
Tales
From the Darkside was a weekly 1/2 hour anthology horror series,
similar in vein to "The Twighlight Zone", "The Outer Limits", "Night
Gallery", et al. It had the usual run of good and bad episodes from
the pilot episode of Halloween 1983 till 1987, 90 episodes in all. I
don't know what station other people saw it on, but I caught it on a
Chicago station, WGN, which came with our basic cable package back in the
early days.
There are 6 VHS volumes available (vol. 1 through 6 currently at
Amazon). Actually, I have seen a
series of tapes with only 3 episodes per tape, but as 5 is more 3, who
would want less for their money.
Please note that Internet Movie DataBase has lots of useful information, but in this case it is not well cross-referenced. The t.v. guide-esque descriptions for most episodes (darkest font) come from a list that was typed in from a copy of the sci-fi magazine epilogue.
It has been 15 or so years since I have seen these episodes, so my recollection may be a bit off. I also tried to not mix up elements from other similar shows. I will update them as my TIVO grabs them off SciFi. A few years ago, Jeff Murphy , another fan of the series, sent me some recaps (darker font) along with his estimated rating of the episode (denoted by an * after the rating). So, without further ado, titles and sysnopses:
| (1) = crap | (3) = average | (5) = great |
| A Case of the Stubborns: (3) |
The story takes place in a quaint southern-type house. The grandfather dies, but wakes up the next morning not believing he is dead. Even though he continues to rot he still thinks he is alive. Eventually, the family puts some pepper in his napkin which causes him to sneeze and blow his nose off into the napkin. Upon seeing this, the grandfather realizes everyone was right and he shuffles off to stay dead. |
| A Choice of Dreams: (5*) |
An aging gangster learns that he has terminal cancer. After a cold and callous life, he is visited by a mysterious doctor who offers to help him dream forever, but the cost is ten million dollars. He agrees, only to have his brain transplanted into a device, where he doesn't dream, but relive the "Darksides" of his past, until the day his brain will die. |
| A New Lease on Life: (3*) |
A man finds an apartment with unbelievably cheap rent in the big city. All he has to do is get rid of excess food in the disposal, and not make any holes into the walls of the building. He tries hanging a picture by a nail, but the wall then bleeds. All the strange things cause the guy to freak out and he tries to kill the building. Of course, the building is larger than he is, so it only suffers from some minor indigestion, as it tries to digest both the poisons the man threw down the disposal, and the man himself. |
| A Serpent's Tooth: (2) |
Oy Gevalt! To have such children... if only they would listen to me, their dear mother. A woman gets a charm that is the wet dream of every know-it-all mother: The Serpent's Tooth! This powerful necklace causes wahtever its wearer says to become reality. The seductive power of the charm brings to light the true hippocracy of this stereotypical "loving mother". Lord knows, if anyone loved their kids more than she loved hers, she would turn into a pillar of salt. |
| All a Clone by the Telephone: (2) |
A T.V. writer who hasn't seen work in many months has an answering machine that... well, have you ever ehard of an "alternate universe"? This episode shows us the dark side of the lives of answering machines! Calling their fellow answering machine friends... immitating their owners for good or bad. The machine pokes too much into its owner's life and gets deleted. Of course, all the machine's friends keep calling to pester him. Finally, the guy gets some work, but finds out he got the work due to a message his machine had left before getting deleted. The writer then swallows his soul in return for his machine's help. |
| Anniversary Dinner: (3) |
A young woman hiking through the woods comes upon an isolated house populated by an old couple. The Wife ininvites her to stay for a while because they haven't had visitors in a long while, and their anniversary is soon, but the husband is grumpy about the whole idea. While the couple is out during the day, the woman finds a hidden back room that contains some locked boxes and a jaccuzzi. The husband finds her in there and yells at her, but the wife smoothes things out. Later that night the woman is again in the jaccuzzi and the wife gives her some wine. While the woman is drinking the wine the husband and wife start cutting up vegetables and throwing them into the spa, which the woman at first finds amusing, but slightly less so as she starts to pass out. At this point, it is fairly obvious to the viewer that the old couple is, in fact, a pair of cannibals!!!! |
