macmcentire

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Our heroes go full Scooby Doo when they go after a pirate ghost in episode twenty-two, “The Pirate’s Promise.”

In a seaside town, a lighthouse keeper named Joe owns a cursed foghorn. He murders someone, uses the foghorn to summon a pirate’s ghost from the sea (!). The ghost takes the body and gives old-timey gold coins in return. While investigating, Micki and Ryan befriend a local historian, Dewey.

Somewhere… beyond the sea…

The pirate doesn’t just demand any victims, but specifically the descendants of those who once mutinied against him. There’s one last descendant in town, and it’s a race to find out who it is before the killer does. The missing descendant is Dewey, who’s killed by Joe. But, in the final confrontation with the ghost, the ghost reveals that Joe is also a descendant, and the ghost takes them both.

When the show is smart: This one ends with a dramatic coda back at the store, where Micki and Ryan take time to mourn their friend Dewey. It’s a nice moment that shows life and death have real meaning to these characters, and the folks they meet are more than just disposable slasher movie victims.

Sad times.

When the show is cheesy: I’m not an expert in these things, but “Angus McBride” just doesn’t sound like a cool pirate name to me.

Devilish dialogue: Micki: “It looks so cold. Cold and dead.” Joe: “You sound like sailor.”

Cavernous.

Trivia time:

– Although the show was filmed in Toronto, for this episode the cast and crew road-tripped to Lake Erie, to film on location at a rocky beach and an actual old-timey lighthouse. I did a little googling to find out which one, but it turns out the lake has tons of lighthouses.

Want to be a lighthouse keeper, and keep her by the sea.

Back in the vault: A fun episode, with a memorable monster and tons of atmosphere. The attempt at a mystery with a final twist is pretty predictable, but it’s an enjoyable ride getting there.

Next: Cop land.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Episode twenty-one is live on the air with “Double Exposure.”

A serial killer is loose in the city, calling the local TV news to taunt police live on the air. The thing is, news anchor Winston Knight — who has become a celebrity thanks to this — is using a cursed camera to take a photo of himself, which comes to life and does the killings, all while he has the perfect alibi of being on TV at the time. Ryan witnesses one of the murders, spurring him to investigate, while also making him a target.

It’s alive!

Knight’s clone kills Ryan’s new girlfriend Kathy (and just one week after Ryan was dumped by Laura the Pentitite), furthering Ryan’s desire to stop him. Knight ends up confronting Jack instead, using the camera to clone Jack, and ordering the clone to kill Ryan and Micki. Knight plans to expose Jack’s clone as the killer. During the final fight, Jack kills his own clone, and Knight’s clone decides he wants Knight’s life, so he’s the one who kills Knight. The clone also dies, but dies knowing he’s also human.

Young love.

When the show is smart: While this is a basic “we have to stop the serial killer” plot, the writers find ways to keep things interesting, with the clones emerging from a vat of goo, and bleeding green slime when they die. Yes, it’s crazy and over-the-top, but it keeps viewers guessing as to what will happen next.

When the show is cheesy: In keeping with the “TV news” theme, a news camera films the final battle as takes place right outside the antique store. So, did this not air? If it did, why isn’t the whole world reacting to evidence of the supernatural? And why aren’t Micki, Jack and Ryan famous now?

Dressed like a journalist.

Devilish dialogue: Man in car: “Watch it! Are you trying to kill yourself?” Knight’s clone: “No. No, I want to live.”

Trivia tidbits:

– Here’s some money-saving special effects. When Jack is fighting his clone, that’s just the actor fighting his stunt double.

– Outside the TV station, there’s a reserved parking sign for “F. Mancuso,” referring the show’s executive producer, Frank Mancuso.

This is also the episode with Videodrome-style dream sequence.

Back in the vault: A fast-paced episode that barely lets the audience catch a breath, but one with an emotional story for Ryan at is core. An all-around fun hour of ‘80s horror.

