Category Archives: TV Review

The Haunting of Hill House, S1E1, Steven Sees a Ghost, Review By Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

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Happy Horrorthon! Hill House came early this year.  Here we go!

Hill House has been remade many different ways.  This time it’s done by Mike Flanagan of Gerald’s Game (Netflix).  The show splits its time between then and now.  It opens “Then” with Timothy Hutton in a very big and creepy house with a bunch of kids.  We learn through A LOT of exposition that Steven has grown up to be paranormal writer.  The cuts between then and now aren’t too bad, but it does diffuse the tension.

The kids handled the trauma of growing up in a haunted house with varied acceptance.  Steven is a paranormal investigator.  The oldest sister works at funeral home. Luke grew up to be an alcoholic. Nellie grew up to be disturbed.  There’s another sister who’s a sex addict.  I’m halfway into the episode and I am kinda bored.  They try to sell the show as the next Stranger Things, but I’m not sure if this show is even the next Whitney.  This show is a lot of things, but it is not worthy at this point of being in the same sentence as Season 1 Stranger Things.  

This show has 20 minutes left to get good and my hopes are low.

Nellie is one of the many family members who has grown up all messed up.  She is drawn back to Hill House I suppose because she wants to do some lawn maintenance.

The story, once again, shifts to the past and Steven and the dad need to escape the house because they are being pursued by a ghost.  Apparently, their mom was possessed by a ghost and they have to flee and leave mom behind (awkward mother’s day coming up).  Funny how divorce can just creep up on a couple after 20 years of marriage; you look over and realize that you and your spouse are different people; in that, you are a person and she is possessed by a demon.

Nellie has returned to Hill House literally and starts dancing around.  It’s weird.  The show jump cuts to Steven to an explaining session that her house is not haunted, but he’ll make it seem haunted in the book and the lady looks at him with contempt because he’s a fraud.  We learn that Steven is a failed novelist who cashed in on the family drama by writing the Haunting of Hill House.  This caused Steven and his sister to become estranged.

The show flashes back and actually does a good job at showing why Luke is so traumatized.  Apparently, one of the Hill House ghosts was harassing him when he was young and that trauma triggered his lifelong addiction.

The show flashes to Steven again as an adult.  He catches his brother with the substance abuse problem leaving his apartment with all of his electronics.  Steven gets the brother to give him his stuff back.  When he finally goes inside, he finds Nell at his home and the first scary thing happens in the whole show: Steve’s dad calls and says that Nell went to the hill house and she’s dead.  So……the Nell that is in Steve’s house is a GHOOOOOOOST.  BOO!  Nell does some ghosty stuff that’s kinda spooooky.

I don’t know if there will be second review of this show.  I will definitely watch another episode, but I’m not ready to get married to it yet.  I think it could have some potential, but Stranger Things had me the first murder in the first 30 seconds.  So far, this is more slow exposition than slow burn, but I will give it a fair shot.

Cheers!

Horror on TV: Kolchak: The Night Stalker 1.2 “The Zombie” (dir by Alexander Grasshoff)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, on Kolchak: The Night Stalker:

Chicago gangsters are turning up dead!  Is it a mob war or is it something else?  Kolchak suspects the latter and, as you can guess from this episode’s title, he’s right.  This episode features gangsters, numbers runners, and voodoo!

It originally aired on September 20th, 1974!

Enjoy!

Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the stories of Stephen King, Battleground, Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

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Happy Horrorthon!!! I decided to do a bit of a hybrid review of one of my favorite stories:  “Battleground” by Stephen King.  This book is part of a short story anthology in Night Shift.  Battleground was written in 1972 by King.  This was back in the days when he wasn’t just hungry, he was starving.  He was working in laundries, substitute teaching, maybe even a paper route.  This particular work was published in Cavalier, which was a low-rent Playboy.  In those days, he would sell stories to Swank – a low-rent Penthouse as well.  Many of these stories were real gems or at least gems in the rough.  For example, Night Surf (Cavalier and Night Shift) evolved into his opus The Stand about a decade later.  Battleground was made into a 52 minute long episode of the above short-lived series (watch them on youtube before they are taken down!!!).