| Answer Me: (5) |
A woman moves into her new apartment in New York and is annoyed by the incessant ringing of a phone in the next apartment. She eventually breaks into the apartment and finds nothing in there except for a phone. She later finds out that the woman who used to live in the now-empty apartment 'committed suicide' by strangling herself with a telephone cord. The continued banging against her wall and ringing of the phone cause her to go over to the other apartment again, where she is attacked by the phone and strangled. The end was really funny as the phone was sliding along the floor and the rotary dial turned like a steering wheel when the attacking phone changed directions. The episode did a good job of portraying the rapid fraying of the character's sanity. |
| Apprentice, The: (5) |
A coed is overjoyed to be hired by the Puritan museum until she finds out she is really back in time. Her innocent breach of the rules changes everything. |
| Auld Aquaintances: (2*) |
Two witches from the Salem era meet at a museum where they relive episodes from their past. Each hates the other, but they had made an agreement to meet over the object both wanted, a mystical necklace. One witch surrenders the necklace to the other, but after placing the necklace around her neck, she is transformed into a cat. The woman who'd surrendered the necklace admits that she's tired of the typical black magic that's accociated with witches, and wants a new life. She reclaims the necklace, making sure it never falls into the wrong hands. |
| Baker's Dozen: (4) |
In New Orleans there is a little cookie shop run by a local "bayou witch woman". Ad-man, Mr. Hogan loves her magic cookies and wants to take "Cousins Dozens" to the big time. Each of her 12 cookies has a different effect on the eater. The special 13th type, the gingerbread man, acts lie a voodoo doll. Mrs. Cousins's poor tortured kitchen slave secrets a dozen of them to Mr. Hogan, hoping that he will use them against her. Those who don't keep track of their cookies will definately see them crumble! |
| Barter: ( ) |
A woman craves quiet from her small drummer son, so when an alien knocks on her door and craves ammonia, she makes a deal. |
| Basher Malone: (2) |
One of Satan's many conspiracies is to promote evil wrestlers so little children have negative role-models. Can good-guy wrestler, Basher Malone, and his sweet old grey haired mother foil this insidious plot!? The most serious question is who payed for the product placement: Pepsi or Coke? |
| Beetles: ( ) |
An Egyptologist is warned about a curse if he continues to work on a sarcophogus and ignores it. |
| Bigalow's Last Smoke: (3) |
Bigelow wakes up looking for his morning smoke. He soon discovers that he has been imprisoned by a company he had signed up with to help him quit smoking. To be free he must quit smoking, and they are willing to help him with some tender loving punishment. Though he eventually looses his desire to smoke, it seems other of his habits are also subject to purging! In the near-future, laws are stricter than one would believe. Bigelow smokes, and a firm basically jails him and tortures him into giving up the nicotine addiction. He eventually does, but before he can leave his prison, he has to give up caffeine, as that is also an illegal substance in this future. |
| Bitterest Pill, The: (3*) |
A child is treated like dirt by his parents who ground him over petty things. A visit from the kid's uncle changes things, as the uncle has created a pill which, in addition to making one smarter, grants a photographic memory. Eventually, the uncle has a stroke as a side-effect of eating the pills. The pills have a different effect on the boy, whose growing brain is able to accept and deal with the changes to his mind, allowing him to tap into more than just knowledge. The end had the boy placing his parents under his care, and grounding them from watching tv, but gives them a book to read to make time pass quicker. The book, written by the boy: 'The Bitterest Pill'. |
| Black Widows: (3*) |
A middle-aged woman has a daughter who's preparing to get married, but both share a curse: On the wedding night, the bride transforms into a human-sized Black Widow, and after becoming pregnant with the groom's child, drains his life. Though the change can be controlled, they still need to feed. After the birth of the daughter's child, she snares a minister in her web and eats him. |
| Casavin Curse, The: () |
The family has been cursed since great grandpa killed his wife and it won't be lifted until there are no more with his name. |
| Circus, The: (4*) |