Next: A pirate’s life for me.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

We’ve reached the show’s first big two-parter, episode nineteen, “The Quilt of Hathor,” and episode twenty, “The Quilt of Hathor: The Awakening.”

Witch trial.

This time the cursed antique is a quilt. When you sleep under it, you dream of your enemy’s murder, only for your enemy to die as you dream it. The quilt is owned by Effie, a member of the Amish-like Penitite religious rural community. She’s wants to marry Josiah, the Pentitites’ reverend and leader, and she’s killing all the other women in his life until he marries her. Micki and Ryan get the quilt back, but not until after Effie succeeds in marrying Josiah.

Ryan, meanwhile, falls for Laura, Josiah’s daughter, who is in an arranged marriage to another suiter, Matthew. Ryan loves her so much, he decides to stay and become a Pentitite. To stay, and to have the right to court Laura, Ryan must defeat Matthew in ritualistic combat (!). When Micki returns to the store, she and Jack discover the quilt is a fake, and Effie still has the real one.

Early American Gladiators.

In part 2, Josiah takes control of the quilt’s power and kills Effie, hiding her body under his house. He then keeps killing those investigating Effie’s disappearance, framing Ryan for the murders. The Pentitites almost burn Ryan at the stake (!) until Laura saves the day by revealing evidence of Josiah’s crimes. Josiah jumps from the roof of his barn to avoid prosecution by his people. Laura takes over as the Pentitites’ new leader — this being a rare gender-equality religious sect — which means she and Ryan can no longer be together. Ryan returns to the store, where Micki hopes to make him feel at home.

Dream dance.

When the show is smart: It might seem hokey to spend to hours crazy religious farmland, but, really, the show is firing on all cylinders here. The dream sequences take place in fancy ballrooms, the tonal opposite of the rural setting. In the end, good defeats evil when the Pentitites curb their religious fervor in favor of listening to reason.

When the show is cheesy: The show demands a lot of the audience to be on board for the Ryan/Laura romance. It’s tricky for weekly shows to do a romance-of-the-week, because everything in the relationship is accelerated due to runtime. The double-length helps, though. Also, Laura is shown having responsibilities and a whole life outside of her romance with Ryan, showing she’s not just here for the sake of the male hero.

Love in a barn.

Devilish dialogue: Micki: “You’re not a Pentitite. You love hot dogs and Saturday morning cartoons.”

Trivia tidbits:

– The name Hathor is in reference to the Egyptian goddess of love and motherhood. Doesn’t seem evil, but she was also goddess of music, dance, and foreign lands, which goes against what the Pentatites believe.

“This is the water, and this is the well…”

Back in the vault: The two-hour length gives the creators a chance to tell a meatier story, and they go for it. The kill-you-in-your-dreams thing of course offers a lot of creativity, but there’s also a real sense of Ryan as a lost soul, still searching for somewhere he belongs. Great stuff, all around.

Next: You’re on the air.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

The series takes a hard left into science fiction territory in episode eighteen, “Brain Drain.”

Medical science.

A scientist has a bona fide brain in a jar, which he has hooked up to a computer, allowing the two to communicate. He says the brain has developed a childlike intelligence and could be the key to creating A.I. Similarly, he’s working with a man named Henry, who only has a childlike IQ of 60. What’s more, the scientist owns an antique trephinator, a medical device that drains fluid directly out of the brain. This trephinator is equipped with two seats, the idea being that the fluid can be transferred from one brain to another. Henry uses the antique on the scientist, stealing all of the scientist’s intelligence, and then killing him.

“So, Brain, what are we going to do tonight?”

Micki, Ryan and Jack investigate the museum of science, where Henry is now posing as a scientist. There, Jack reunites with an ex-girlfriend, Viola, a linguist. They rekindle their romance, with him not knowing she’s working with Henry to teach language to the brain-in-jar. Jack asks Viola to marry him, just as Micki and Ryan learn Henry plans to make Viola his next victim. Our heroes find Viola still alive, but her intelligence gone. They hope to use the trephinator to reverse the process. In the final fight, Henry gets caught in the trephinator and, improbably, the other end gets hooked up to the brain-in-jar, reverting Henry to his original low intelligence. Viola ends up dead, and Jack mourns her loss, saying they’ll meet again in the afterlife.

