Ok, the episode (I think it was a horror anthology series, possibly from ten or fifteen years ago) features a woman in a boarding house, her "daughter", and a male tenant. The young girl, whose face is covered by a China doll's porcelain mask, is perhaps a homicidal killer. Or an evil doll.This sounds oh so familiar I'm pretty sure I've seen it, and yet I can't place it. Tales from the Darkside, maybe? Putcher thinking cap on and leave your guesses in the comments! Let's all help put Spazmo's mind at ease, because we all at Final Girl care...and this is the kind of thing that can totally drive a person nutso- trust me. There was one time way back before The Internet when I could not for the life of me remember the name of the sister on Good Times. Why I was trying to remember in the first place, I have no idea; the point is, the question became the bane of my existence. Finally, a couple of days after the subject first came up, I woke up in the middle of the night, going "Thelma! It was Thelma!". My brain could finally rest.
Anyway, at the end, the man confronts the girl/doll and a crack appears in her mask revealing a section of disgustingly mottled human tissue underneath. The mother saves(?) the man from the thing's murderous wrath and explains that her daughter preferred to be looked upon as a perfect doll, instead of a hideous freak, hence the mask, etc, etc, and then that's the end.
If you've seen this, please let me know what the hell it is and where it's from. Someone once suggested it might be an old Goosebumps episode, but this was creepy as hell and really not kiddie fare. I've wanted to prove this exists outside my imagination so bad for so long; and keyword searching the IMDB has gotten me absolutely nowhere :(
I'd hate to see that kind of torture happen to someone again, wouldn't you?
13 comments:
Ooooh fun game. I have one that's been "haunting" me, too. This was from a Tales from the Darkside-type show from the late 1970s, early 1980s: Guy gets lost, ends up at a creepy hotel. Checks in at the same time as another lost traveler (a middle-aged woman). All the people are kind of creepy, but there's this one hot chick that he kind of falls for. She goes back to his room and the two of them start getting it on. Suddenly, the clock strikes midnight and the woman's eyes turn a demonic color and she starts trying to kill him. Turns out ALL the hotel's residents -- except the guy & the middle-aged woman -- are creepy demons, out for blood. The guy tries to escape and rescue the middle-aged woman along the way, but the hotel catches on fire and he can't save her. He gets out and runs like hell as the hotel burns behind him. The next morning, he takes the befuddled police inspector out to the scene of the deadly fire. Only they find themselves driving into an empty field in the middle of nowhere. No hotel. No sign of a fire. No charred stuff. No demons. Just ... just a dead middle-aged woman laying in the middle of a field.
It ALMOST sounds like the episode of Tales From the Crypt: New Arrival.
http://www.horrortalk.com/reviews/TalesCrypt4/Tales11.jpg
I believe this is the Tales From The Crypt episode "The New Arrival" from season 4. It stars David Warner as the man (a doctor) and Zelda Rubenstein as the mother.
I hope this helps.
He needs to post his question on Kindertrauma -(http://www.kindertrauma.com/) - if anyone can help him, they can.
I suggested Kindertrauma to him as well...not to say Final Girl readers can't come up with an answer as well. :) Perhaps it's already been solved!
Joe Bob Briggs used to do this kind of thing as a contest on his site, but it hasn't been updated in a long time, sadly...
You guys are the best. Thanks Stacie, and a big shout-out to Chris Bennett for solving this mystery once and for all. "The New Arrival" turns out to be one!
On an extra-eerie note, this one starred Zelda Rubinstein who only just passed away. Maybe just before she went into the light, her spirit whispered to me "Ask at Final Girl...they hold the answer!"
I've had a few major life-long questions answered in the last few months - like "Dungeon of Harrow" a horror movie my mom shut off during the scariest part when I was FIVE years old, and sent me into a frantic 30-year search ever since.
Another mystery recently solved was "Here Come the Double Deckers", an old British show about some kids who build this awesome clubhouse in an old junkyard. That one also drove me nuts. People just look at you like you're making this shit up, or imagining things, or they back away slowly, as if confronted by an escaped lunatic.
Thanks again, you guys!
Oooh! I vividly remember that haunted hotel episode. Not sure what series it was part of though.
Via Flickpeek, I was able to watch it here.
It's still a wonderful TFtC episode, but man, my recollections were WAY off. How could I forget Zelda Rubinstein, Robert Patrick, and Twiggy?
It sounds sort of like the movie The Hills Run Red ripped this episode off, whatever it is.
If all else fails, there's always trying to find a fan-made wiki for either Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Darkside, or if there is the possibility it came from the mid 80s or 90s Twilight Zone or Outer Limits reboots. You can do a lot of deduction work based on titles alone at fan wikis.
Man, I really REALLY did not like Hills Run Red.
That doesn't add anything to the conversation, really, but there you go.
It twas pretty terrible.
I put in a Name the Movie at Joe Bob's site once. He sent me an email saying that I'd feel like an idiot when I found out what the movie was. Then he didn't tell me. Or run the submission. I still don't know what the damn' flick was...
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