(1971)
Dir - Jeannot Szwarc
Overall: MEH
The first of six Night Gallery tales to be written for the small screen by Halsted Welles, "The Phantom Farmhouse" is not one of the better ones, meandering around a hippy compound while only nonchalantly toying with the concept of bestial transformation. It is an adaptation of Seabury Quinn's 1923 novel of the same name, and it seems so unconcerned with delivering any kind of lycanthropian chills that when the word "werewolf" comes up midway through, viewers may be outright confused. David Carradine is very David Carradiney, playing a short-tempered vagabond who strums a guitar, speaks as if he is some sort of guru, and tries to hook up his visiting psychiatrist David McCallum with Linda Marsh, who may be either a ghost or a werewolf or both. It hardly matters in the end though, the whole thing being anticlimactic, talky, and unengaging.
(1971)
Dir - Gene Kearney
Overall: MEH
Scoring Orson Welles for the narration, Night Gallery's "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" brings Conrad Aiken's 1932 short story of the same name to the small screen. Regrettably, it does so in a less than memorable fashion, despite Welles' effortlessly charismatic and theatrical delivery of the source material. It also pains one to think of how much more dull the material would have come off without the involvement of Welles, and said material is easily the most poorly-suited to the otherworldly and/or horror-tinged framework of the program, begging the question of why it was chosen to go into production in the first place. A young boy arbitrarily becomes obsessed with the concept of snow, hallucinating that it is everywhere when he is alone enough in his thoughts. This causes worry for his parents and teacher, but nothing of interest is explored, and nothing of interest transpires.
(1971)
Dir - Jack Laird
Overall: GOOD
Producer Jack Laird gets behind the lens for the first time in the Night Gallery program with one of its quintessential entries "A Question of Fear". The premise is a bog-standard one where a blowhard skeptic agrees to spend the night in a haunted house for an agreed amount of money, but the gradual twists and turns reveal plenty of tweaks to the formula, culminating in an outrageous reveal that is impossible to see coming. It is an adaptation of Bryan Lewis' short story of the same name, featuring a battle of wits and will power between Leslie Nielsen's boastful military man and Fritz Weaver's eccentric millionaire who sets the pieces in motion for their wager. Full of wonderful spooky window dressing and the aforementioned absurd rug pulls, it amusingly takes its time with more macabre details than most small screen horror works are allowed.
(1971)
Dir - Gene Kearney
Overall:GOOD
Notable for featuring actor Francis Lederer reprising his role as Count Dracula for the second time after the 1958 Paul Landres' film The Return of Dracula, "The Devil Is Not Mocked" adapts Manly Wade Wellman's 1943 short story of the same name. Gene Kearney handles both directing and screenwriting here in a tale that pits the aforementioned vampire Count up against a squad of Nazis during a World War II maneuver where he graciously offers up his castle to them, having his own nefarious scheme the whole time of course. Lederer makes a striking image with his pointed nails, fangs, and unnaturally reflective eyes, even if some of Kearney's staging is awkward. It is a brisk stand-alone to the same episode's more elaborate "A Question of Fear", but a fun one that manages to make Dracula the good guy and offer an interpretation of what side of the fence the famous blood-sucker would have been on if he came up against an even bigger evil than he.
(1971)
Dir - Jeannot Szwarc
Overall: MEH
A meta supernatural yarn which finds four different people going through the motions with the increasing suspicion that they have done all of this before, Night Gallery's "Midnight Never Ends" has an interesting premise, yet it also seems to never arrive. Perhaps this is by design, as host/screenwriter Rod Serling may merely be exploring the frustrations of the writer, trying and trying again to nail what is in their head until they "get it right". Having his characters becoming self-aware of their fictitious nature could just be them commenting on their lack of plausibility, something which falls on the shoulder of the person creating them. Unfortunately, contemplating what the segment is about is more engaging than the segment itself.
(1971)
Dir - Allan Reisner
Overall: MEH
This adaptation of Margaret St. Clair's 1954 short story of the same name is off to a rocky start from the get-go, namely because its title character is an obnoxious young girl who indulges in bratty and bullying behavior out of boredom and loneliness. "Brenda" is portrayed by Laurie Prange who does a fine job pushing the buttons of those around her with insincere apologies, manipulative behavior, and deliberately cruel acts, all fueled by a visceral need to connect with someone or something while her family vacations on an island during the summer. Her parents behave no less egregiously than she does, (the apple not falling far from the tree), but the discovery of a Man-Thing moss creature proves curious since it is implied that it has sprung into life merely from Brend's desperate imagination. This makes the whole thing a sad watch as much as an annoying one.
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