Romance.

When the show is smart: After several episodes of the main cast acting as supporting characters, it’s nice to see some real character development for Jack. There’s even a fun sitcom-like scene where Jack comes home late to find Micki and Ryan waiting up for him like worried parents.

When the show is cheesy: Many have already pointed out that sticking a wire into a brain in a jar is not the key to artificial intelligence. It only works if you view the episode as a throwback to wacky 1950s sci-fi.

Devilish dialogue: Jack: “We were apart for most of our lives. Now she’s just gone someplace without me, again.”

Trivia time:

– We learn Jack was once married, but he and his wife split up because she didn’t approve his always traveling around the world. Jack and Viola once split up for pretty much the same reason. Jack also references playing football when he was younger (I assume it was as a student, but the episode doesn’t say.)

– The trephinator is next on the list of really big antiques. Again there’s no explanation of where they’re keeping the big antiques, until they get more space in season three. While trephination, a.k.a. draining of spinal fluids, was once a barbaric medical technique in the distant past, this trephinator device was made up for the series.

– Apparently this is also the Christmas episode, with snowy streets and Christmas lights on trees in the background.

Smartest guy in the room.

Back in the vault: Again, the writers show they don’t want to repeat themselves by coming up with this “Flowers for Algernon but with murder” plot. Combining the show’s usual horror antics with sci-fi is fun, and it’s nice to see some real character work for Jack.

Next: Welcome to the quilt show.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Here’s episode seventeen, “The Electrocutioner” which predates Wes Craven’s Shocker by two years.

The monochrome mile.

We begin years in the past, where Eli Pittman is sentenced to the electric chair for killing his girlfriend, despite his protestations that he’s innocent. They have to throw the switch on him three times, and yet each time he’s still alive. Cut to the present, and Pittman is working as a dentist under a fake name. He has a cursed antique electric chair doubling as his dentist’s chair. He electrocutes his victims to death, and this gives him temporary electro-superpowers. He then uses his powers to fatally zap those who wrongfully sent him to the chair.

Ah, the old zap ’em through the doorknob gag.

Micki, Ryan and Jack investigate, making themselves targets for Pittman as well. Pittman goes after the prison warden, the last person on his list, just as our heroes arrive at the wardens’ house. Armed with rubber gloves and some jumper cables, Ryan and Jack somehow reverse-electrocute Pittman, burning him to a crisp. (There’s a lot of technobabble about how they do this.)

Jump started.

When the show is smart: The opening flashback to Pittman’s execution is filmed in grainy black and white, with no music and little dialogue, for a real raw footage/documentary feel, unlike anything the show has ever attempted.

When the show is cheesy: This episode has a lot edu-tainment, where Jack explains to the others how electricity works. Maybe this show was aimed at younger viewers after all.

Devilish dialogue: Jack: “Electricity is one of nature’s most powerful elements. If used properly, it can save millions of lives through modern medicine, and maybe someday even take us to the farthest reaches of the universe.” Ryan: “Not to mention power my stereo.”

Chair of doom.

Trivia tidbits:

– This is the first of three episodes in which Angelo Rizacos plays the villain. To his credit, though, it’s a different villain type each time.

– Wikipedia for some reason doesn’t include the electric chair on its list of really big antiques, but I say it counts. Again, there’s no explanation of how or if the store’s vault can hold these bigger items — at least not until they get a bigger space in season three.

Big entrance.

Back in the vault: I’m still waiting for someone to make the definitive killer-dies-in-the-electric-chair-and-comes-back-with-lightning-powers movie. Like the others, this one is a nice try, but not all it could have been.

Next: Hey there, smart stuff.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Seems like every ‘80s genre show eventually did a Chinatown episode, and episode sixteen, “Tattoo,” if F13’s turn.

Inktober.

