Back in the day, even before the time of my childhood, in the dark pages of history forgotten to the modern age, there was horror on television cast in black and white shadows that was usually disrupted by bouts of static interference only curable by a slam on the side of the box and twisting rods in odd directions and weird geometry while the best parts of the show were lost…) There were shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and One Step Beyond.
One of the best, dedicated to horror, (unlike the others that always presented a regular shot of Sci-Fi,) was Boris Karloff’s grim goodie, Thriller. The show met its demise after only two seasons, too closely competitive with The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
These classics used skillful storytelling, acting, and lighting to create their spooky atmosphere instead of blood and shock tactics, and they still present a safe (if somewhat twisted) family viewing opportunity. Not that the kids won’t be watching some of these from under the covers and checking under the bed for the rest of their years.
Fog-enshrouded graveyards, creaking mansions… Each tale of the haunted black and white ambience of this gothic horror anthology listed here is a terrifying gem hiding in the dark, cobweb-laden corners of the past. (Though many of the total 64 shows are simply crime drama.) A pinch of salt (and iron) and a little suspension of disbelief will pay off big, because the low budget doesn’t take away from the eeriness of the dank cellars and abandoned houses in this well written, well acted show. So, allow The Curator to present The Top 10 Scariest Episodes of Karloff’s Thriller!
Thriller
1960-1962Total # Episodes: 67
10. Masquerade [S2:E06]
(by Henry Kuttner, Starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Tom Poston, & John Carradine) A couple are stranded, find shelter over at the Frankenstein place, and discover the family ‘s vampire curse. Humorous, and a favorite!
9. Well Of Doom [S1:E23]
A man and his wife are locked in a remote chapel by the evil ghost of a man his father wronged.
8. The Weird Tailor [S2:E04]
When one man’s son dies in an occult accident, he enlists the help of a poverty-stricken tailor (and his lonely wife) to make a very special suit.
7. Parasite Mansion [S1:E30]
A woman’s car breaks down and she is locked in the upstairs bedroom by a twisted hillbilly family.
6. The Return Of Andrew Bentley [S2:E12]
(by August Derleth, screenplay by Richard Matheson) A sorcerer wills his considerable estate to his nephew who must promise never to leave, because another sorcerer wants the body!
5. The Hollow Watcher [S2:E20]
(Warren Oates, Denver Pyle) When a grifter kills her husband’s father in the Old West, a vengeful spirit who watches over the valley takes offense.
4. La Strega [S2:E17]
(Ursula Andress) A girl tries to escape the clutches of a conjure woman.
3. The Hungry Glass [S1:E16]
(by Robert Bloch – William Shatner) A couple buys an old mansion that has no mirrors. But there are shadows in all the glass, and a locked room in the attic.
2. Pigeons From Hell [S1:E36]
(by Robert E. Howard) Two men spend the night in an abandoned house.
1. The Incredible Doktor Markesan [S2:E22]
(by August Derleth – Boris Karloff) A young couple goes to visit their uncle, but instead of hospitality, are locked in their rooms at night. Uncle Konrad Markesan has made a remarkable scientific discovery.
Just Starting Out: Actors of the 1970s
Thriller is great fun for folks like me who grew up watching the sitcoms of the 1970s! You’ll recognize more than a few stars (looking a whole lot younger): From Gilligan’s Island, in “The Hungry Glass” (along with Elly May Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies,) and Mrs. Howell in “The Grim Reaper”.
“The Purple Room” boasts Oscar Goldman from The Six Million Dollar Man, Alfred, Batman’s butler, and the ever-looming Psycho House.
My favorite episode has to be “Masquerade”that stars Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha from Bewitched) and Tom Poston, (the caretaker from Newhart), which is funny because Darren (Dick York) from Bewitched was in the episode “The Incredible Doctor Markesan” and we see the mousey Mr. Peterson (John Fiedler) from the original Newhart Show in “A Wig for Miss Devore”!
In “Late Date”, The Chief from Get Smart makes an appearance, and the episode “The Prisoner in the Mirror” stars a particularly captivating Marion Ross, who played Marion Cunningham, the mom on Happy Days!
Most armchair critics of Thriller seem to agree there is a major gap between the average short-story crime drama episodes and the “good episodes” that really resonate with creativity and tend to stick with you when you slowly climb the stairs to bed alone in a dark house. So we continue our list (now in ascending order) with…
The 25 Best Episodes of Thriller!
Terror in Teakwood [S1:E33]
(Guy Rolfe) A variation on The Hands of Orlac. A world-class pianist suddenly gains the ability to play a piece that could be played by no one but its composer because of his freakishly large hand-span.
God Grante That She Lye Still [S2:E05]
A beautiful witch curses those who condemned her to burn until the end of her bloodline. Her descendant is visited by her spirit. “First fire, then death; so shall it be, until my body is returned to me.”
The Purple Room [S1:E07]
(Rip Torn) A man is suspicious after inheriting a haunted mansion; if he chooses not to live in the house for a year after spending the first night there, the valuable estate falls to his cousin and her husband.
Dialogues With Death [S2:E11]
(Boris Karloff) Two tales of Terror: In the first, the old morgue caretaker talks to the spirits of the bodies in cold storage and some nosy reporters learn something not meant for the living. Then a couple on the run hide at a withering plantation where a crazy aunt thinks they are dead… so she locks them in the family crypt!
