Quarter 4 Reviews- 008 Horror- Old

008 Horror – Old

As a change of pace, around Halloween I listened to “W is for Werewolf,” an episode from the early 1940s American network radio program Dark Fantasy by Scott Bishop. I love Dark Fantasy; how great to be Scott Bishop in the early 1940s broadcasting these weird tales with no editorial oversight (it went out unsponsored, as far as I can tell).  This tale is relatively simplistic and slow-paced for a modern audience, but the actors invested all their conviction.  A man makes a long voyage to stay with a friend who lives on a remote island that can only be reached by boat.  The people there are “superstitious” (I think it’s implied that it’s South America, but it’s never made clear).  There, the man is horrified to find that the friend’s son is nervous, withdrawn—and has thick hair growing on the palm of his hand.  His older brother died previously.  Naturally, we figure out quite quickly that the two sons were both werewolves, and the friend’s desperation is a father’s to try to cure his remaining son. Besides the shockingly sexual connotations of the hair on the palm, the man entrusts his wife to go to the graveyard with him and dig up his friend’s deceased son—in whose grave, naturally, they find a dog’s skeleton (shades of The Omen).  This was the thirteenth story of the series and broadcast on Friday the 13th.  

There was another round of Fear on Four (from 1997) in time for Halloween.  Ever since I heard David Suchet play Satan last Easter, I find it difficult to hear his voice and think of anything else.  However, in this play, he is the victim, and he does a great job.  He plays Professor Richard Hargreaves, who deals in physics and inner time.  One night, he is seduced by an erstwhile antiques dealer, the splendidly voiced John Rowe playing Jonathan Tempray (the name should have given it away), who takes him to his impressive collection of old timepieces.  There is one that is so old, Hargreaves is completely dazzled.  With some reluctance, Tempray agrees to sell it to him.  Hargreaves becomes obsessed with the clock, as it never plays the same tune twice.  One of his colleagues gives him the macabre news that the clock is not made of wood but human tissue.  Written by Nick Fisher, The Chimes of Midnight also starred Jenny Lee, Alison Pettit, Jillie Meers, and Christopher Wright, and was directed by Marion Nancarrow.  Not for the faint of heart.

Another episode of Fear on Four was also worth highlighting, from the pen of the tremendously talented Nick Warburton.  Making Sacrifices was a very satisfying piece of horror which, given that it had no supernatural element whatsoever, is saying a lot.  Alison (Caroline Strong) is a very annoying girl at St Liz’s school for girls.  She’s thinking of leaving before finishing her degree and will leave her turret room to whatever student bootlicks her way into Alison’s good books.  At first, Kerry (Sarah Rice) seems a bit thick, jolly hockey sticks, but when Alison leaves her alone to tangle with the groundskeeper, we find out she’s perfectly cognizant of Alison’s cutting, evil ways.  She’s willing to put up with Alison’s behavior just as long as she can get the turret room.  A naïve, shy girl, Corrinna (Alison Pettit), next shows up, her worm-like demeanour concealing a cool mastermind at work.  This was well-written with Warburton’s signature ability to be gripping even with a very small cast.  Bravo. It was directed by Adrian Bean.