The villain this week is Chen, an obsessive gambler with a box of cursed tattoo needles. He gives his victims a tattoo that comes to life and kills them, an in exchange he wins big at gambling. He says he’s doing all this to help his sister and his grandfather, but his grandfather doesn’t approve.

Micki, Ryan and Jack investigate, running afoul of both Chen and some local gangster suspicious of Chen’s winning ways. The gangsters rope Chen into a game of Russian roulette, so, in desperation, he tattoos a snake onto his sister. Jack saves the sister, and Chen loses it all (as in, his life.)

Generation gap.

When the show is smart: Upon this rewatch, I found myself invested in the grandfather/grandson old-world-versus-new-world conflict. Misguided Chen thinks he’s doing the right thing, and grandfather is frustrated when Chen won’t listen to reason.

When the show is cheesy: It’s Chinatown, so of course there are Chinese trappings all around, but one scene with fireworks going off to stop our heroes is really, really pushing it.

Gangsta.

Devilish dialogue: Grandfather: “I don’t want money that shames me. I want a grandson I can be proud of.” Chen: “This is America. Everybody wants money. People here don’t ask you where you got your money from. They just want to know that you’ve got it.”

Trivia tidbits:

– The grandfather is played by the great Keye Luke, who brought out the best in any line of dialogue he was ever given.

Long live the new flesh.

Back in the vault: Not the show at its best, but still an interesting one with some really good scenes.

Next: Where’s Horace Pinker when we need him?

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

We’re going to back to high school in episode fifteen, “Vanity’s Mirror.”

Our villain (antihero?) is Helen, a mousy, awkward teen girl whose hot sister is super-popular with a handsome boyfriend. She gets ahold of a cursed compact mirror. When she reflects light into someone’s eyes, that someone falls madly in love with her. She does this to seduce the boys bullying her, and then she takes bloody revenge on them.

Gotcha!

While Micki and Ryan investigate, Helen seduces and kills her way through two more of her former bullies, including running one boy through a table saw in the school’s woodshop. Helen also almost kills Ryan, sending him falling over a railing when he confronts her. It all builds to the school prom (of course) where Helen finally puts the magic on her sister’s boyfriend.

Gore fest.

Micki and a newly-recovered Ryan confront Helen at the prom, telling her that the killings won’t end, even after she’s already gotten everything she wants. Helen and the boyfriend flee to the roof. With nowhere else to escape, she and the boyfriend jump to their deaths. It’s a crushing blow for our heroes — not only did they not save the day, but they don’t get the mirror back at the end. The episode ends with Micki worrying about how many more people it will kill, followed by a shot of an unknown person’s hand finding the mirror in some bushes outside the school.

Uh-oh.

When the show is smart: Helen readies herself for the prom without really knowing how to. The result is misapplied makeup, huge hair, and an out-of-fashion dress. This results in a fully-formed “slasher movie villain” look.

“I’m ready for my Prom Night sequel now.”

When the show is cheesy: Yes, a lot of this is ridiculous and could be nitpicked to death, but we’re in full-on ‘80s teen horror here, so the cheesy bits only add to the fun.

Devilish dialogue: Helen: “Do you love me… until the day you die?”

Trivia tidbits:

– A line of dialogue states that Micki, Ryan and Jack have recovered 23 of the cursed antiques by this point, which is just short of 10 percent of the ones listed in Uncle Lewis’ manifest.

– One of the bullies who torments Helen is played by Zack Ward, a.k.a. Scott Farkus from A Christmas Story. He had yellow eyes. So help me God, yellow eyes!

Lovers’ leap.

Back in the vault: Not only does this feel like a classic slasher flick, but it has a great sympathetic villain, and an ending that completely subverts viewers’ expectations. It’s one of the show’s finest hours.

Next week: The real ink master.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Episode fourteen, “Bedazzled,” is what TV folks call a bottle episode, taking place mostly on the regular sets. The creators still find room for lots of horror goodness, though.

Shine a light.

