Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th: The Series 1.21 “Double Exposure”

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!

This week, a reporter uses a cursed camera to make the news!

Episode 1.21 “Double Exposure”

(Dir by Neill Fearnley, originally aired on May 16th, 1988)

As you may remember, at the end of the previous episode, Ryan reluctantly left the Pentite Community and returned to Toronto so that he could continue to help Micki and Jack track down the cursed antiques. When he left, he promised Laura that he would always love her.

Well, that didn’t last long. This episode opens with a Ryan in a photobooth, taking pictures of himself and his new girlfriend, Cathy! RYAN, YOU CAD! Now, in Ryan’s defense, Cathy is played by Catherine Disher (who previously played the supercool Sophie in the first season of T and T) and she seems like a much better match for Ryan than the somewhat dour Laura. Cathy and Ryan actually have fun together! Of course, this is Friday the 13th and that means that all fun is temporary.

There’s a serial killer stalking Toronto and Ryan just happens to witness him murdering his latest victim in an alley. To Ryan’s shock, the killer appears to Winston Knight (Gary Frank), a television news anchorman who is currently getting huge rating because of his reporting on the killings. But how can that be? When Ryan witnesses the murder, Winston is live on the air, delivering the news. Winston even gets a phone call from someone claiming to be the murderer.

Winston speculates that the killer might be an obsessed fan who is wearing a Winston Knight mask. Of course, the truth of the matter is that Winston is using a cursed camera to take a picture of himself. The picture then turns into a doppelganger of Winston. The Doppelganger commits a murder, Winston reports on the tragedy, and then, after five hours, Winston sets the negative on fire and the Doppelganger is destroyed. If Winston doesn’t destroy the negative after five hours, Winston will be the one who is destroyed and the Doppelganger will become human. It all sounds a bit complicated, to be honest. You have to wonder how Winston managed to figure all of this out.

Anyway, the important thing is that Winston is eventually exposed as the murderer. While trying to kill Ryan at the antique store, the Doppelganger is stabbed by Ryan. It doesn’t hurt the Doppelganger until Winston fails to burn the negative and vanishes from existence. The Doppelganger becomes human and then promptly drops dead of his wound. Ryan conquers another cursed antique but, unfortunately, not before the Doppelganger murders Cathy. The episode ends not on a note of triumph but instead with Ryan looking at a picture of Cathy and tearing up.

Wow, what a dark episode! Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that, on this show, Ryan is basically a very naive and very earnest teenager. He falls in love easily, he always believes that things will turn out for the best, and his heart is broken nearly every time he has to retrieve an antique. Jack is used to the pain and Micki is a bit of a cynic but Ryan is still trying to balance happiness with the psychological damage that comes from seeing the worst things possible on a weekly basis. John D. LeMay and Catherine Disher were adorable together and it was hard not to get a bit upset when Cathy fell victim to the Doppelganger. This episode was sad but undeniably effective.

Poor Ryan!

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Monsters 1.23 “Mannikins of Horror”

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

Uh-oh! Here come the Mannikins of Horror!

Episode 1.23 “Mannikins of Horror”

(Dir by Ernest Farino, originally aired on May 20th, 1989)

In a dystopian future, a once renowned surgeon named Dr. Collin (William Prince) is a “patient” in a mental health facility that is more of a prison than a hospital. Dr. Collin is obsessed with dying but he believes that he has found a way to transfer his soul into the very detailed, anatomically-correct clay figurines that he has made in his cell.

Dr. Jarris (Glynis Barber) thinks that Dr. Collin can be cured but the new head of the asylum, Dr. Starr (Brian Brophy), disagrees. Starr believes that Collin is beyond saving and of no use to society. And, in the future, those who do not have a use are euthanized. Dr. Starr does not care that Dr. Collin once saved thousands of lives during the world’s most recent war. He doesn’t care that Dr. Collin truly believes that he can make the world a better place through his research. Dr. Starr has not time for imagination or speculation. He is all about following procedure and observing protocol. The arrogant Dr. Starr even takes away Dr. Collin’s figurines.

That’s a mistake because guess what? Those figurines are alive! And when Dr. Starr drinks a bit too much Vodka and passes out in his office, one of the figurines picks up a scalpel and stabs Dr. Starr in the eye, killing him. When Dr. Jarris discover what has happened, she smashes the figurine’s head against Dr. Starr’s desk. Dr. Collin screams in his cell as his face collapse in on itself, leaving behind a bloody mess. Dr. Jarris huddles in a corner and starts to scream as the end credits roll.

YIKES!

Seriously, this was a really good episode. The clay figurines were certainly creepy and the scene where they attacked Dr. Starr was so graphic that I’m a bit surprised the show was able to get away with it. That said, what truly made this episode frightening was its portrayal of a society without compassion. Dr. Starr, who is more of a bureaucrat than a doctor, has the power to decide who is useful to society and who is not. And, if you’re deemed to not be useful, you’re marked for death. It’s a harsh worldview and an example of cold pragmatism taken to its logical extreme. It’s also feels like a pretty accurate representation of the attitude that many government and medical officials took during the COVID pandemic. Just as many seemed to be gleeful about the idea of the pandemic wiping out those who they considered to be undesirable, Dr. Starr can barely suppress his joy in punishing Dr. Collin for not being properly compliant. The little clay figures were scary but Dr. Starr was horrifying.

Monsters has been a fairly uneven show so far but Mannikins of Horror is a triumph.

Live Tweet Alert: Watch The Children With #ScarySocial!

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting 1980’s The Children!

