Scary TV: Big Screams On the Small Screen

Last Halloween, we unearthed a special three part series that revealed our picks for the “Scariest Movie Moments.” If you’re still looking for the perfect fright film to watch during the witching hour, it’s a can’t miss guide. From well-known classics to gore obscure, there’s something for horror fans of every stripe.

 

While big screen titles are still the lifeblood of the genre, TV series and made for television movies have a long tradition of bringing tales of terror into our living rooms. To that end, we’ve narrowed down hours of network programming into a short list that includes some of our all-time favorite television specials and series episodes. Each of these thirteen selections is also a stand-out example of small screen scary. Turn the lights on and enjoy.

 

NOTE: Titles available for streaming on Netflix, Hulu Plus and/or Amazon Instant Video are noted as such. Clicking on any image below will take you to the Amazon product page for the DVD and/or Blu-ray release of that title.

 

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

“Hush” (S4, E10) is one of the best episodes of the series. It’s also the scariest, thanks to a quartet of truly evil baddies known as “The Gentleman.” They steal the voices of their victims to prevent them from screaming. Adding to the creep factor, The bulk of the episode has no spoken dialogue. Stream: Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

GREY’S ANATOMY

“Sanctuary” and “Death and All His Friends” (S6, E23 & E24). The sixth season of the sudsy ABC drama wrapped with a dark and shocking finale. A shooter turns Seattle Grace into a bloodbath over two excruciatingly tense hours. It’s a dead-serious outing that trades the usual melodrama for uncompromising brutality. Stream: Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

HARPER’S ISLAND

This CBS summer series is a gory whodunit. At least one character is offed in every episode, often in brutally creative ways. Adding to the tension, the identity of the killer isn’t revealed until the finale. Though the entire run is grim and scary, a harrowing battle to the death makes “Gasp” (E12) the episode that sticks with you. Stream: Netflix and Amazon Instant.

 

 

INVASION

This creepy, well crafted ABC series (cancelled after one season) is equal parts family drama, sci-fi thriller and gothic horror. It’s a slow burn storyline draws you in and keeps you guessing. Things get full-tilt disturbing in “Round Up” (E21), a series highlight. You can pick up the complete series on DVD for under $10 on Amazon. Stream: Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER

Darren McGavin is spot-on as Carl Kolchak, a tabloid reporter with a knack for working a crime beat populated by vampires, ghosts, demons and ghouls. Two stand-alone movies and the first batch of weekly episodes are standouts. The series aired for a single season. “The Zombie” (E2) gets the nod for scariest installment. Stream: Netflix and Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

“Sylvia” (S7, E17 & E18) was a jarring departure from the norm for this long-running hit. This heavy two-parter had it all: body image crisis, gender politics, the rape of a young girl, her subsequent pregnancy and the fallout from all of that. You want more? The attacker stalks his victim wearing a freaky porcelain mask. Yikes! Stream: Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

SALEM’S LOT

This 1979 mini-series is still one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King novel. It’s an atmospheric and genuinely chilling tale of a small town on the verge of being taken over by a nasty looking vampire. James Mason, oozing sinister evil, heads a first rate cast. Be sure to get your hands on the full-length cut. A heavily edited version was also released but it’s a mess.

 

 

 

TRILOGY OF TERROR

This 1975 ABC horror anthology would have faded into obscurity were it not for “Amelia,” the third and final segment of an otherwise forgettable movie. 70’s B-movie queen Karen Black is trapped with a Zuni fetish doll that has suddenly come to life. The little bastard is pissed and he’s out for blood. It’s a balls-to-the wall battle royale that ends with a nifty little twist.

 

 

 

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

“Living Doll” (S5, E6). There are dozens of episodes from this classic series that make your blood run cold. What separates our scary pick from all the rest?  Meet Talky Tina, the toy from hell. In reality, this is a rather sad story about a family in crisis. The addition of an increasingly hostile doll adds a delightfully freaky twist. Stream: Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

TWIN PEAKS

“Lonely Souls” (S2, E7). This was the episode that finally revealed “who killed Laura Palmer” while also treating us to some of the most frightening images ever seen in primetime. Take, for example, that handsome guy to the left. He’s Killer Bob, an unforgettable villain and the stuff of nightmares. Stream: Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

THE WALKING DEAD

“Days Gone Bye” (S1, E1) kicked off the exceptional first season of this AMC hit. It’s a bone-chilling exercise in visceral horror that offers us a front row seat to a world gone mad. When a show zombifies a little kid, you know it’s not going to pull any punches. Full of iconic, unforgettable moments. One of the best drama pilots in TV history. Stream: Netflix and Amazon Instant.