This week we’re dealing with a cursed lantern. Its light burns people to a crisp, and then it shows its owner, a fisherman named Jonah, where undersea treasure is buried. The episode begins where most end, in which Ryan and Jack get the lantern away from its owner in a life-or-death fight. Back at the store, Ryan and Jack leave for an astrologer’s conference (is that a thing?) and Micki is babysitting a friend’s kid, Richie, in the store. Jonah and an accomplice named Tom break into the store. They hold Micki and Richie hostage, demanding Micki return the lantern.

Proprietor.

While Micki tries to escape and then outwit her captors, a cop stops by the store, The cop shoots Tom and is killed by Jonah. Micki affixes a wire to the lamp, electrocuting Jonah. He’s not done yet, though. He turns the lamp on Micki, only for her to reflect its light back on him, burning him to death. When Ryan and Jack return the next day, only Micki and Richie have any knowledge of what happened that night in the store.

Matching wits.

When the show is smart: One thing that makes the show so entertaining is that it can be a different horror subgenre every week. This time it’s the home invasion/hostage drama thing. Confined to only three rooms, Micki and the villains play out a psychological cat-and-mouse game.

When the show is cheesy: I’m at a loss as to what the little kid, Richie, is even doing here. I guess it’s to add an extra element of danger — we know series regular Micki won’t die, but what about the kid? Still, this would pretty much be the exact same plot without him.

Railing kill.

Devilish dialogue: Jonah: “I want you tell us how to get into that vault.” Micki: “I don’t know how.” Jonah: “Maybe I’ll shed a little… light on the subject.”

Trivia tidbits:

– This episode was directed by TV veteran Alexander Singer. Although most well-known for his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, his directing credits span the ‘60s through the ‘90s.

Burning up.

Back in the vault: I enjoy this show for its creativity, and how the writers kept trying new ideas, never wanting to repeat themselves. “Bedazzled” stands out, just because there’s not another episode like it.

Next week: High school is hell.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Episode thirteen, “The Baron’s Bride,” isn’t just the vampire episode, it’s the vampire time travel episode.

Real es-stake sign.

Micki, Ryan and Jack are on the hunt for an antique cape that makes its wearer irresistible to the opposite sex. At the same time, a man named Frank is renting a room from a creepy woman and finds the cape in her house. The woman is a vampire, who bites him and automatically turns him into a vampire. Ryan kills the female vampire by staking her with a real estate sign. Frank fights Micki and Ryan, only to put Micki under his spell. Blood gets spilled on the cape, which somehow transports Micki, Ryan and Frank back in time to London, 1875 — depicted in shadowy black and white.

Ta-DAH!

Frank runs off into the night. Micki and Ryan befriend a couple of helpful strangers, Abraham and Caitlin, who give them a place to stay. Frank kills some folk out in the streets and ends up on the run from a torch-wielding mob. He hides out inside a warehouse. Micki is still under Frank’s spell and she and Frank are magically drawn to each other. Frank kills Caitlin and runs off with Micki. A heartbroken Abraham then kills Frank for revenge.

That ol’ London fog.

Micki and Ryan each place a drop of blood on the cape, which time-travels them back to the present. Jack deduces that Abraham is none other than writer Bram Stoker, who dedicated his novel Dracula to his dead love Caitlin.

When the show is smart: Most genre shows eventually do a black and white episode to mix things up. (My personal favorite is “Post-Modern Prometheus” from The X-Files.) With his mostly wordless performance, our vampire Frank is an amalgam of many classic Universal monsters, showing characteristics of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man in any given scene.

Mesmerized.

When the show is cheesy: The plot doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. Is the cape somehow necessitated by vampirism, or is just coincidence that a vampire happens to own it? Also, the cape time-travels when you get blood on it, but how do our heroes know that getting blood on it a second time takes them back where they started? They’re lucky they didn’t end up in ancient Rome or some crap.

