Darkroom – The Complete Series (1981 – 1982/Region 4 PAL Import/Universal/Madman
DVD Set/Australia)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be operated
on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4 PAL
format software and can be ordered from our friends at Madman Entertainment at
the website address provided at the end of the review. Cover image © Universal Studios.
Of all
the anthology series made since the 1950s, the Horror/Thriller type has been
the most successful, from The Twilight
Zone, Outer Limits, One Step Beyond and Boris Karloff’s Thriller, to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery, Brian Clemens’ Thriller and Roald
Dahl’s Tales Of The Unexpected. However,
not all attempts worked out and one of the most interesting to not catch on was
Darkroom. Made in the early 1980s by Universal TV and
first aired by ABC-TV in the U.S.
(The American Broadcasting Company), James Coburn hosted the show, yet it only
lasted seven hour-long episodes. Now, The Complete Series is finally making its DVD debut, but
actually from the underrated Australian home video company Madman.
Each
episode has two or three tales within each hour and it pretty much plays like a
continuation of Night Gallery, but
in a good way. By replacing paintings
with photochemical pictures, the show found a new approach to setting up the
terrifying tales and some of the top talent in the business was involved in the
show. The stories featured (with guest
stars) include:
1)
Closed
Circuit (Richard Anderson, Mary Frann, John Randolph)
2)
Stay
Tuned, We’ll Be Right Back (Shane Butterworth, Bert Freed)
3)
The
Boogieman Will Get You (Helen Hunt, Quinn Cummings, Randy Powell, Gloria
DeHaven, R.G., Armstrong; written by Robert Bloch)
4)
Uncle
George (Claude Akins, June Lockhart, Dick Whittingham)
5)
Needlepoint
(Lawrence
Hilton-Jacobs, Esther Rolle)
6)
Siege
Of 31 August (Ronny Cox, Hank Brandt, Pat Corley, Gail Strickland)
7)
A
Quiet Funeral (Eugene Roche, Robert F. Lyons, Misty Rowe, John Medici, Carmine
Caridi; written by Robert Bloch and Brian Clemens)
8)
Make-Up
(Billy Crystal, Brian Dennehy, Sian Barbara
Allen, Elvia Allman)
9)
The
Partnership (David Carradine, Pat Buttram, Carole Cook, John Tuell; written by
Christopher Crowe, based on the story by William F. Nolan)
10) Daisies (Rue McClanahan, Lloyd Bochner,
Elizabeth Halliday; written by Peter S. Fischer from the story by Fredric Brown)
11) Catnip (Michael V. Gazzo, Jocelyn Brando,
Cyril O’Reilly, Lynn Carlin, Karin Argoud; written by Robert Bloch)
12) Lost In Translation (Andrew Prine, Whit
Bissell, Cyndy Garvey, Michael Zand)
13) Guillotine (Michael Constantine, Dick
Balduzzi, Frank M. Benard, Patti D’Arbanville, Logan Ramsey, Robert Feero;
adapted by Peter Allen Fields from a story by Cornell Woolrich)
14) Exit Line (Jack Carter, Samantha Eggar, Anne
Lockhart, Stan Shaw written by Peter S. Fischer from the story by William Link
& Richard Levinson)
15) Who’s There? (Grant Goodeve, Michael Lembeck,
Dianne Kay: written by Brian Clemens)
16) The Rarest Of Wines (Henry Polic II, Judith
Chapman)
9 – 11
and 14 – 16 are the only hour-long shows with three tales. These are often creepy and certainly
politically incorrect at times, but that is why they work more often than
not. Some are predictable and others
darkly telegraph their possibilities until their twisted resolutions. Many of the classic such shows were in
syndication at the time and Roald Dahl’s
Tales Of The Unexpected was actually still in production, but the failure
of Darkroom to catch on (besides ABC
starting to loose its #1 position) was simply that such series had peaked.
Even
anthology feature films like Twilight
Zone – The Movie, Creepshow and
TV’s Tales From The Darkside showed
how the anthology format was in decline.
Still, Universal TV was in its late prime and director like Rick
Rosenthal (Halloween II) and Curtis
Harrington (Ruby) handled these
shows well enough. It just needed to be
more than just an upgraded Night Gallery
and soon, the lights were out for good.
The 1.33 X 1 image comes from analog masters that can be
soft and show some wear, but this was all shot in 35mm film and color can look
good, overcoming said flaws. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono shows its age
somewhat, but is not bad for its age.
These copies are on par with the copies last shown on U.S. TV (The
Sci-Fi Channel showed the whole series in its early days) and only new HD
transfer on Blu-ray are going to be any better.
Extras include trailers for other Universal TV on DVD from Madman and a
nice booklet inside the DVD case that includes a reprint of an early press
release (including some stories they never filmed), stills and opening essay by
Grant Taylor.
Four segments were
considered too graphic at the time to broadcast and were edited together into
the little-seen anthology theatrical film release Nightmares (1983) not included here. Hopefully, that will get its own DVD soon.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD set import exclusively from Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
-
Nicholas Sheffo