 

 

THE X-FILES

“Squeeze” (S1, E3) introduced us to genetic mutant Eugene Victor Tooms, a frightening fellow with a taste for fresh human livers and the ability to squeeze into the narrowest of spaces. Doug Hutchison plays Tooms to terrifying perfection. He makes a return visit later in the season (EP 21, “Tooms”) but this first outing is vintage X-FILES. Stream: Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant.

 

 

 

THE X-FILES

“Home” (S4, E2) is easily the most disturbing and controversial episode of the entire series. It’s also scary as hell. Though the plot is heavy on perversion and inbreeding, snappy dialogue and flourishes of gallows humor elevate the proceedings. Extra points for turning a Johnny Mathis song into a harbinger of death. Stream: Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant.

 

 

So, what do you think? Did we hit most of the highlights or is one of your scary TV favorites missing from the list? Let us know. If you’re reading this on the post page, you should see the new Facebook comments area below. If not, CLICK HERE to go to the actual post page and scroll to the bottom of the article.

THE ARCHIVE: A Trilogy Of Halloween Terror!

Welcome to the new RONTHINK.

While we put the final touches on our redesign, we thought it would be the perfect time to launch a new feature: The Archive. Well, technically, it’s the concept that’s new. As the name implies, at least some of the content will indeed come from deep in our back pages. That doesn’t mean we’re going spray digital Febreze on a parade of old clunkers and send them back out to whore for more clicks.

The Archive will re-imagine content in creative, compelling and entertaining ways. That could mean themed packages, “what were we thinking?” moments, follow-up pieces inspired by fan favorites or curated collections of reviews and opinion pieces enhanced with new material and fresh perspective. Rather than generating content that lives and dies in an online moment, we’re hoping to build something that keeps good conversations alive, celebrates those “best of” moments and, frankly, holds our feet to the fire when we screw up.

As part of our re-design, you can also expect to see a major infusion of new reader services, multi-media integrations, presentation enhancements and consumer-focused content that could save you time and money. In fact, this debut run of The Archive also features our first-ever interactive photoplay. Fear not! We hate annoying online slide shows and click-bait stunts as much as you do. We’ll leave shameless content rehashing and cheap PPC ploys to BuzzFeed and Upworthy.

Now, take a break from real world horrors and dust off your Halloween spirit. Click on any image in the preview slide show below to jump to that full installment of “Scariest Movie Moments” or use the scare-cons at the bottom of the post. Don't know what you are looking at? Just click on the i in the navigation bar to pull up more information about each image.

 

  

CODE BLU: SAVING MR. BANKS

IN TWEET: DISNEY HATERS BE DAMNED! “SAVING MR. BANKS” COMES HOME IN A GLORIOUS BLU-RAY EDITION. IT’S A JOY TO BEHOLD.

I worked for the Walt Disney Company from 2002 to 2006. Though I have mostly fond memories, I was never one to drink the fairy dust flavored Kool Aid. Perhaps that’s why I was taken aback by how much I enjoyed SAVING MR. BANKS. Yes, it is a Disneyfied take on a slice of film history but it’s hardly the sanitized picture many naysayers were expecting.

The biggest surprise is how much of the two hour film Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) isn’t in. He’s an important presence who’s there for the big moments but he’s not the feature attraction. That distinction belongs to P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the author of a series of beloved children’s books featuring the character of Mary Poppins. Disney’s aggressive campaign to land the screen rights to the property (motivated, he says, by a promise made to his daughters) frames a series of extended flashbacks to the author’s tragic childhood in Australia.