A cynical reporter visits a carnival which goes from town to town, entertaining all who have a fascination for the unknown. He encounters the ringmaster who shows him various mystical marvels, but the reporter thinks they are all hoaxes. Finally, an encounter with a mummy demonstrates the truth as the ringmaster explains the following: "Imagination is a child's tool. When raised with beliefs that border on unreal, images merely frighten. However, those NOT raised with those beliefs are unable to face the truth staring them down. It is that same fear which KILLS them". The reporter dies, but is salvaged as a new reanimated corpse. |
| Comet Watch: (2) |
Engelbert Ames eagerly awaits the approach of Haley's Comet in his attic observatory. His battleaxe wife insists that he must attend a business dinner. Out of the telescope pop hottie Laura and Sir Edmund Haley. Lighthearted comedy ensues as Haley tries to get Laura back to the comet and the ol' battleaxe tries to get Engelbert off to dinner. In the end, we witness some happy partner swapping. |
| Cutty Black Sow, The: (4*) |
A family watches over their dying matriarch. Before she dies, she explains the curse of the 'Cutty Black Sow' to her twelve year old grandson. She also tells him how to avoid the dread creature which appears on All Hallows Eve. The kid follows the rules, but makes a mistake near the end of the night. He learns the price of his mistake as he is killed while hugging his dad, who, in fact, was the 'Cutty Black Sow' in disgiuse. |
| Deal, The: ( ) |
Screenwriter unknowingly makes a deal with Satan and finds the only way he can break it is to deliver a new victim. |
| Deliver Us from Goodness: (3) |
Mr. Cantrell wants to be mayor, and his wife, Valerian, wants her husband and ugly daughter to have everything they want. In fact, Valerian is such a kind, decent and supportive person that God has decided to make her a saint. The only problem is, sainthood aint normal, and no man will be elected mayor of any good southern town if their family aint "normal". What do you do if you are the unwanting recipient of sainthood? Sin! |
| Devil's Advocate, The: (1) |
Luther Mandrak is a typical talk-radio host, i.e. a miserable human being. But, misery loves company, looking for kinship over the airwaves. Known by his handle "The Devil's Advocate", Mandrake tries his best to bring his callers down to his level. We all know who is at the lowest level of them all... That's right! The guy who wrote the script for this episode! |
| Distant Signals: (5) |
An otherworldly visitor, approaches the creator of a 1965 detective series which was canceled in mid-season. This fan offers him 2 million dollars in gold to write and direct six more episodes, including a vital series finale which will remove the wandering hero from "limbo". They find that the actor who was the lead in the series is now a useless old drunk. As he gets back into his role, he regains his youth and vitality. The alien visitor had something to say about how it was their gift to him for being part of the show which had some positive impact on their culture. |
| Djinn, No Chaser: (2) |
A couple buy an old lamp which happens to be, you guessed it, magic! The genie of the lamp is really cranky and reufses to grant any wishes till he is freed. To motivate the couple to free him, he sends a multitude of misfortunes their way. Eventually the wife gets the thing open and we see why the genie was so grumpy, he was the 7' 2" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. |
| Do Not Open This Box: (3*) |
An elderly couple have a box delivered to their home. The husband, a good person who desires to invent one thing that actually works, refuses to open the box. His wife, however, is a greedy individual. She opens the box, only to find NOTHING inside. A mail deliverer arrives the next day, offering the couple ANYTHING in exchange for the box. Days pass, as the woman indulges herself on the mailman's offers, yet the husband refuses to trouble the mailman. Eventually, the mailman gets pissed, and reclaims everything he'd given to the wife, who gives the empty box to the mailman. Now... the mailman is REALLY pissed, stating that there was more in that box than they could have guessed: A HUMAN SOUL. The mailman gives them until midnight to find a replacement, but the wife tried to convince her husband to kill the mailman. He refuses, so the wife stabs him in the back. The mailman, now possessing horns and a satanic goatee, recites three of the ten commandments after revealing that she was supposed to be picked up... instead of the delivery. The husband finally invents a lock which holds his wife's soul for the duration until it can be claimed by the devil, and the mailman hooks him up with a kindly old neighboor woman who brings over a 'devils food' cake. |
