"Man
lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But, there is, unseen by most,
an underworld —a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit... A
DARKSIDE."Gather round the home screen, adjust the rabbit ears, and settle down amongst musty TV magazines. For this particular Countdown, we’re digging up old grave-dirt, all the way back to the distant year of 1985. Tales from the Darkside is one of those many horror anthology TV series that was floating around in the 80s. While perhaps not as well-known as later comers The Outer Limits or the king of them all, Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Darkside had more than its fair share of worthy episodes. And this particular episode was done by horror maestro himself Tom Savini.
As you might suspect of a guy whose boyhood hero was the elder Lon Chaney, Savini found his life's purpose in doing horror movie make-up. Having cut his teeth while working with Romero during the filming of Martin (a film which I'm certain we'll get to talk about during one of these little countdown posts), he revolutionized horror special effects and make up (oh, and he was only the most badass film character of all time...move aside Willis. Time to make room for SEX MACHINE)
That's right boils and ghouls. Sex Machine has it all. Attitude. Leather. Dick Gun. Anyway, where was I? *ahem* oh yeah. Halloween Candy.
This is the gist of it: A man (we’ll call him Michael, because that’s the name they gave the character) visits his old, doddering dad during Halloween. Michael’s dad is a real asshole and is insistent that any Trick-or-Treaters unfortunate to come to his house can go pound sand. Michael gives his dad some candy to hand out saying that ‘It wouldn’t kill you to hand it out, Halloween being just once a year’ (ah foreshadowing, I did miss you from English lit 101).
Naturally, the old man yells at the first Trick-or-Treater that shows up at his doorstep. Needless to say, he was in the right because Peter Cottontail is about to get his vandalism on. But his plan is thwarted when the old man….opens the door and yells at him some more! So after refusing to give out candy to a couple more Trick-Or-Treaters, the final brain cell in the old man’s head turn’s on long enough to mix together honey, glue, and mayo along with the candy. Proclaiming it to be “Goblin Food” he dumps the whole mix into a kid’s bag.
Having officially ruined Halloween for no less than three children, he does the most logical thing…which is to drift off to sleep. Until that is, he gets an unexpected visitor. I'm going to cut it off here. The rest is certainly worth watching and you can do so, here!
So, the story isn’t too earth shattering in and of itself. In fact, I dare say that Trick ‘r’ Treat did this kind of story better in the final anthology in that movie, but this version of it is so well done, particularly for the time of the filming, that it deserves the special attention that it’s getting here. The costuming and special effects in this episode are simply fantastic. The old man comes off as a typical asshole victim, but I dare you to not feel minor pangs of sympathy for him as he is unable to stop what is happening. The ending is foreseeable, but still carries an enjoyable karmic twist.
Until next time boils and ghouls,
Eerie Evan.
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