(1961)
Dir - Ida Lupino
Overall: MEH
Taking the retreaded trope of wicked, money-grubbing relatives and an imaginary friend made real, "Mr. George" is a serviceable supernatural yarn for the Thriller program, if not an exemplary one. It is an adaptation of the 1947 short story of the same name by prolific author August Derleth/Stephen Grenden, granting little Gina Gillespie's protagonist a guardian angel in the form of the title character who is her actual guardian that is now recently departed. The specter sticks around long enough to keep Gillespie safe from the greedy family that she is forced to live with; her cold-hearted aunt, her mentally unstable and childlike other aunt, and her bulbous uncle. Justice is served in the end, but since the story lacks both mystery and chills, it fails to go anywhere compelling within its framework.
(1961)
Dir - Paul Henreid
Overall: GOOD
Taking the "killer amputated hands on a concert pianist" gimmick from Maurice Renard's 1920 novel Les Mains d'Orlac, "The Terror in Teakwood" pulls off some ghoulish atmosphere and at least one set piece that ranks as one of the most memorable in the entire Thriller series. Guy Rolfe portrays a musician who is both loathed by many and obsessively covets the skills of his dead rival, going to some fiendish means to procure those skills. Boosted by horror heavyweights Hazel Court and Reggie Nalder, the audience knows what is going on before the characters do, but director Paul Henreid expertly wields Alan Caillou's script, which is actually an adaptation of a Harold Lawlor short story and not directly taken from Renard's often-filmed and aforementioned novel. The finale is the real showstopper and one that is worthy of Court's famous screams, making this a fun precursor to the EC Comics/Dr. Terror's House of Horrors segment "Disembodied Hand".
(1961)
Dir - Herschel Daugherty
Overall: GOOD
Baritone-voiced leading man Lloyd Bochner goes up against a supernaturally-charged mirror, (Because what horror program would be complete without one of those?), in the apply titled Thriller installment "Prisoner in the Mirror". Also showing up for the third time no less is Henry Daniell, here portraying an 18th century sorcerer who hides out in the large reflective antique until the next hapless sap gazes into it, falls under its spell, transports his soul into the mirror, and therefor leaves his physical body vulnerable for Daniell to hop into it and cause chaos to his heart's content before jumping out of it again and leaving his victim to suffer the consequences. The premise is solid as well as grimly resolved, leaving everything in shambles as Daniell's reign of body-hopping terror claims one more casualty for the road.
(1961)
Dir - John Brahm
Overall: GOOD
At this late point in the first season of Thriller, the program was establishing itself in the horror vein with comparatively more memorable results than its heavy crop of crime related stories that kicked things off. On that note, "Dark Legacy" basks in its appropriate genre even more explicitly than most, opening with Harry Townes, (in a dual role no less), overacting to the gills as a mad scientist-looking occult wizard who forfeits his life and bequeaths his demon-summoning powers upon his nightclub magician nephew, (Townes again). Occult books that appear spontaneously and terrorize women, smoke-fueled summoning, disembodied eyeballs, and Henry Silva looking like Henry Silva, there is plenty of ghoulish eye candy and wonderful set pieces to enhance John Tomerlin's campy yet still sinister script. Whenever Golden Era Hollywood ventured into any kind of Aleister Crowley/King Solomon magik, the results were naturally sensationalized, but it makes for some fun and macabre window dressing when done as well as here.
(1961)
Dir - John Newland
Overall: GOOD
Robert E. Howard gets the Thriller treatment with "Pigeons from Hell", based on his 1934 short story of the same name and allegedly the first cinematic adaptation for any of his works. As the title would suggest, it does contain birds that strike terror into pedestrians, but the story has a ghoulish outcome that has nothing to do with airborne assailants. When two brother's automobile breaks down in the Deep South, they flee to an abandoned plantation after a flock of pigeons descends upon them. Something happens to one of the siblings, the local sheriff gets involved, a gaslit lamp fails to work in a particular area of the creepy old mansion, and an expository dialog dump reveals a macabre family secret. The set design is superb, plus director John Newland, (in his first of four assignments for the program), maintains an eerie atmosphere throughout.
(1961)
Dir - Herschel Daugherty
Overall: GOOD
Closing out the first season with one of their strongest installments, Thriller's "The Grim Reaper" takes the familiar tropes of a cursed painting and greedy relatives trying to get their mitts on a rich relative's money, and throws some wicked twists and an exemplary ending into the mix. The program must have paid all of Henry Daniell's bills for the first several months that it was in production, this marking his fourth appearance, be it a small one in the opening scene where we get our first glimpse of the Grim Reaper artwork, whose painter hangs himself immediately after its completion. Fast forward several decades, and William Shatner's wealthy and alcohol enjoying aunt has purchased the painting for a goof. Viewers can guess that the bodies will only keep pilling up from there. The final showdown between Shatner and whatever diabolical force inhabits such cursed art is a suggestive tour de force and easily one of the small screen's most satisfyingly creepy moments.
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