| Dream Girl: ( ) |
Stagehand's dream traps theater group. |
| Effect and Cause: (2) |
A ditsy artist gets so far out of it man, that like... it's wild, but stuff happens before the thing that, like, causes it to happen... happens, man. Can the straight-laced sister save her from herself, or will her possibly gay friend enable her into total chaos?! |
| Enormous Radio, The: ( ) |
A new radio lets a couple overhear the neighbors, and makes the wife worry that the neighbors can hear them. |
| Everybody Needs a Little Love: (1) |
A noir style drunken recollection of events that may or may not have been true. Replacing coherant story for style, a working stiff gets entangled in the very healthy and normal relationship between his friend and his mannequin, Estell. If the script-writer had stopped drinking as much as the 2 guys in this story, we might come to better understand the motivations behind the piece of wood that may really be the guy's wife... or some junk. |
| False Prophet, The: (3) |
Complete airhead, Cassey Pines - "Aries cusp", stops at a small rest stop while the bus taking her to Texas, and her Sagittarius dream man, fuels up. This trip to texas was taken on the advice of Madame X, her astrological machine. By pure chance, the new owners of the rest stop happen to have the son and heir of madame X, an astrological machine named Horace X. Horace watns her not to get on the bus, which, of course, she doesn't. He also warns her to beware flase prophits. Enter Nate Jones, founder and preacher of the "Moment to Moment Church". Who will Cassey choose as the false prophit, who will win the "prize" that is Cassey? Will it be the all knowing Horace X or will it be the libido of charming preacher man!? |
| Family Reunion: (2) |
Bobby is a very disturbed child, though the least of his problems is his Jersey accent. Bobby has been kidnapped by his father, Robert. Robert is just trying to protect people, including his wife Janice, from bobby's little problem. Apperantly a little hunting accident in Ireland turned Bobby into a Warewolf! Hearing that Janice was also injured in that hunting accident was enough foreshadowing me, but apperantly not for poor Robert. |
| Fear of Floating: (3) |
Arnold Barker is sweating, and not just from the hot Arizona sun. Tramping himself and his lead boots into an army recruiting station, we find a man desperate to escape his pursuers. In need of recruits the two soldiers agree to protect him if he signs up. The army really wants Arnold because he is a "floater" (in both senses of the word). It turns out that even the army can't protect a man from some things, be they a shotgun wedding or a high powered ceiling fan. |
| Florence Bravo: (2) |
David and Emily McCall find an old house with some interesting history to move into. A new house, a new job for David, a new start for their 11 year marriage; recently strained by an episode of cheating. Mixing actual injury with weak willed paranoia with a homocidal man-hating ghost don't make good odds for David making it through this episode. Does David deserve the womens' scorn, should Emily take her pills, should the ghost just leave this nice couple alone!? |
| Geezenstacks, The: (2) |
Uncle richard is coming to dinner and he has a special present for his niece, Audry. While showing a house, Richard found the previous owners had left behind a nice big dollhouse. Audry loves playing with the dolls which she says are named the Geezenstacks. Her dad, Sam, is not so happy with her new toys; something about their ability to predict the future. What future ills will the Geezenstacks have in store for the newest owners of the dollhouse? |
| Going Native: (5) |
This episode was well written. Reporting on this episode is like reporting on the human condition. I shouldn't get too into the description. High concept is sorrow, not to be understood. |
| Grandma's Last Wish: ( ) |
Her family offers grandma a last wish before they send her to the rest home and live to regret it. |
| Grave Robber, The: (3) |
Two treasure hunters and their guide explore the tomb of Amen Hotep in Egypt. The first burial chamber they stumble into contains the mummy of the lord chamberlain, tasked with destroying all intruders. The guide, Achmed, dies a quick death, but the two treasure hunters manage to stall the mummy, trying to find some escape. Trying to keep the mummy entertained, the "Woman challenges mummy to strip poker" (tv guide tag line). Well, we all know what happens when you challenge a mummy to strip poker... |
| Halloween Candy: (4) |
