Network: ABC
Original Air Date: December 4th, 1981
Darkroom was a short lived television series which premiered in 1981 and enjoyed a short but sweet six episode run (featuring 16 stories) before sailing off towards obscurity. Aside from rerunning on the USA Network in the early 90s, this clever anthology series seems to have all but disappeared.
Darkroom came out at just the right time for my budding love of being scared silly. I was ten when I first saw The Bogeyman Will Get You and through the many years of sampling other warped products, it stuck with me because it was clever and subtlety creepy. This segment was written by Robert Bloch and starred a then-unknown Helen Hunt as well as the famous child actor Quinn Cummings (who was way too old for dolls when she appeared in The Babysitter the year before). These girls play sisters who tend to let their imagination run away with them. This might come in handy when a darkly handsome man from their past shows up. Not surprisingly, as soon as he appears in town the first body washes up in the local lake. He’s hiding something alright, and Hunt will soon find out that his secret is not quite the one she was expecting.
How I adored stumbling upon this treasure one dark Friday night. At the time, I was not aware that it was an episode of Darkroom, but when I began to dig back into my TV-laden memories, this was one of the first things which appeared before me. It was some years later that I was able to actually re-watch the episode, and it’s only gotten better with age, even if the end reveal is a little ridiculous (in fact, I think I remember chuckling a little back then too). It’s all about the build-up, baby, and there’s lots of sneaking around through dark rooms to make this episode a rather exciting watch.
James Coburn was the host of Darkroom but when the show reran on USA I believe his host segments were removed, probably to make room for more ads. That is truly a shame, since I think we can all agree that Coburn can turn on the sinister factor when needed!
6 comments:
what a coincidence, just yesterday I was reading on wikipedia and imdb about this show, it appears that it wasn't as good as Twilight zone or Night gallery and that the stories were dark and mean spirited... by the way on imdb some guy says that it was shown just before Strike force a cop show with Robert Stack just as dark toned as this anthology series, it was really so violent that Strike force?
Hi Francisco! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I would say Darkroom never got a chance to be as good as Twilight Zone or Night Gallery simply because it wasn't around long enough. It's good, but yes, not great, although I have a super soft spot for it since it aired at just the right age for me...
It's so funny that you mention Strike Force because someone posted the opening credits on my FB page the other day. They also mentioned that it was considered at the time to be one of the most violent shows ever. It's another childhood fave, but I can't say I remember any violence. Mostly, I remember my parents letting me stay up late to watch it... and that's about it.
I have fond memories of watching darkroom especially on one Christmas during its original run. Having James Coburn host gave it that extra edge.
Shell, I agree Coburn made a great host. He has such a wonderful and unique (and slightly creepy) voice... He was wonderful.
I just bought the darkroom series on bootleg dvd-r's and must say this episode was on of the best along with another episode called 'Cat Nip'. Both have truly scary moments!
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