking dead. In fact, Kolchak's confrontation with the zombie is so creepy that it tops what you see in many movies.


Episode Three: They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be...
Director: Allen Baron
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

After a string of bizarre animal deaths at a Chicago zoo are followed by some very similar murders, Kolchak becomes convinced that space aliens are threatening the city--who else could possibly be mutilating animals and then escalating to doing the same to people? Will he manage to prove the Truth Is Out There, or will the government agents dogging his heels stop him?

This episode has a rushed feel to it. The story simply doesn't hang together, and has some pretty dumb elements, even by the standards of the Seventies (an alien who is off-course with his spaceship can find his way home using a planetarium's starmap?), and Kolchak makes some pretty far leaps of logic to keep the story going--because much of what he concludes isn't based in his investigation--and the fact that he manages to locate the alien craft using a very simple method; if finding the UFO is THAT easy, why hasn't the government got it surrounded already? The greatest flaw of the episode is that it's dull. It never manages to engage the viewers. In fact, the best part of it is Kolchak's voice-over at the end where he compares the murderous alien to just another traveler stopping at a roadside diner for a bite to eat. If only the rest of the show had been that amusing.


Episode Four: The Vampire
Director: Don Weis
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

After weaseling his way to being sent on assignment to write a puff piece about a Guru visiting Los Angeles (thus getting what he views as a paid vacation), Kolchak is distracted by the news of murders that seem eerily similar to ones that he investigated while living in Las Vegas. In fact, this episode is an unofficial sequel to "The Night Stalker" movie, as the vampire menacing Los Angeles is a spawn of the creature that first drew Kolchak into confrontation with the supernatural.


Kolchak's attempts to trap the vampire in this episode are pretty amusing, as is his attempt to use a real estate agent he meets as a ghost-writer to meet his deadline with INS. The climax with the vampire is interesting (even if I found myself wondering how he managed to set up the way he trapped her), and I think this is the first time where Kolchak isn't the victim of a far-reaching cover-up, or is left with no evidence that something bizarre happened . Just like in "The Night Stalker," the police arrest him for the murder of the vampire, but they have to let him go... for a very interesting and sensible reason. But, there's no hint that anyone is going out of their way to cover things up. (Of course, no one believes in vampires, even in Hollyweird.)

All in all, this was a pretty good episode. It was nice to see some tie-backs to the movie that started it all, and it was also nice to see a police officer portrayed like an intelligent person. The homicide luitenant in "The Vampire" is intelligent and dilligent enough to keep digging into his murder cases even after a couple of Satanists are locked up for them, because the clues aren't adding up. Virtually every other police officer that's appeared in the series up to this point would have called it a day with the first suspects.

Next week, I cover episodes 5 through 8, as I continue my way through the mixed bag that is "The Night Stalker" television series.

Kate Jackson provides chills in'Satan's School for Girls'

Satan's School for Girls (1973)
Starring: Pamela Franklin, Kate Jackson, Jamie Smith-Jackson, Lloyd Bochner, Cheryl Ladd, Jo Van Fleet, and Roy Thinnes
Director: David Lowell Rich
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

While searching for the truth about her sister's suicide, Elizabeth (Franklin) enrolls as a student at the all-girl boarding school she attended. The faculty and girls all seem friendly enough--especially insta-best-friend-on-campus Roberta (Jackson)--but with a title like "Satan's School for Girls", you gotta know there's witchcraft, evil rites, and guest lectures by the Horned One himself going on.


"Satan's School for Girls" is a better-than-average made-for-TV movie from the mid-1970s. Although uneven in its pacing (partly due to the constricting nature of broadcast TV and the habitual, barely veiled recapping of what's happened to catch up those who tuned in late), there is a nice aura of unease that hangs over the whole film, and it even manages to envoke a real sense of dread at several points. (The best of these is when Elizabeth heads into the main building's cavernous basement in search of clues.)

This could possibly have been a 7-Star film if not for the fact that it starts to fall apart in the third act. Up to that point, the filmmakers play a nice game of "maybe it is, maybe it isn't"... as in, maybe Satan WON'T be making an appearance in this film, despite the title. But then there's a really lame murder scene (where the victim could easily have simply reached up and grabbed at the girls who were poking at him with sticks, and thus made his escape), lots of over-the-top melodramatic acting, and an ending that is flat and unsatisfactory, because it's exactly what we expect it to be all along.

