Gramma (New Twilight Zone) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This should have been a match made in heaven: a Lovecraftian concept fleshed out by Stephen King and adapted for the (small) screen by the legendary Harlan Ellison. It should have been, but it wasn't. The plot concerns a young boy left alone in a house with his dying grandmother. The boy is scared of her, and as it turns out he very well should be; she's a Kaziah Mason-esque Lovecraftian witch complete with a Necronomicon under her bed. The story borrows a concept from The Thing on the Doorstep and plays on Lovecraft's revulsion of old people. Stephen King's original short story adds one of his strengths to the mix, namely sensations of guilt and self loathing even in the face real horror. Too bad the method used to convey this on screen was a voice over and the person chosen to deliver it was a child actor. This kid's delivery is over the top from the get-go, making the first two thirds of this episode excruciating to sit through. There was only one true Twilight Zone series, and this wasn't it. That Lovecraft was never adapted on that show is too bad, but I would look to The Night Gallery for decent Lovecraftian adaptations before resorting to this. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - Christian Matzke Read the screenplay here. An Imperfect Solution http://www.reanimator.8m.com/ Crawling Chaos Pictures H.P. Lovecraft's Nyarlathotep Propping Up the Mythos |
review © Christian Matzke 2003
picture courtesy of and ©
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