Another Halloween special episode. This one featured Mr. Kellum, a nasty old man. You know things aren't going to go well for him when he asks his son to bring him "Waffles, the real ones, frozen, not that stuff you pour." Even though Ned brought some candy for his father to hand out, the old man insisted on being an ass. But, when a demon shows up saying "Trick or treat", it takes an especially stubborn type to not give up the candy and risk demonic tricks.   Of course, The dark side takes its due, freezing time to stretch the torture. |
| Heretic: ( ) |
A dishonest art dealer suffers the tortures of the Inquisition when he is thrown into the scene of a recently acquired sketch. |
| Hush: (3) |
Young inventor Buddy has some intersting inventions in his workshop. The best creation is a device that can "eat the noise" from something else. After eating it's remote control, the machine goes on a noise sucking spree around the house. Can Bobby with his bad cough hide from the noise hungry machine? Can the babysitter manage to stop the thing? How many house pets will die before the madness ends!? |
| I Can't Help Saying Goodbye: (4*) |
A nine year old girl gains the ability to see peoples' deaths seconds before they occur, so she says 'Goodbye' to them. Her friend, and her mother die, and when her older sister's boyfriend begins to grow fearful of the girl, she says 'Goodbye' to him, too, before he dies of a heart attack. The older sister unravels and decides to 'teach' her sister how to swim. The girl stares at a mirror, and watches water rise, all the while saying 'Goodbye' to herself. |
| I'll Give You A Million: (4) |
Duncan and Jack are two old businessmen who have left many a knife in the backs of their competitors, and partners. Duncan, who has an awesome mustache, taunts an ailing Jack into signing a contract for the purchase of his soul. Much to Duncan's delight, Jack suffers the inevitable buyer's regret. In the end, it turns out you can't get away with selling something you don't own. |
| If the Shoes Fit...: (1) |
Bo Gump checks into a hotel while on the campaign trail. nbsp;With the motto "Let's have a good time", how can you go wrong. If you are just a big clown, "the darkside" might find out about it, well... like the episode is titled... |
| Impressionist, The: (3) |
Spiffy Remo is a master impressionist. He is so good that he is the man the NSA (impressive reference for mid-80's) needs someone to communicate with an alien that uses both complex vocalizations and body language. Can Spiffy succede and get the alien to divulge the secrets of fusion, or will the NSA have to keep the alien locked up in a room with only partial acoustic dampening for even longer!? |
| In the Cards: (5) |
Madame Katrina is a dizzy blond who practices the ancient art of the Tarot reading. More accurately, she just tells people what they want to hear, using the cards as a prop. The powers that be won't take this mocking lying down. A cursed deck is passed into her posession and only gives malevolent readings. What is a woman to do? Knowing that the cards give bad readings, the obvious thing to do is to go to a bad neighborhood and switch in the cursed deck to get a reading from them. Hilarity ensues! |
| Inside the Closet: (3*) |
Ms. Ainsley, a young graduate student, shows up to rent the last room available in the town. This room is in the house of the severe Dr. Fentry, dean of vetrinary science. The room used to belong to Dr. fentry's daughter, Margret, but now retains a door to a very short closet as the only reminder of her. Despite the doctor's assures that the door doesn't open, it is quite active. It seems that Margret might be a naughty little girl who is not ready to give up her room. |
| It all Comes Out in the Wash: (3) |
An annoying businessman finds out about a secret special service offered by a local chinese laundry. For a large sum of money, ancient mysitcal powers are brought to bare upon the shirts of the sinful, removing any guilt those sins might have caused. Of course, the first rule of chinese secret laundry is "not to talk about chinese secret laundry". The second rule of secret chinese laundry is... well, if you don't sin so much, you won't have to worry about it. The final rule of chinese secret laundry is that it is safer to lead a good life and win the lottery than to rely on somebody to take care of your dirty landry. |
| Last Car, The: (1) |
A college girl's train trip becomes one-way when she enters the last car, which is occupied by a woman who knows her name, a quiet old man and a noisy little boy. -No exit, set on a train- |
| Let the Games Begin: (2*) |
A man attending his 20 year high school reunion has what appears to be a fatal heart attack. An angel and demon fight over the man's soul, and they decide to have a contest: whoever can lure the man out first, gets his soul. Reviving the man, each agent adopts a form from the man's life. In the end, the angel and demon find themselves growing attracted to each other, even as the man resolves to fix the mistakes in his life. |