Despite its flaws, I think this film is enjoyable for those who like suspense and horror movies that are driven more by atmosphere than sex and gore. Fans of Kate Jackson (like yours truly) will also enjoy it, because she gives a fine performance.

How awful that Allan is haunted or insane

How Awful About Allan (1970s)
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Julie Harris, and Joan Hackett
Director: Curtis Harrington
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Allan (Perkins), who has been suffering from hysterical blindness since the burning death of his father, is released from an asylum and into the care of his sister (Harris). But mysterious events start occuring around Allan, events that fill his blurry world with terror. Is he being haunted by the ghost of his dead father, is his sister trying to drive him insane, or is it all in his mind?


"How Awful About Allan" is a well-staged and perfectly paced modern-day gothic thriller. With a great cast--among which we see Anthony Perkins giving what might have been the best performance of his career--who were working with an intelligent and well-written script, and a director who knows how to deploy his entire arsenal of set design, cinematography, lighting, sound effects, and music to envoke a sense of mystery and dread.

Despite its humble (and sometimes obvious) television origins, this is a film worth seeking out by anyone who is a fan of gothic tales. ("How Awful About Allan" stands as one of the great achievements of the late Aaron Spelling.)

'Dead Like Me' was a great TV series

Dead Like Me: The Complete First Season (2003)
Starring: Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin, Callum Blue, Laura Harris and Cynthia Stevenson
Director: Various
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

"Dead Like Me" was a criminally short-lived television series that focused on Georgia Lass (Muth), a young woman who dies in a freak accident, only to immediately be drafted as a Reaper where she works with Rube (Patinkin), Mason (Blue), and other "undead" who are charged with the task of extracting human souls so they can move onto the afterlife.


The show lasted two seasons, and it presented a curious mix of the macabre and humorous, of the spiritual and the tragic. Much of the show's humor is derived from the way the Reapers have to make their way through their "afterlife" which turns out to be just as much of a grind as living is. An equal amount is also gained from the oblique bureaucracy of the "soul-collecting business" the Reapers are part of--Rube gets assignments from unseen upper-management, and he then gives assignments to the Reapers... usually by writing them on yellow Post-It notes. The tragic aspects of the show come mostly into play by watching Georgia's family attempt to cope with her death, and its disintegration.

For a show that features at least one grisly death per episode, and which often makes light of those grisly deaths, it is a surprisingly uplifting show. Just about every episode carries messages about love, friendship, responsibility, and how much of an impact our presence (and absence) in the lives of those around us has.

(I once saw some comments about the show online where the poster was calling show evil and promoted the occult... well, if a show about the Angels of Death walking among us and having to work odd jobs to pay their rent is tainted by the mark of Satan, then I suppose "Highway to Heaven" must have been the ultimate in evil TV, and Michael Landon must have been just this side of the Anti-Christ... because "Dead Like Me" respects the mystery of God and Heaven enough to NOT claim to have any answers about what lies beyond the Veil.)

The show does take the position that everyone, from the moment of birth, has a time at which they are slated to die. That "appointment" is unavoidable, and if isn't kept through inaction on the part of an assigned Reaper, Bad Things happen to the soul. Even worse things happen if someone is somehow killed (At best, it describes what happens if someone some how is killed before their appointed time, and no Reaper is there to deal with the situation. But the show never gets into exactly where souls go or what happens to them.

"Dead Like Me" is definitely one of the very best television series to ever be produced. It's too bad it only lasted two seasons and a made-for-television movie wrap-up.

Man in two minds because of mad science

The Man With the Screaming Brain (2005)
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Vladimir Kolev, Tamara Gorsky, Stacey Keach, Ted Raimi, and Antoinette Byron
Director: Bruce Cambell
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

After Ugly American industrialist William Cole (Campbell) and his Bulgarian gangster driver (Kolev) are murdered by a sexy-but-psychopathic Gypsy woman (Gorsky), Cole is resurrected by Russian mad scientist Ivan Ivanovich (Keach) as a proof-of-concept for his revolutionary brain surgery technique. Unfortunately, Ivanovich's methods involve transplanting parts of brains into other brains, so Cole now has to contend with sharing his mind and body with a gangster. One thing they can both agree upon: They want revenge on the Gypsy who murdered them.