This episode starred William Hurt and like the short-story there is ZERO dialogue, giving the episode a silent movie feel that is very compelling.  Throughout the episode, you only hear ambient noise or grunts or yells, but no spoken dialogue.  In fact, even when a newscaster is announcing that a murder has taken place, it’s done with subtitles.  This is as close to genius television as it gets.  I was truly saddened that it was not renewed.

The episode depicts William Hurt as a nameless hitman who is taskered to kill a toymaker.  He does.  When Hurt goes back home to his San Francisco condo, he receives a package.  Inside the package is compilation of army men and “additional surprises”.  These aren’t your grandpa’s plastic army men; however, they are alive and they have cruel intentions for Mr. Hurt!

Within moments of opening the package, the army men attack William Hurt in very Army like fashion. They take a covered position under Hurt’s couch and open fire, forcing William to flee to the bathroom.  This solace is short-lived because they have mini-howitzers.  Yes, I was primed to like this one.  There are even mini-helicopters that attack Hurt and they send nasty notes to one another demanding and refusing surrender.

The battle to avenge the toy maker’s death continues even out to the ledge of the building, which is likely an Easter Egg to another King story “The Ledge”.  Hurt prevails against the army men, but there are two more “Additional Surprises” 1) a commando who very resourceful and 2) a mini thermonuclear device.  The mini thermonuclear device is the only dumb part of the story because there is no such thing as a tiny Thermonuclear reaction – these are atoms we’re fusing or splitting afterall.  If detonated (regardless of its “mini” nature) , it would’ve destroyed all of San Francisco, but let’s give King- a liberal arts major- a break on that one because it’s still a fun story.

I will review a few more of these stories that were in Night Shift or episodes from this show.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Horror on TV: Kolchak: The Night Stalker 1.1 “The Ripper” (dir by Alan Baron)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For tonight’s excursion into the horrific side of television, we have the very first episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker!

The Kolchak of the title was a reporter named Carl Kolchak (played by Darren McGavin).  Kolchak was kind of a nervous fellow because every story that he reported on seemed to involve some sort of terrible supernatural creature!  Seriously, that would make anyone anxious.

In his first episode, Kolchak investigates a series of murders and comes to suspect that Jack the Ripper might be haunting the streets of 1970s Chicago.

This episode originally aired on September 13th, 1974.

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 3.26 “Signal Received” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be showcasing a new show here on the Shattered Lens so, for tonight, here’s the last episode of One Step Beyond that we’ll be sharing during this year’s horrorthon.

(If you’ve enjoyed these episodes, all three seasons of One Step Beyond have been uploaded to YouTube.)

Tonight’s episode tells the story of three sailors who hear an unexpected message on the radio.  Two of the sailors hear that their ship will soon sink.  The third sailor hears that he will live a long and fulfilling life.

One Step Beyond always claimed that all of its stories were “based on fact.”  This episode actually goes the extra mile by interviewing one of the real-life sailors about the message and about whether or not he believes in the supernatural.

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 2.25 “The Haunting” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond, a man suspects that his best friend is having an affair with his fiancee.  What better way to take care of the problem than by leaving his friend to die on the side of a mountain?

It seems like the perfect crime and the man might get away with it …. but only if he can do something about the ghost who seems to be stalking him in the days leading up to his wedding!

As always, this is supposedly based on a true story.

This episode originally aired on March 1st, 1960.

Enjoy!

Creeped Out, S1E1, Marti, Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

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Creeped Out is a Netflix release that really isn’t.  I have noticed that Netflix will call something an original series even though they just bought the rights.  This show was originally produced by CBBC, explaining why the second episode has very hard to understand British accents.  I checked Bruce McDonald’s IMDB and yes…he’s english and wrote for the Eastenders.  Eastenders or EastEnders (sp?) is show that I believe is about poor people in London or something…I’m not investigating anymore than that.

