Tag Archives: television

Horror on TV: Thriller 1.36 “Pigeons From Hell”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of Thriller, two brothers from up north (played by Brandon De Wilde and David Whorf) have car trouble while driving through Louisiana and, naturally, they decided to spend the night in a deserted mansion that happens to be sitting in the middle of a swamp.  Needless to say, as is usually the case whenever Yankees get stranded in the bayou, bad things happen….

Pigeons From Hell is actually a surprisingly effective horror story.  Director John Newland creates a pervasive atmosphere of dread and De Wilde makes for a sympathetic protagonist.  This episode was originally broadcast on June 6th, 1961 and watching it today, it’s hard not to suspect that a lot of the kids who watched Pigeons From Hell later grew up to the be the directors who made the slasher films of the late 70s and 80s.

Incidentally, Pigeons From Hell is based on a short story by native Texan Robert E. Howard.  Apparently, Stephen King once said that this was one of his favorite TV shows ever but we won’t hold that against it.

Horror on TV: Thriller 1.29 “The Devil’s Ticket”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Down here in Dallas, channel 133 is the local Me-TV affiliate.  Me-TV specializes in showing old TV shows from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  The network sells itself as a nostalgic refuge for people who are several decades older than me, a place where they can go to escape from Seth McFarlane cartoons and Maury Povich conducted DNA tests.

But you know what?

I like Me-TV and I’m glad that it exists.  It probably has something to do with me being a history nerd at heart.  I love the chance to see what the world was once like.  Add to that, some very good shows were produced in the 50s and 60s.  Just because a lot of us weren’t there to experience them firsthand doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate them in rerun syndication.

Case in point: Thriller.

Thriller aired for two seasons in the early 60s.  It was an anthology series, in the tradition ofThe Twilight Zone.  Whereas The Twilight Zone was hosted by Rod Serling, Thriller was hosted by horror icon Boris Karloff, who always introduced the macabre material with a bemused gleam in his eyes.

The Devil’s Ticket was the 29th episode of Thriller and it originally aired on April 18th, 1961.  It’s an effectively creepy little story about an artist (MacDonald Carey) who sells his soul to the Devil.  It was directed by Jules Bricken and written by Robert Bloch.

Horror on TV: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Episode 3.13

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction aired off-and-on for about five years on the Fox network.  A sign of just how randomly this show was scheduled can be found in the fact that season 3 started in 2000 while season 4 didn’t start until 2002.  Reruns of the show currently air on the Chiller Network which is where I recently discovered it.

Hosted by Jonathan Frakes, each episode would present the viewers with five different stories.  Each story would appear to defy logic and then, at the end of the episode, Frakes would reveal which of the stories were fact and which were fiction.  The show was often incredibly silly and yet, it occasionally had an odd charm to it.  A lot of this was due to Jonathan Frakes, who always seemed to be rather amused with it all.

Even more importantly, as bad as this show often was, it’s the perfect type of show to watch in October.  It’s the television equivalent of a scary story being told around a campfire.

Below, you’ll find the final episode of the third season.  Can you guess what’s fact and what’s fiction?

Horror On TV: That 70s Show 2.5 “Halloween”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, so technically, this really isn’t horror.  But who cares?  It deals with Halloween traditions and, even more importantly,  I loved That 70s Show.

This episode was originally broadcast on October 26th, 1999.

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 5.26 “Living Doll”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Talky Tina
Today’s televised horror is the Living Doll episode of The Twilight Zone. This memorably creepy episode takes a look at what happens when a suburban jerk of a father (played by Telly Savalas) gets into a fight with his daughter’s doll, Talky Tina (voiced by June Foray). Things do not end well for one of them.

Seriously, don’t mess with Talky Tina.

This episode was directed by Richard Sarafain, written by Charles Beaumont, and originally broadcast on November 1st, 1963.

 

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 2.3 “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The_Last_Rites_of_Jeff_Myrtlebank

Today’s televised horror is an episode of The Twilight Zone called The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank. It examines what happens when, in the middle of his funeral, Jeff Myrtlebank (played by James Best) suddenly sits up in his coffin and asks what’s going on. Jeff’s friends and family are now torn between being happy to have Jeff back and being worried as they try to figure out what exactly Jeff has come back as. I like this episode, largely because it’s a good example of country gothic and, in many ways, I’m a gothic country girl. Plus, it has a really great ending!


This episode was directed and written by Montgomery Pittman and originally aired on February 23rd, 1962.

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 2.7 “The Nick of Time”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

TheTwilightZoneLogo

Along with starting each day of October with a horror film here at the Shattered Lens, we’re going to end each day with a horror-themed television show.

While I had previously caught a few episodes of the Twilight Zone during one of the annual holiday marathons on SyFy, I didn’t truly appreciate the show until I first exchanged e-mails with my friend in Australia, Mark. Among other things, Mark expressed a very eloquent appreciation for The Twilight Zone and that inspired me to watch quite a few episodes that have been uploaded to YouTube and Hulu. Along with being an essential piece of television history, the best episodes of the Twilight Zone remain watchable and entertaining 50 years after they were first broadcast.

Considering the esteemed place that the Twilight Zone continues to occupy in American culture, it seems appropriate to feature it during Horror Month here at the Shattered Lens.

We start things off with an episode that was originally broadcast on November 18th, 1960. The Nick of Time tells the story of what happens when two newlyweds stop off at a small town cafe and the superstitious husband (William Shatner) starts to play with a memorably creepy fortune telling machine. Now, I should warn you that, since this episode is not available on YouTube, I’m having to embed it from Hulu. That means that you’ll have to sit through a few commercials but it’s still a good episode.

Enjoy!

“Good Luck, Everyone”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I can still remember the day that my high school history teacher decided to teach us about World War I by showing my class the final episode of the classic BBC sitcom Blackadder Goes Forth.  At first, I was just happy to get a chance to watch television in class but, by the end of the episode, I was simply devastated.

There’s something very appropriate about the fact that one of the best depictions of the futility and destructiveness of war came at the end of a comedy.

And during this Memorial Day weekend, as we pay respect to the men and women who have died in the course of fighting the countless number of wars that have been waged over the course of this country’s history, it seems to me that this final scene is far more eloquent about the costs of war than I could ever hope to be.