"The Man With the Screaming Brain" is part homage, part hilarious spoof of the "mad science" B-movies of the '50s and '60s. We've got greed, lust, mad science, brain transplants, a killer robot, more stereotypes and oddball plot-twists than you can count, and a truly bizarre tale of a failing marriage revitalized by tragedy and twists of fate. Oh, and we have Bruce Campbell speeding through a Bulgarian city on a pink Vespa!

While I think the storyline is a bit shakey--it's actually overburdened by a few too many gags and B-movie plot mainstays tossed in for the movie's own good--it holds together well enough and it should be great fun for fans of Bruce Campbell and the cheesy sort of sci-fi/horror movies it's spoofing. (Fans of contempary cultural reference comedy will be greatly amused by Ted Raimi's "Pavel" character... an up-and-coming mad scientist with a love of hip-hop who utters the line, 'Sounds like there is some shizzle going on down there my nizzle.')

'Death at Love House' is a flawed TV movie

Death at Love House (aka "The Shrine of Lorna Love") (1975)
Starring: Kate Jackson, Robert Wagner, and Sylvia Sidney
Director: E.W. Swackhamer
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Donna and Joel Gregory (Jackson and Wagner) are researching a book about highly-revered and long-dead Hollywood film goddess Lorna Love. They decide to stay visit Lorna's estate, which is still being tended by her long-time housekeeper (Sidney). Things take a turn for the worse when Joel, whose father had had a passionate affair with Lorna, becomes obsessed with the deceased movie star and starts to have waking dreams of a life spent with her. Is Donna losing her husband to the ghost of Lorna Love?!


I enjoy watching Kate Jackson--she's my favorite "Charlie's Angel" and she made "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" the fun show it was. Her quirky voice, cute looks, and superior acting ability brighten everything she's in, and it's only her presence in "Death at Love House" that pulls it up to a rating of Four (and only barely).

This is a film that's well-acted by a literally stellar cast (in addition to the stars, it features cameo appearances by a whole slew of old-time actors and actresses, including horror great John Carradine), and that takes full advantage of the location--which was actually the home of real-life silent film star Harold Lloyd--but which is killed by a atrocious script and some really bad production design/direction at key moments. The film is overburdened by too many elements that don't pay off in any meaningful way (whatever happened to Lorna's "spiritual advisor" who keeps cropping up?), shoddy details when it comes to historical looks (at one point Joel watches one of Lorna's old silent movies,but instead of looking like a leading lady from 1923, she looks just walked off a porn movie set in 1973), and an already reliance on characters behaving stupidly in order to make the plot work (someone tries to kill Donna, there are three people in the house, and no one calls the cops or checks up on the housekeeper?!).

"Death at Love House" is a weak melodrama that tries to be a suspense/horror movie, and it fails. It's too bad to see such a good cast wasted on such a weak movie, especially the wonderful Kate Jackson.

'Rose Red' is a house you might want to avoid

Rose Red (2002)
Starring: Nancy Travis, Julian Sands, and Matt Keeslar
Director: Craig R. Baxley
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

A self-absorbed, mentally unstable psychology professor (Travis) leads a team of psychics into Seattle's most haunted house--a house so haunted that it builds expansions to itself.


"Rose Red" is a made-for-TV chiller that tries to capture the feel of great haunted house flicks like "The Changeling", "House on Haunted Hill" and "Legend of Hell House." It mostly fails to do so, even if it is from a script by Stephen King.

Originally aired as a two-part mini-series, the movie has a few mild scares, but the truly chilling moments are few and far between. The performances by the actors are okay, but generally bland; the story is plagued by "stupid-character-syndrom"; and the house never really takes on the sort of menace/personality that the settings for this kind of movie MUST possess in order for the work to really be successful. The lack of personality in the house--and no number of characters telling the viewer how spooky the place is can create it--is what really kills "Rose Red".