I watched the first episode Marti with my girls (7,9).  They were quite scared by the opening and one other scene that I will get to later.  The show is a lot like the 90s show The Outer Limits.  It has a lot of spooky and technology themes that teach a morality or cautionary tale.  I was primed to like this show because I loved the Outer Limits and one of the writers is really nice: Melinda Snodgrass (follow her on twitter).

The story opens with Kim.  Kim is a pretty girl in high school who none of the boys pay attention to because that actually happens in real life.  She has nerdy friend that also is a pariah for no particular reason.  Kim is forced to hang out with her loser friend and pine for a boy who looks like Justin Bieber.  She gets a new phone and pays for it somehow.  This phone is indestructible and self-aware.

The phone’s AI calls himself Marti.  Marti is really really creepy.  He works autonomously to make Kim popular and succeeds.  Kim gets the attention of the cool kids, including Bieber.  Just when Bieber is about to go out with her, in true Lifetime MOW fashion, Marti reveals himself to be a jealous psycho boyfriend.  He threatens to destroy Kim’s new found popularity unless she agrees to be only his.  YIKES.  When Kim gets fed up, she tries to destroy the phone, it doesn’t work.  Kim tries to call customer service and a woman answer who slowly takes Marti’s side.  Then, the voice switched to Marti’s voice and my daughters both screamed.  They didn’t understand why fully it was so scary, but I finished the show alone.

Marti blackmails Kim to take him to the prom and she agrees.  It’s really creepy.  She eventually defeats Marti, but he destroys her popularity.  She entombs Marti in cement, but then considers releasing him six months later because she really liked being popular.

The show had a real Outer Limits vibe and played upon human weakness and need to be loved.  There’s always been the morality tale of giving up your soul for fame, but this is more basic.  Kim wants to be loved and our technology has never made us more isolated from real love.  Marti’s popularity is twitter popularity: fake.  Marti gave her multiple friendships that were ended as quickly as they began like muting or blocking someone.  On the other hand, Kim’s nerdy friend took the good with the bad and continued to love Kim.  It spoke to dependence and isolation because of technology and our total dependence upon instant love.

 

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 1.19 “The Captain’s Guests” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond, a couple moves into a house on the coast.  Everyone tells them that the house is haunted but the couple refuses to believe them.  After all, everyone knows how superstitious people are in New England.  I mean, Stephen King had to pick it up from somewhere, right?

However, after moving into the house, the couple starts to realize that they are not alone….

According to the show’s host, John Newland, this is based on a true story (maybe)!

This episode originally aired on May 26th, 1959.  The husband is played by Robert Webber, who also played Juror #12 in Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men.

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 3.3 “The Death Waltz” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond is called The Death Waltz.  It’s about what happens when, in 1860, two calvary officers fall in love with the same young woman, Lillie (Elizabeth Montgomery).  Lillie has a great time playing the two men against each other but, when one of them is killed by Apaches, she rather heartlessly goes to a dance with the surviving suitor.

Unfortunately, for her, the dead man’s ghost decides to go to the dance as well….

The episode originally aired on October 4th, 1960.

Enjoy!

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 2.14 “Make Me Not A Witch” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond, Emmy (Patty McCormack) makes the mistake of telling her parents (Eileen Ryan and Leo Penn) that she can read minds.  Needless to say, the news does not go over as well as Emmy might have hoped.  Her parents have a farm to run!  The last thing they need is a witch in their midst!

Emmy runs to the church and prays, “Make me not a witch!”

But what if the world needs a witch?

As with every episode of One Step Beyond, this episode is supposedly based on fact.  Patty McCormack is best-remembered for her Oscar-nominated performance in The Bad Seed while Eileen Ryan and Leo Penn are best remembered as being the parents of Sean and Chris Penn.

This episode originally aired on December 22nd, 1959.

Enjoy!