P.L. Travers was born Helen Lyndon Goff, the oldest of three children. Her father, Travers (Colin Farrell), was a man with a big imagination and an even bigger problem with alcohol. He was also a screw-up at work and a source of constant frustration for his long suffering wife, Margaret (Ruth Wilson). Things get bad enough that, at one point late in the film, she tries to take her own life.

Travers Goff did die at a very young age, an event that scarred his whole family but was especially hard on young Helen. He was the source of her pen name and his memory would inform everything from her distrust of others (especially Disney) to the depiction of the Mr. Banks character in the MARY POPPINS books. It also goes a long way toward explaining the title of the film (a studio decision that some point to as a factor in the middling box office gross of SAVING MR. BANKS).

When the film opens, Travers tries to rebuff another of what have become annual overtures by Walt Disney. She gets a reality check from her agent regarding her precarious finances and reluctantly agrees to fly to California and meet with a man she openly despises. While using the unsigned contract for the film rights as a dangling carrot, Travers turns pre-production on MARY POPPINS into a grand game of cat and mouse. These are some of the most electric scenes in SAVING MR. BANKS.

Travers insists that all meetings be recorded (something you’ll be thankful for if you stay through the closing credits) and she makes demands of the production team that are often arbitrary and cruel. A highlight: Travers insists that the color red appear nowhere in the film, just because. Watching Disney bow to this ridiculous request is a sight to behold.

The road to Travers eventually signing over the film rights is rocky and often profoundly emotional. At the outset, she is horrified by overtly commercial attempts to woo her (like a hotel suite overstuffed with gift baskets and Disney plush). Production meetings typically degenerate into battles with screenwriter Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman (B.J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman). Travers is openly hostile to everyone associated with the studio and eventually heads back to London.

Of course, we all know the film got made but how Disney clinched the deal wasn’t a simple matter and it isn’t given short shrift here. On more than one occasion, he reneges on promises made to Travers and gives her every good reason to doubt his sincerity. The decision to add an animated sequence to MARY POPPINS is a particularly egregious example of Disney going back on his word. Still, the two eventually arrive at a place of mutual respect and understanding. The breakthrough moment, when the Sherman Brothers debut “Let’s Go Fly A Kite” for Travers, will have you reaching for the tissue box.

Performances are top-notch across the board. Colin Farrell breathes life into what could have been a two-dimensional character and Wilson does nice work along side him. Whitford, Novak and Schwartzman are particularly effective and more than hold their own in numerous scenes with Thompson (no small feat). It’s also nice to see Schwartzman reign in the weird for a change.

Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney with restrained gusto and does an admirable job of showing him as both a fatherly figure and a self-impressed ego maniac. A sequence shot at Disneyland has Walt handing out pre-signed autograph cards to tourists as he tries to impress an exasperated Travers. Hanks infuses the scene with an imperious air that feels like a knowing nod to Disney’s reputation as a benevolent dictator.

SAVING MR. BANKS really belongs to Emma Thompson and she is wonderful throughout. It’s a testimony to her considerable acting chops that we’re always rooting for Travers, even when she’s running roughshod over everyone in sight. A good chunk of credit must also be given to screenwriters Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. The pair is careful to avoid pitfalls that might turn the Travers character into a repellant harpy, something I’m not sure a male screenwriter would have pulled off with as much skill.

The only real rough spot in SAVING MR. BANKS is a sequence depicting the Hollywood premiere of MARY POPPINS. It’s oddly paced and feels a little rushed. On the plus side, there are no attempts to re-create scenes from the film using bad lookalikes. Any clips we do see are taken directly from MARY POPPINS itself. Disney groupies will be also be happy with subtle in-jokes like the vintage studio logo used in the opening titles and a large map of Florida seen in the background of one shot. Production values are exceptional throughout and the blu-ray transfer is gorgeous.

SAVING MR. BANKS is a film that should have done better at the box office. It’s darker and more emotional than you might think but it’s also a heartfelt valentine to a beloved classic and a tribute to the amazing woman who gave us Mary Poppins. 

RONTHINK GRADE: B+

Click on either image below to purchase SAVING MR. BANKS or the new 50th Anniversary Edition of MARY POPPINS from Amazon.