| Levitation: (2) |
Some guy goes to the circus with his friend and they see a levitation act. After they heckle and pester the magician, he says he will give them a private performance of the act. The magician hypnotizes one of the guys, who then promptly starts floating up into the air. Unfortunately for the floating guy, the magician has a heart attack and dies, so the guy continues floating up to his eventual death. |
| Lifebomb: (2) |
Some rich, old, business type dude with a bad heart gets a letter about a special medical program that he, by dint of his wealth, is eligible to join. He goes, and gets this device implanted which is set off every time he has a heart attack.   The device puts him in a big stasis cocoon. His wife leaves him after this happens a few times, and he just wants to die. But, the people won't let him because they want to keep collecting his insurance premiums. |
| Love Hungry: ( ) |
An overweight woman receives a package containing an ear piece that will help her diet. An old school chum invites her to dinner which is a disaster. A second package contains a pair of glasses which allow her to 'see' as well as 'hear' her food. |
| Madness Room, The: (3) |
An older milliionaire lives in a giant house with his youger wife. A young business associate comes by to deliver some papers to the old guy and sticks around to play with a Ouija board that the wife brings out. Communing with the spirit of the house, "Ben", they are clued in to a hidden room in the house. The whole plot is a setup to cause the old guy to have a massive heart attack so they could get his money. Thier plot ends up being spoiled by the last message the ouija board gave, a message not spelled out by the wife or the young associate, but by the spirit of the house! |
| Mary, Mary: ( ) |
A woman lives with mannequins which she treats as real people and cannot relate to live people. |
| Milkman Cometh, The: (3) |
An unseen milkman grants a man's wishes when he puts a note in the milk bottle. His greatest wish is for a daughter. |
| Miss May Dusa: (1) |
A burglar turns into a mannequin as the mannequin, whose eyes he looked into, becomes flesh and blood. Where is a lady in distress in the big city supposed to hide to collect her thoughts?  , The subway, of course! You always find the most interesting people in the subway late at night. Jimmy Johnson, blind sax player is the man to help miss May Dusa regain her memory and nerves, and maybe even... heart. If the gods curse you to turn those who look at you into stone, they aren't likely to let you off so easy as getting on with a blind guy. But, after all the painful dialoug in this episode, Jimmy deserves what he gets. |
| Monsters In My Room: (3*) |
A young boy has trouble dealing with his step-father. Eventually, he begins to deal with real monsters inhabiting his room, who scare him even more. However, he manages to overcome his fears and control the monsters. He then tricks his step-dad into entering the room and the monsters kill him. |
| Mookie and Pookie: (2) |
A story about a brother and sister. The brother had been a computer genius. Fortunately, his spirit is alive inside the computer in the sister's bedroom. The parents think the kid is making up stories and are about to pull the plug on the computer, but the brother 'speaks' to them. They all eventually re-learn to be a family again. |
| Moth, The: ( ) |
A young woman, about to die, believes her soul will reside in a moth and she can be restored as long as the moth is alive. She implores her mother to catch it and put it in a jar. |
| My Ghostwriter - The Vampire: ( ) |
A hack horror novelist bargains for a vampire's help--he offers a place for the coffin and the vampire tells stories. |
| My Own Place: (3) |
An apartment dweller, who yearns to live alone, acquires a roommate from over-populated Calcutta. |
| New Man, The: ( ) |
A boy comes to an office to walk home with his father, but the father, a recovered alcoholic, has never seen him before. |
| No Strings: (3) |
A mobster forces the World's Greatest Puppeteer to string up the body of a dead enemy and make it dance. |
| Old Soft Shoe, The: ( ) |
Chester Carlton, lingerie salesman and ballroom dancer extraordinaire, wants to checks into a ratty motel on a cold windy night. Of course, the only room left... IS HAUNTED!   Sure, haunted by a sexy broad who only wants to dance the night away. Unfortunately, if the ghost keeps thinking you are someone else, that might be a sign it has some issues. Will Harry... I mean Chester live to tell the tale?! |
| Odds, The: (4) |