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The film is available on Prime! I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Here’s The Trailer For Arcadian, starring Nicolas Cage!

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

For all the rumors that occasionally surface about his apparent desire to retire, Nicolas Cage is still making movies and we’re all the better for it. Here’s the trailer for his upcoming film, Arcadian!

Here’s The Trailer For Late Night With The Devil

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This looks like fun!

Coming soon to Shudder, Late Night With The Devil takes place in 1977, on a night in which a television broadcast brings evil into the world. Before anyone asks, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour did air in 1977 but it started in 1976. So, as tempting as it is to speculate, I think the two events were unrelated.

Here’s the trailer for Late Night With The Devil!

Live Tweet Alert: Watch The Original Invasion of the Body Snatchers with #ScarySocial

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, for #ScarySocial, Deanna Dawn will be hosting the original, 1956 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The film is available on Prime. I’ll probably be there and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Friday the 13th: The Series 1.20 “The Quilt of Hathor: The Awakening”

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

How many more people must die before the Quilt of Hathor is stopped!? Let’s find out.

Episode 1.20 “The Quilt of Hathor: The Awakening”

(Dir by Timothy Bond, originally aired on May 9th, 1988)

We pick up where the previous episode ended. Ryan is still living with the ultra-religious Pentites and is still viewed with suspicion by the majority of them. He is still in love with the Reverend Grange’s daughter, Laura. And Effie Stokes still has the quilt that she can use to enter the dreams of others and kill them.

However, Effie is not the main villain here. Instead, it is the Reverend Grange (Scott Paulin) who is corrupted by the quilt. When the community’s elders tell Grange that it is important that he select a wife, he finally selects Effie. Effie is overjoyed but, as soon becomes clear, she intends to use the quilt to kill Grange on their wedding night so that she can take over the community. However, in the dream, Grange gets the upper hand and kills Effie instead. Soon, Grange is using the quilt to go after anyone in the community with whom he has a grudge. And when the members of the community suspect that witchcraft is afoot, he casts the blame on Ryan.

This is the episode where Ryan nearly gets burned at the stake. Fortunately, Micki and Chris show up just as Ryan is about to be set on fire. They distract the Pentites long enough for Laura to discover Effie’s body and to reveal that Grange is the murderer. A long chase ends with Grange falling out of a barn to his death.

That, of course, also kills Laura and Ryan’s romance. Ryan realizes that he has a holy duty to help Chris and Micki track down cursed antiques. And Laura says that she has to stay behind to help the community rebuild. Personally, I think she’s just reluctant to declare her love for the man who killed her father. That’s understandable.

This was not a bad episode. I liked the way that, for once, we got to see how a formerly good and reasonable person could be corrupted by one of the cursed antiques. Laura and Ryan’s romance was a bit too obviously lifted from Witness but still, John D. LeMay and Carolyn Dunn had a likable chemistry together. Just as with the first part of the story, the surreal nightmares were well-done and genuinely frightening.

Next week, Ryan and Micki search for a haunted camera!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 1.22 “Satan In The Suburbs”

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Odd episode, this week.

Episode 1.22 “Satan In The Suburbs”

(Dir by Warner Shook, originally aired on May 13th, 1989)

Despite having graduated from Yale (and having the sweatshirt to prove it), Xantipe Finch (Deborah Strang) is struggling. Unable to interest any publishers in any of her books and raising her son, Marty (Danny Gerard), alone, Xantipe is forced to make extra money through baking and selling cookies. The bill collectors keep calling and threatening to turn off her electricity and to kick her and Marty out onto the streets.

Then a mysterious man (played by a young Chris Noth) materializes in her kitchen. The man says that he’s come from Hell. Because he won a football bet with Satan, the man has been allowed to come to Earth and to recruit Xantipe to write his autobiography. If the book is published, the man will continue to be a happy demon. If the book fails, he’ll be either demoted or turned into a low-level angel. Huh? What? I don’t know. It didn’t make any sense while the man was explaining it and it doesn’t make any sense now that I’m typing it up.

Reluctantly, Xantipe helps the man. The man, for his part, deals with the bill collectors and also starts to corrupt both Xantipe and her son. The book gets written and published but Xantipe rejects the devil’s influence, even though it means returning to a life of struggling to pay the bills. The episode ends with Xantipe back in her kitchen, baking cookies. The man is also there but he now has tiny angel wings on his back.

Yeah, I don’t know what any of it means either. It makes even less sense when you watch it.

This was not a great episode. It was never really explained why the book has to be written, why Xantipe had to be the one to help write it, or why the man turned into an angel. The episode ended with a suggestion that Xantipe and the man were now in love but there was nothing in the 20 minutes that preceded it that would have set the audience up for that ending. Chris Noth was adequate as the demon and Deborah Strang was likable as Xantipe but otherwise, this episode felt like filler.

Scenes That I Love: Christopher George In City of the Living Dead

Posted on February 25, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we celebrate what would have been the 93rd birthday of the rugged American actor Christopher George.

George may have gotten his start in westerns and war movies but he is best remembered for a series of horror films in which he appeared in the late 70s and early 80s. One of the best of those was Lucio Fulci’s 1980 classic, City of the Living Dead.

In today’s scene that I love, Christopher George plays a reporter who realizes that psychic Catriona MacColl has been buried alive. He digs her up. Of course, this is a Fulci film, so things nearly go terribly wrong.

Live Tweet Alert: Join #ScarySocial for Black Box!

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, at 9 pm et, Tim Buntley will be hosting #ScarySocial! The movie? 2020’s Black Box!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Black Box is available on Prime!

See you there!