Final Women

Ghost Story, a.k.a. Circle of Fear, was a horror anthology television show, produced by William Castle, which ran for two seasons, beginning in 1972. The first season, under the name Ghost Story, was hosted by Sebastian Cabot. For the second season, the name was changed to Circle of Fear, and the wrap around segment featuring Cabot was canned. It's a charming show, if a bit dated. Below I discuss two of my favorite episodes. Touch of Madness (Season 1) Touch of Madness begins with Janet arriving at the house she has just inherited from her mother, who died while staying in a mental institution. There she meets her eccentric aunt and uncle, played by Geraldine Page and an aged-up Rip Torn (!!!) and convinces them to allow her to help fix up the house, which she has been informed, to her surprise, is in danger of being condemned. While Janet is at first completely in the dark, the audience knows early on that something is not quite as it seems with the house and the seemingl...

Tales from the Darkside was produced by the late great George Romero from 1984 to 1988. It's not quite as showy as the later Tales from the Crypt , and the episodes were often low budget and kind of creaky. However, Darkside still has its charms. Here are some notable episodes listed below. What are your favorites? A Case of the Stubborns (Season 1, Episode 9) Featuring a young Christian Slater and Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek ), A Case of the Stubborns is more gross than scary. The episode tells a humorous tale of an aged family patriarch who refuses to believe that he has actually died. Slater is great here, as is comedic actor Eddie Bracken as his rapidly decomposing but remarkably still kicking grandfather. The makeup effects on this one are pretty gnarly, and I mean that in the best way possible. I have a pretty cast iron stomach when it comes to gore, but I had to turn my face away from the grody grandpa more than a few times. Anniversary Dinner (Season 1, Epi...

What horror fan doesn't get excited over Tales from the Crypt ? The beloved EC Comics based anthology series that ran on HBO from 1989-1996 is a fan favorite and featured many memorable episodes. I've created brief reviews of a few of my favorites, but there are plenty of other great episodes out there. Which ones do you love? Television Terror (Season 2, Episode 16) There's nothing like a good old fashioned haunted house story, and that's just what this episode is, albeit with that fun EC Comics' twist (generally awful people getting their just desserts). The episode features a smarmy TV reporter (Morton Downey Jr., Predator 2 ) investigating a supposedly haunted house where multiple murders occurred. There are a couple of good creepy moments in this early episode as well, particularly the man in the bathtub and the discovery of the fate of the poor cameraman. The New Arrival (Season 4, Episode 7) This is the first episode of Tales From the Crypt th...

The Signalman The 1976 episode of A Ghost Story for Christmas was the first episode not to be based on the work of M.R. James. Instead, The Signalman is based on Charles Dickens's most famous ghost story outside of A Christmas Carol. The episode stars Bernard Lloyd (who would appear as Marley's Ghost in the 1999 A Christmas Carol adaptation with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge) as a traveler who befriends a railway signalman, played by beloved character actor Denholm Elliott (Marcus Brody from the Indiana Jones movies). The signalman tells Lloyd's character (simply billed as "The Traveler" in the credits) about a recurring apparition that appears every time a tragedy is about to occur on the railway. The first time he saw the apparition, a nasty wreck occurred in the nearby tunnel, costing many people their lives. The second time, a woman soon leapt to her death from the train right in front of him. The signalman is concerned because the apparition has recently begu...

From 1971 to 1978, the BBC produced the informally linked A Ghost Story for Christmas series, with one episode airing each year around Christmas time. This year, in keeping with the season, I am issuing a two-part review of this exemplary series, which is worth a watch for any British horror fan. The Stalls of Barchester This first episode, premiering Christmas time of 1971, is adapted from a short story by M.R. James and concerns a cleric of Barchester Cathedral who, after growing tired of waiting for the current Archdeacon to retire or pass of old age, resorts to murder. After he apparently rigs a stairwell to cause the old man a fatal accident, he succeeds in becoming Archdeacon, but in the process also becomes haunted. It begins with him hearing voices in his house when alone at night. Then a large black cat begins stalking him. Eventually creepy hooded figures deliver the deacon to his just rewards. I've seen people complain that this (as well as other episodes of the se...

Do you ever, as a horror fan, come across something that's not marketed as horror, but really strikes that horror chord with you? It happens a lot to me, often with books. Or with movies marketed as "thrillers." Occasionally, however, an episode of a not-specifically-horror-themed television show will really deliver the chills. I, obviously, love when this happens. I've noticed that it often occurs in crime or police procedural shows, such as the three examples I've listed here, although it honestly can pop up anywhere. SPOILER ALERT. BEWARE. NCIS : "Smoked" (Season 4, Episode 10) I'd seen NCIS a few times and liked it, but I never really got into it until I was in the hospital a few weeks ago, and one of the few channels my room received was hosting a marathon. I watched a few episodes and started getting pretty into it, but this particular episode really blew me away (and is the reason, a few weeks later, I'm now binging the entir...

I recently watched the 1972 Aaron Spelling produced TV movie, Home for the Holidays for the first time. I love to watch Christmas horror movies throughout the season, and this was my first choice for this year, as I have a minor obsession with 1970s TV horror (and also a slightly more minor obsession with the work of Aaron Spelling). Plus this movie features some awesome ladies, including Julie Harris ( The Haunting ), Jessica Walter ( Arrested Development and Archer , here playing a more seriously depressed - but similarly drunk and neurotic - version of her more famous roles), and a very young, fresh faced Sally Field.                                                           The plot of the movie revolves around four sisters (including Walters and Field), who return to their family home to see their estranged dying father (...