Tommy Vale is an old-school bookie. Sitting at his table in a mostly empty bar, ha has been smoking drinking and taking bets for over thirty years. To start off the action in this episode, a mysterious young man in a nice white suit comes in to make a bet. Longshots keep coming in for our mystery bettor. Eventually, Tommy and his underling, Horace, realize that the man is the son of a former client who had been driven to suicide because he had gotten in over his head with debts. The episode progresses till we reach the final bet, double or nothing, will Tommy Vale still be alive and breathing come 8 a.m. the next morning? Can a man win over his destiny, or will forces from "the darkside" have their revenge!? |
| Pain Killer: (4*) |
A man has severe back pains, and a doctor who makes a house call determines the cause of the pains. He offers to cure him of the pains by killing the man's nagging wife, and eventually agrees. However, when the time comes for him to pay back the doctor, he refuses. The doctor suggests that others can suffer pain as well, and gives his patient severe migraines, until he agrees to the doctor's wishes. Before doing as the doctor asks, he asks three times who the doctor is. All it takes is a sinister laugh and lightning to reveal that good old 'Dr. Roebuck' is actually the Devil. |
| Parlour Front Floor: (4*) |
A wicked woman tries to drive her tenant out of the building she and her husband owns. She learns that the tenant practices voodoo, and does what she can to anger the tenant, not believing his powers. He is so shocked to learn that the woman miscarries, and that the couple's cat dies, that he kills himself. But... The woman lied about being pregnant, AND she poisoned her own cat. The husband leaves her, but that is not enough punishment, the tenant comes back as a zombie, and claims her life. |
| Payment Overdue: ( ) |
A young callous collection agent is about to find out that she should have explained the rules to one debtor. |
| Printer's Devil: (4) |
Junior may have integrity and pride in his art, but when he is flat broke anything is negotiable. Negotiations become easier when you have Alex, the jovial tub-of-lard, as your agent. Not just fat and friendly, but Alex is also adept at magic! The power of animal sacrifices allow Jr. to score a hottie and to produce a string of best sellers. Keeping all those animals around turns out to be inconducive to romance, leaving Jr. with a choice: Hot woman or magic meal ticket. Companionship is nice, but desperation can drive a man to do anything to get back into fortune's good graces. |
| Red Leader: (2) |
You can't hide your evil deeds from the devil, especially if he's been looking to recruit you. If you are going to be evil, do a good job of it so you can start out as a minion. Don't be 2nd fiddle, or the guy that wrote this episode! |
| Ring Around the Redhead: ( ) |
A doomed man tells a bizarre tale just before his execution in the electric chair. |
| Satanic Piano, The: (3) |
An award winning composer is running thin on inspiration. He lives with his loving and musicly talented daughter in an upscale apartment, but he feels he deserves more. The former manager of a satanic metal band calls him up to offer him a way through his dry spell. In the end, his lack inspiration saves the day, but not his hand! Check out the makeup job, it's like you can see the bones. |
| Seasons of Belief: (5*) |
A mother and father tell an unfamiliar Christmas tale, not involving Santa Claus, but rather a monstrous creature known as 'the Grither'. Supposedly it could fly and had hands the size of basketballs. The children don't believe in the Grither, and yell its name aloud many times, which the parent's claim it can hear. Things grow very strange as Christmas Eve unfolds, but as the children grow more scared, their father tells them that 'the Grither is no more real than Santa Claus'. The mother chimes in that there's no such thing as the Grither, and then... All Hell breaks loose, as two long monstrous arms rip through the windows, gripping each parent's heads with it's hands, until it kills them. 'Silent Night' plays as the parents lay dead. |
| Seymourlama: ( ) |
A spoiled boy is named High Lama, assuming his parents agree, which they do. His behavior leaves a lot to be desired. |
| Shrine, The: (0) |
After having been away from home home for too long, possibly due to time at an... "institution"... a young lady returns home to find that her mother is spending too much time in her old room, left just like it was from when she was younger.   The mother is so lame that she has conjured up a spirit that pretends to be her daughter as a child.  In the end, someone dies. Who is it? Who cares! This episode sucks. |
| Slippage: ( ) |
A man discovers that he is slowly ceasing to exist. |
| Snip, Snip: (5+) |
