Screw that friggin' overrated wet yarn "The Tale of the Dead Man's Float", my money's on this early gem as the show's scariest episode, in which a boy figures out(~way~ after the audience) that something mysterious and evil lurks behind a strange wooden door in his basement, and that it emerges to feed whenever it hears music, and he decides to use the knowledge to his advantage when he has to deal with the 80's rocker-looking neighbourhood bully. "Come on in!" Yikes! Just imagine walking into your basement and seeing those red eyes... That scene would've been so much more effective if the unseen dweller in the dark *hadn't* talked.. And then there's the monstrosity that is the super-freaky life-sized living doll which is probably the bizarrest sight in the whole series. I still find that thing creepy as hell despite how admittedly slightly crummy the makeup of it looks to me now. Another rather hair-raising scene that's worth a mention is the almost direct take on the scene from "It" where Pennywise lures Georgie to his death from within the gutter, what with the beckoning carny who turns into a demented cackling skeleton and the spooky fairground music that's playing! I don't like how it cuts to the Midnight Society mid-story, it's annoying and it disrupts the flow of the tale. And the way the words "Afraid of the dark" are spoken such a suspiciously high number of times in this episode only make me wonder if it was actually the first one produced. I thought Graham Selkirk did a good enough job with his only TV performance ever, it's interesting how his character's sinister side begins to show as he effectively murders the bully by sacrificing him to whatever nameless horror awaited him in the basement. And what exactly was "Kado(!)" the bully freaking out for when he was at first only trapped in the basement with the heavy metal music playing? You'd have thought that with the way he looked he would've just started head-banging to it! Just saying.. And anyway, all it did was turn him into a shiny new bicycle. Sweet! So anyway, I thought it was cool how it seemed that Selkirk's character may have become a little evil himself by the end. As soon as you hear his little sister's voice and he smirks to the camera, you know exactly what Andy is thinking... It's totally the darkest ending by a mile! I actually really like how there's no moral to it. And like when the asshole bully gets it, there's a stupid cop-out that spoils the fun by suggesting that he only 'intended' to scare her to teach her a lesson, but uh, bah, impossibility! That little brat was toast!! I'm with Kiki, she so deserved it! She couldn't even do something as easy and considerate as turning on a light-switch for her big brother! Dark Music, darker than the average episode. Very well put together, and still one of my favourites. Major awesome!!!
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