Devilish dialogue: Ryan: “You guys didn’t live together before you got married?” Abraham: “Heaven forbid! I never heard the likes of that.” Caitlin: “And do they do such things in America?” Ryan: “Well, sometimes couples live together before they get married. Sort of like a test.” Caitlin: “You do have some strange customs in America.”

Trivia tidbits:

– This episode was foreshadowed in the previous one, where Micki had a line of dialogue about investigating a mysterious cape.

– There are a lot of gaps in Bram Stoker’s real-life history, but I don’t see any indication he was once engaged to a human named Caitlin. At age 31, Stoker married Florence Balcombe, and they stayed married until his death. I don’t own a copy of the novel Dracula, but the internet informs me that the dedication is not to a Caitlin, but to “my dear friend Hommy-Beg” in reference to Stoker’s friend Hall Caine.

“No, I’m Milli Vanilli. Of course I’m Dracula!”

Back in the vault: It might have plot holes, but it’s still a fun episode, and a nice tribute/throwback to classic horror. By now, the main characters are seasoned monster fighters, so they can take things like vampires and time travel in stride, so I suppose the audience should as well.

Next: Somewhere… beyond the sea…

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

It’s the Halloween season, so let’s watch season one of Friday the 13th: The Series.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now, they must get everything back, and the real terror begins.”

Episode thirteen, “Faith Healer,” is… directed by David Cronenberg!

Just in case you don’t believe me.

This time, the evil antique is a white glove, used by a popular TV faith healer, Stewart Fischoff. When he miraculously cures someone, the ailment is transferred to him, which he then can transfer to one of his victims. Micki, Ryan and Jack see the glove on television and quickly put the pieces together. They recruit help, Jack’s old friend Jerry, who is a lifelong debunker of the paranormal and had spent years exposing Fishoff as a fraud.

Glove of non-love.

It turns out Jerry is not interested in helping. He’s come down with a fatal disease (causing black growths all over his skin) and he wants the glove’s healing powers for himself. Armed with a gun, Jerry threatens and eventually shoots his way to a confrontation with Fishoff. Fishoff heals himself of his gunshot wound, only or Jerry to get the glove and reverse-heal the wounds back into Fishoff (this is messed up). Jerry tries to give Jack his fatal disease, but in the final fight, Jack forces Jerry to touch his own face, causing Jerry to die.

Gross.

Back at the store, Jack loses his cool, overwhelmed by his friend’s death and by all the other death and horror he’s seen. He and Micki fight about it, until Ryan reminds them that they’re not alone, they have each other.

When the show is smart: This was Cronenberg’s follow-up to The Fly, which had just debuted at number one at the box office. He’s in classic Cronenbergian body horror mode, all about disease eating people away from the inside, and how desperate and unhinged it makes them.

When the show is cheesy: The episode’s powerful, dramatic ending is undercut with a hokey gag about Ryan having a cold. Yes, it sticks to the episode’s theme, but it’s nonetheless the customary-joke-to-end-the-episode trope that was part of genre TV for far too long.

I love that the store has a wall of creepy masks.

Devilish dialogue: Jack: “I’ve known Jerry all my life. He’s my friend. He just tried to kill me. Wonderful, isn’t it? Wonderful all the things my friends have done for me. There’s Jerry, who tries to get me infected with that damn disease. And then good old Lewis. He takes all the wonderful things that I brought him here and he lets them be cursed by the devil so I have to run around for the rest of my life trying to get them back?”

Trivia tidbits:

– We learn Jack is a former merchant marine, where he collected magic artifacts while traveling the globe. Later episodes will establish that he served during World War II.

– How’d they get Cronenberg? According to Alyse Wax’s excellent book Curious Goods: Behind the Scenes of Friday the 13th: The Series, Cronenberg and executive producer Frank Mancuso were good friends, so it was a no-brainer.

Gross, part 2.

Back in the vault: It’s to no one’s surprise that Cronenberg offers one of the show’s gooiest, slimiest episodes, but he also teases out some great performances, with the regular cast feeling like a real family suffering genuine heartache, and the villains being truly vile.

Next: Monocrhome or go home.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.