(1959)
Dir - Curt Siodmak
Overall: MEH
An archaeologist falling in love with a frozen cave woman is the premise at hand in 13 Demon Street's fittingly titled "The Girl in the Glacier". This one steers farther away from horror elements than usual for the program, almost exclusively presenting itself as a psychological musing on whatever spell said glacier lady seems to cast on the red-blooded men who unearth her. It comes closer to sci-fi than anything as we eventually get more than just Frank Taylor spewing sweet nothings to the centuries-old frozen woman, raving about how he should have complete control of the operation, dismissing his wife and demanding a divorce, and even murdering those who get in his way. In other words, a nice fella. We can guess what is likely to happen from numerous shots of Sara Harts closed eyelids, leaving little sense of mystery to go along with the merely serviceable starting point.
(1959)
Dir - Curt Siodmak
Overall: MEH
Taking some bare-bones inspiration from the often-frequented W. W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw", "The Book of Ghouls" fails to do anything interesting within such a framework. Screenwriter Fred De Gorter would go on to write four episodes of the Batman series which is something that any author should be proud of, but his work here lacks both flare and imagination. The book of the title is one that holds the power to bestow wealth upon those who follow its instructions, but of course these things always come at a detrimental price and this is no exception. Things proceed in a formulaic fashion, (blood is shed, money comes in, the participants are both confused and troubled by such supernatural forces actually working, and a happy ending is nowhere to be found), and this renders the episode as merely a forgettable spending of twenty-three minutes.
(1959)
Dir - Curt Siodmak
Overall: MEH
13 Demon Street's take on M.R. James' short story "The Mezzotint", "The Photograph" presents yet another tale of a heinous crime for us to judge in comparison to the one committed by host Lon Chaney Jr's, the latter's atrocity never divulged to the audience. While John Crawford, (making his second of two appearances on the program), may not be the world's most despicable criminal, he is a relentless asshole who makes one illogical decision after the next that stretches plausibility in producer/director/screenwriter Curt Siodmak's James homage. The outcome is preordained since we know that Crawford shall be doomed for his actions and that the seemingly haunted photograph of the title will somehow seal the deal, but the only surprises are in how moronic he acts at every opportunity until then.
(1959)
Dir - Curt Siodmak
Overall: MEH
Another scumbag gets his comeuppance in a 13 Demon Street installment with "The Vine of Death". This time it is a ridiculously pushy handyman neighbor who appears to have cement in his ears as far as "no means no" is concerned, and his hair-brained scheme when a murder transpires is to bury the body in a patch of dirt that the victim had imported some ancient calcified bulbs from. Besides the corpse being remarkably easy to find for anyone who comes investigating which they of course do, Lauritz Falk and Pat Clavin continue to behave irrationally which only raises more suspicions. People on screen are generally terrible liars so this is nothing new, but Leo Guild's teleplay only offers a lone memorable set piece where the sprouting plants do their grisly business. This leaves the rest of the presentation to merely linger on unlikable people doing idiotic things until they are busted.
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