James Forster - Horror Television Madness!

The Twilight Zone! TheOuter Limits! Night Gallery! Dark Night of the Scarecrow! Hammer Houseof Horror! Salem's Lot! V! Tales from the Crypt! The Night Stalker! TheX-Files! Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Don't Be Afraid of the Dark! TheWalking Dead! Doctor Who! Tales of the Unexpected! Snowbeast! BadRonald! Ghostwatch! The Prisoner! Threads! Satan's School for Girls!Psycho IV! Trilogy of Terror! All this and more awaits in HorrorTelevision Madness!

The Fury ofthe Cocoon (1953) - Tales of Tomorrow

An enjoyable horror themed episode of the vintage anthology seriesTales of Tomorrow. The Fury of the Cocoon was written by Frank DeFelitta and directed by Don Medford.

Cameron Prud'Homme and Peter Capell play a pair of bickering jungleexplorers on the the trail of a missing science expedition thatinvestigated the site of a crashed meteor. When they reach the scienceteam's hut they discover research notes that warn of invisible insectcreatures who suck blood from their victims! The science team'ssole survivor (played by Nancy Coleman) confirms this - on the face ofit - highly implausible story and all three are soon fighting for theirlives against these invisible predators.

The Fury of the Cocoon has a minuscule budget and the jungle sets arerather hokey but the sense of creeping danger is effective and theblood curdling screams from offscreen deaths appropriately eerie.

The science team leave behind a '3-D' model of one of these invisiblevampire critters and they look rather like Joe Dante's Gremlins. Thisis the one part of the episode that borders on the risible but it's funall the same.

The actors have to do a lot of reacting - given the invisible nature ofthe enemy - and they sell us the premise pretty well, Nancy Coleman inparticular looking believably frightened. The Fury of the Cocoon is anentertaining low-budget chiller

NineteenEighty-Four (1954)
A 'live' televisionadaptation of George Orwell's famous novel, this was scripted by NigelKneale and directed by Rudolph Cartier. It features Peter Cushing in anearly leading role as the hapless Winston Smith, an everyman trapped ina totalitarian nightmare.

The feature length drama proved to one of the most controversial in theBBC's history with viewers horrified by its themes (one must presumethat many were unfamiliar with the then relatively recent book) and -in particular - the rat sequence.

Nigel Kneale's adaptation sticks closely to the source material and thefilm proves to be all the better for this. While this is a dramaproduced live (like a play) it does make use of a dozen or so 'inserts'- elements that are pre-recorded and added to the broadcast. Theinserts make the film stronger and Nineteen Eighty-Four is moreaffecting and powerful with their evocative imagery. Peter Cushingproves to be a very fine actor here too, tailoring his performancesuperbly for the camera.

Nineteen Eighty-Four isunderstandably a little tame to modern eyes now but the enduring themesretain their chilling wisdom.

Lamb to theSlaughter (1958) - Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Probably the most famous episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Lamb tothe Slaughter was directed by Hitchcock himself and based on a shortstory by Roald Dahl.

Mary Maloney (Barbara Bel Geddes) is distraught when her police chiefhusband (played by Allan Lane) coldly tells her that he wants a divorcebecause he's found another woman. So she kills him by whacking him overthe head with a frozen leg of lamb. Marythen calls the police, pretends she has just discovered her murderedhusband, and then puts the leg of lamb in the oven. How will the policerumble her if they can't find a murder weapon?

This deliciously dark story has a great coda and is tailor made forthese types of twist in the tale anthology shows. It was later remadefor Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected series in Britain and worked just aswell again.

Barbara Bel Geddes is superb as Mary here and really holds ourattention as the police prod and probe her story and try to work out ifshe is completely innocent or a killer covering her tracks. Thesupporting cast are all excellent too.

Lamb to the Slaughter is a highly enjoyable and gripping episode ofAlfred Hitchcock Presents.

Quatermass AndThe Pit (1958)

A 1958 television classic directed by Rudolph Cartier and written byNigel Kneale.
A strange skull is discovered by workmen in London and furtherexcavation unearths what appears to be an unexploded bomb. However,on closer inspection, the bomb turns out to be an alien spacecraftcontaining not only alien bodies but a strange pyschic energy andpoltergeists. Professor Bernard Quatermass (Andre Morell) of theBritish Rocket Group investigates the mystery as danger beckons for allof us...

Quatermass And The Pit works on so many levels that it's not difficultto see why the story - and Kneale - are so influential and lauded. It'sa horror detective story, a sci-fi mystery, a ghost story, a witchcrafttale involving aliens, and Kneale also works in some topical referencesto race riots.

Andre Morell also makes afine Quatermass and gives a commanding performance at the centre of thedrama. This is a great story and serves as a compelling televisiondrama. The (later) Hammer big screen adaptation of this story is betterknown but both versions are equally worthy of your time.

TheHitch-Hiker (1959) - The Twilight Zone Series One

The Hitch-Hiker was directed by Alvin Ganzer and adapted by Rod Serlingfrom a radio play by Lucille Fletcher. A very highly regarded episodeof this famous series. It's a spooky and haunting tale with a ratherpoignant resolution.

Nan Adams (Inga Stevens) is a young woman on a long car journey. Aftera tyre blows out, she keeps on seeing a strange shabby hitch-hiker(Leonard Strong) by the road who seems to be beckoning her to followhim. No matter how far she drives he keeps appearing again. Who is heand what does he want?

"I saw him again 50 miles further on, and then again on the longstraight stretch of Virginia. Just standing there, not menacing really.If anything drab, a little mousey. Just a silly looking scarecrow man.I wonder why it is he's always there. I wonder why I can't shake him."

This is a dreamlike Twilight Zone episode that is very effective inwhat it does. I like the resolution - which is touching in aRing-A-Ding-Girl type of way.

A boost here too is Inga Stevens - who is believably terrified as thefemale driver alone on the road. There is a great tense sequence whereher car stalls on railway tracks.

The Hitch-Hiker is one of the most successful of The Twilight Zone'sexcursions into horror and an episode that repays further viewings.

Mirror Image(1959) - The Twilight Zone Series One
Mirror Image waswritten by Rod Serling and directed by John Brahm. This in anaccomplished and eerie alternate reality Twilight Zone episode and avery good one.

At a lonely and rain lashed bus station, Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles)is waiting with her suitcase to start a new job. However, strangethings start to happen. Whenshe asks the man at the ticket desk when the bus will arrive he snapsat her and says she has asked three times now - despite the fact thatMillicent is sure this is the first time she's troubled him. When shegoes to the wash room, the attendant claims Millicent was only in therea minute ago, although she is sure this can't be true. Inthe mirror, Millicent spies an exact duplicate of herself sitting inthe waiting room where she has just been. She rushes out but finds thebench empty. Now Millicent's sanity is in question. Does she reallyhave a Doppelganger?

Mirror Image is an effective episode about the loss of identity (arecurring Twilight Zone theme) and rather similar in atmosphere to TheHitch-Hiker. I think the constrictive setting (more or less just a busstation waiting room ) adds to the ambiance and sense of paranoia.