Abe, a disgruntled highschool freshman algebra teacher, loves numbers. Through years of investigation into their properties, he finally stumbled upon their cosmic power. He is, of course, going to use that power to win the big $10,000,000 lotto jackpot. His spirit guides have directed him to the powerful number "6 6 6 6 6 6". |
| Social Climber, The: ( ) |
A young apprentice shoemaker steps into other people's lives when he wears their shoes. |
| Sorry, Right Number: ( ) |
A woman receives a disturbing call and years later discovers its meaning. |
| Spirit Photographer, The: ( ) |
A middle-aged man, Algie, tries to attract spirits with his invention and his old friend, Harry, scoffs. |
| Strange Love: (4*) |
The year is 1935, a beautiful woman dancing in the moonlight breaks her leg. Her husband fetches a handsome young doctor to help. The doctor discovers, too late, that he has been brought to help... VAMPIRES! Of course, the doctor must be made to stay and help make sure the leg heals properly. Also, of course, the petty eurotrash husband is blind to his wife's changing affections.   In the end, it is not the doctor's blood that satisfies the wife! |
| Swap, The: ( ) |
Greedy wife's murder plot backfires. |
| Tear Collector, The: (1) |
A woman who can't stop crying finds some guy who wants to buy them. After each session she feels a bit better, but then for some reason decides to go and smash all the vials of tears this guy had collected. Though this is not a memorable episode, I do remember that the guy's collection room was a very nicely done set. |
| Trick or Treat: (5+) |
One of the Halloween special episodes. This episode features Gideon Hackles, a miserly shop owner/inventor. This penny pincher holds IOUs from almost all the farmers in the valley and loves nothing more than letting everybody know how backwards they are. Well, he does also love Haloween. Every Haloween, he invites the local children to try to find the wad of IOUs he has hidden. As the kids search, Gideon taunts them about the angry spirits and activates the scary animatronics he has installed around his house. Well, the "angry spirits" aren't just out to scare the children this night. |
| Trouble with Mary Jane, The: (4) |
A rich woman offers two exorcists $50,000 to save her daughter's life. The daughter is possessed by a demon who refuses to leave. Two bumbling excorcists summon a second demon who possesses the girl's body as well. Rather than fighting it out for possession of the girl, each spirit enters one of the excorcists' bodies. |
| Unhappy Medium, The: (4*) |
An evangelist dies and leaves his fortune to the niece he despises. He traps his assistant, his sister and her daughter (the niece) in his home which is caught between Heaven and Hell. The niece and the assistant decide to try and save their souls, so they each open a door leading to the two realms and walk through them. The sister thinks she'll get the motherlode of cash, until suddenly, her daughter and the assistant return from the afterlife. They exit the home, even as it heads back to Hell, with the woman ready to meet her fate. |
| Ursa Minor: ( ) |
Bears have great dark magic, remember that the next time you think about giving your sweet little daughter a teddy for her birthday. Well, you might be a drunk like Richard who doesn't remember where he got the bear or that he gave it to his daughter... Still, when she keeps blaming all the household chaos on the little bear, you can only hope it will be the minor trouble of the teddy and not anger the Ursa Major trouble of something bigger. |
| Word Processor of the Gods: (4) |
Based on a S. King story, this episode is about a guy with a nagging wife, a brat kid and a word processor. The protagonist is feeling low under the weight of his ball-and-chain and the untimely death of his alcholoic brother, sister-in-law and nephew. The nephew had put the word processor together by cannibalizing other machines, and, as we find out, it has the power to alter reality. Typing a statement and the hitting either 'delete' or 'execute' removes or adds that sentence to the way things are. The guy uses this opportunity to upgrade his life by deleting his family and bringing back his sister-in-law and nephew as his wife and son. In the end, the machine overheats and blows up, but the changes remain. |
| Yatterling and the Jack: (4) |
The protagonist, Jack, is cursed due to his mother's dabbling in the black arts. The demon, a Yattering, tries everything he can to disrupt Jack's life. Jack seems to remain oblivious to the poltergeist-like events caused by the Yattering. By the episode's end, the Yattering is so desperate to disturb Jack, that he breaks his only taboo against touching Jack, thereby becoming his slave. |