Papa Benjamin [S1:E26]
A band leader uses voodoo drums in his act after he is warned not to. (Also adapted in: Old Time Radio 1948 Escape! & 1965 Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.)
Dark Legacy [S1:35]
One of the world’s greatest stage musicians leaves his magic book, the secret to his impossible feats, to one successor whose ambition drives him to summon Astaroth! (The dog dies.)
The Prisoner in the Mirror [S1:E34]
Count Cagliostro the magician traps himself and his reluctant lover within a mirror. A modern man becomes infatuated with the woman, and tries to set the prisoners free.
A Wig for Miss Devore [S2:19]
(by August Derleth) A witch is hung. Her wig, the product of witchcraft created strand by strand from the hair of her victims, falls to an aging actress who wants only to be admired again. But there is a terrible price.
The Cheaters [S1:E15]
(by Robert Bloch) This story follows a pair of glasses marked “veritas” through a series of vignettes in which the wearers are able to see the truth of any situation.
The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk [S2:13]
(John Carradine) A woman who runs a prize pig farm places an ad for help in a lonely hearts magazine, but the drifters who show up all seem to disappear. Two hobos are used as bait to test the theory that Mrs. Hawk is really Circe, the Greek sorceress.
The Guillotine [S2:E02]
If an executioner dies, the next man in line to die is set free. A woman set on preventing her lover’s sentence poisons the local executioner. Will he make his appointment on time? The suspense!
The Storm [S2:08]
It was a dark and stormy night. A woman arrives home to a dark house and begins to fear there might be a prowler. Then she finds a body in the basement. If only her husband would get home soon. [Based on “The Storm” by McKnight Malmar]
The Grim Reaper [S1:E37]
(by Robert Bloch – William Shatner) A mystery writer buys a cursed painting, then finds herself caught up in her very own murder mystery. Fun performance by Shatner.
He sketches at night in graveyards. Last month he did a portrait at the morgue. His model was a corpse. He called the painting “Still Life”!
Devil’s Ticket [S1:29]
(by Robert Bloch) A Faustian tale of a starving artist who only pawns his soul for a ninety-day loan.
Late Date [S1:27]
A man tries to cover for his brother when he kills his cheating wife in a fit of rage. A tension-filled episode with a great ending… until the lousy tacked on resolution that the studio required!
The Crime-Comedy Trilogy
Three popular episodes starring Edward Andrews with a twisted humorous slant.
Cousin Tundifer [S2:E21]
With a rich uncle who has one foot in the grave, and a house that can transport you to the 1890s, what would you do if your uncle fell in with a gold-digging woman far too young for him? A murder-comedy with the absolute best introduction by Karloff.
A Third For Pinochle [S2:E09]
A hen-pecked husband has the perfect plan to murder his wealthy virago of a wife, but he doesn’t realize the nosy neighbors he counts on as witnesses have secrets of their own!
A Good Imagination [S1:E31]
The best of the comedy episodes, a book dealer does away with his wife’s lovers in inventive ways he learns from books. It all goes well until he tries a classic bit from Poe.
“A Good Imagination” is an episode you want to like. Edward Andrews is great as a psychopath. But the story is infuriating and requires too much Dumb Water to be drunk by the characters.
First of all, the description is wrong when it says Andrews kills his wife’s lovers. Only one of the people he killed was cheating with his wife. The other two were his wife’s brother and the Private Eye the brother hired to look into the death of the first guy. A second lover is later driven crazy, but not killed.
What makes the episode infuriating is that his wife suspects that Andrews killed the first guy, and tells her brother about it. Then, when her brother and his private eye both end up dead a few days later, she somehow STOPS suspecting Andrews, and goes out into the middle of nowhere with him, where she’s almost killed too. That’s totally insane. If she suspected that her husband had killed her lover, she’d wouldn’t have hung around, she’d have gotten away.
The Private Eye tried to blackmail Andrews, but the brother did nothing wrong whatsoever. She could not possibly have not suspected that Andrews did it, when she suspected him of killing the lover.
“Fun performance by Shatner.”
By Shatner?? Shatner is good in The Grim Reaper, sure. But Natalie Schafer (not mentioned in the review) goes to town, and totally steals the show in this one. Shatner is actually totally non-descript until about 37 minutes in, when he finally starts having some fun.
I’m looking for an episode which may be in any of the following: Thriller, Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, The Outer Limits or such.
Story about a woman (this is the ending part) coming back home, and the door opens (a wreath in front of door) and she’s told that she doesn’t live there and the house was sold 20 years ago. Yet, it had only been hours since she left the house.
For me, the very best episodes were “The Hungry Glass” and “Paradise Mansion” . Superb writing, acting, direction and photography. Even watching them today I get goosebumps. I wish this series had stayed on for many years, but from what I read Hitchcock asked the head of Universal who was a friend to kill Boris Karloff Presents Thriller so Hitch’s series could continued unabated. Apparently, that worked.
My all time favorite is A Wig for Miss Devore……suspense, dread galore. Scared me so much when younger and I still remember the drama! I’m so glad we can watch them now.
Referred to this program by the great Stephen King, who referred to it as the finest television horror anthology show. I love to watch these shows after dark on YouTube, and scream every time the eerie “Thriller” bumpers appear with the creepy music and spider webs appearing one by one. I agree with Mr. King: I’ve never seen a better horror anthology, with many of the same stars in the rough as The Twilight Zone.