Tales From the Darkside
Season 1 Pilot - Trick or Treat
Starring: Barnard Hughes, I.M. Hobson, Max Wright
Writers: George A. Romero, Franco Amurri
Director: Bob Balaban
Wow, I must say I never knew about this pilot episode until late last night. Shame on me. I've watched it four times since last night and think it might possibly be my favorite of the ones I've seen.
Synopsis:
Gideon Hackles is a money hoarding shop owner in a farming town. All other residents there seem to be knee deep in debt with him, and he holds land as collateral in case he's never paid back. Every year on Halloween, he allows the children of these people in his debt to come into his house in search of their parents' IOUs. If found, Gideon will wipe away their debts. Unfortunately, no kid has ever found these slips, as Mr. Hackles has his home rigged with scares hiding in the shadows of every corner. But this year, his devilish tricks may be turned on him.
Rant:
Franco Amurri (Susan Sarandon's Dad) and George A. Romero came up with the story, and it's really quite solid for what it is. Bob Balaban's (My Boyfriend's Back, Parents) visuals are sick, evoking the things that made my childhood nightmares “shit your pants” worthy. While the camera work is pretty basic like most other episodes in the series, it's pretty effective.
The late Barnard Hughes (The Lost Boys) is a show stealer here. Well, the story is mostly focused on him, so it's not really show stealing, but he fucking rules. He had his money hungry asshole persona down pat, a man who actually gets his kicks by scaring the piss out of little kids. What a fucker!
Ed French served as makeup designer and Timothy D'Arcy as the makeup artist, and the stuff going on in the last few minutes of this episode is creepy as shit. ****spoilers→Traditional Halloween broomstick type witch and demon stuff←spoilers****. Love it.
Pretty short review here, but there's not much else to say, other than this is a great episode. Perfect for this time of year. Recommended.
****spoilers in slides****
