Darkroom Down Under

In honor of the recent DVD release of the classic anthology series Thriller, the duo of Peter Enfantino and John Scoleri have launched the A Thriller A Day blogspot to review each and every episode of the show. Along with the reviews, they've had some of the talent involved in the DVD release stop by to talk about all things Thriller.

One of those guests is writer/producer Alan Brennert who shares audio commentary duties with writer David J. Schow on the Robert Bloch adaptation, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper." A full time novelist these days, Brennert's past credentials include his work on the '80s revival of The Twilight Zone and the '90s The Outer Limits. But Brennert's biggest claim to fame - at least to me - is that he contributed to the short-lived horror anthology Darkroom (penning one of the best installments - the series' opening story "Closed Circuit").

For those unfamiliar with the show, Darkroom ran on ABC on Friday nights from late fall of 1981 to early winter of 1982 with James Coburn as the show's Rod Serling-esque host and lasted a scant seven episodes before cancellation. Unfortunately, despite the impressive talent that was involved - actors like Billy Crystal, Ronny Cox, Helen Hunt, Rue McLanahan, and David Carradine, directors like Rick Rosenthal (Halloween II) and Paul Lynch (Prom Night) and writers like Robert Bloch and William F. Nolan - Darkroom has never been given any kind of a home video release. But during Brennert's swing by A Thriller A Day, he casually mentioned this piece of information:

"By the way, after all these years Darkroom has just been released on DVD in Australia, the only video release of any kind it's ever had."

I was floored to read this and a quick check revealed that, indeed, an Australian home video company called Madman has given Darkroom a Region 4 release. While it doesn't appear that any plans are afoot to release the series elsewhere yet, the fact that it's finally been given a release somewhere makes me believe that sooner or later, it'll be issued on R1. The thought of Darkroom on DVD has always seemed like a pipe dream to me so I'm ecstatic to find that a US release isn't that far-fetched anymore.

Darkroom wasn't the cream of the TV horror crop but it was a fun show that deserves more appreciation. Even if it wasn't of the same caliber as '60s classics like Thriller or The Twilight Zone, it was the closest thing to them that the early '80s offered, serving up eerie tales that have stuck with Gen-Xers for decades - which is especially impressive given how seldom its brief run of episodes have been re-aired since their original broadcast. For the short few weeks it was on, I couldn't wait to see what developed in the Darkroom. Of course, back when the inimitable Ernie Anderson was doing the voice-overs on ABC's promos, as in the clip below, it was always easy to think you were in for something special:

Darkroom On DVD?

To tie in with their remake of The Wolf Man, Universal will be releasing their short-lived 1990-1991 series She-Wolf of London next year on DVD (arriving February 2nd on a four-disc set). While I have no grudge against this minor series making it onto disc, this news only serves to remind me of another short-lived series in Universal's care that they haven't seen fit to release to DVD yet - the blink-and-you-missed-it 1981 anthology Darkroom.

Airing on ABC from November 27, 1981 to January 15, 1982, Darkroom didn't even enjoy a full season. Lasting only seven episodes, the series followed the Night Gallery format of containing multiple stories of varying length within an hour-long program. James Coburn made for an adequate master of ceremonies, conducting his on-camera host segments from within a darkroom (natch!). Although it had an abbreviated on-air lifespan and enjoyed no critical acclaim, for young Gen-Xers in their pre-or-early teens who were home during its brief stint on ABC's Friday night schedule, Darkroom has proved to be memorable. Its limited run may have made a successful afterlife in syndication impossible (although the Sci-Fi Channel did air the series a few times during the mid-'90s in day-long marathons) but Darkroom's handful of episodes were enough to earn the show a devoted set of fans.

Most notable among its stories were "Closed Circuit," in which a veteran news anchor (Robert Webber) is in danger of being replaced by his own ageless video image; "The Bogeyman Will Get You," in which a young girl (Helen Hunt) suspects her new boyfriend is a vampire; "The Siege of 31 August," in which a Vietnam vet (Ronny Cox) is tormented by his young son's toy soldiers (a story many fans believe to be an adaptation of the Stephen King short story "Battleground," but isn't); "The Partnership," in which a wily old man and his unseen 'partner' outplay a cocky drifter (David Carradine); and "Catnip," a story of a war between a violent thug and an elderly witch that builds to a punchline that'd make the Cryptkeeper chuckle. The remaining stories were a grab-bag of ok-to-poor tales (including a retelling of "Guillotine," a Cornell Woolrich story that was originally adapted in 1961 for the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology series Thriller) but none overstayed their welcome (many stories clocked in at less than ten minutes).

Even though Darkroom can't boast anything on the quality level of the best of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, it's generally on par with Night Gallery and I believe its run deserves to be seen and (hopefully) appreciated by more than just a handful of fans. Besides the aforementioned names, Darkroom was also host to appearances by R.G. Armstrong, Whit Bissell, Claude Atkins, Billy Crystal, Brian Dennehy, Samantha Eggar, June Lockhart, Rue McClanahan, and Esther Rolle - not bad for a mere seven episodes! - and its behind the scenes talent included directors Curtis Harrington (Night Tide, How Awful About Allan), Rick Rosenthal (Halloween II), Paul Lynch (Prom Night), Jeffrey Bloom (Blood Beach, Flowers in the Attic) and writer Robert Bloch (who penned three episodes - "The Bogeyman Will Get You," "A Quiet Funeral" - on which Avengers' writer Brian Clemens also contributed - and "Catnip").

While I realize that with much bigger shows in their catalog vying for their attention, Universal likely doesn't feel the need to invest in a DVD release of Darkroom, I don't believe that the show's modest accomplishments should be left to fade away like an old photograph.

Photo Finish

When Fear Itself, TV's latest crack at the anthology format, debuts on NBC this week most fans and critics will likely be looking to compare it to standard bearers like the original Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. But I'll be setting a much lower bar for it - I'm just hoping that it compares well to the short-lived Darkroom, which ran on ABC for a scant total of seven episodes from November 27, 1981 to January 15, 1982.

Darkroom didn't earn any acclaim during its fleeting few weeks of existence but it was a huge show for me. I was in seventh grade at the time and thanks to the syndicated runs of TZ, Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Night Gallery (and even the UK import Tales of the Unexpected) I was an avid anthology junkie. But Darkroom would be the first that I'd be able to watch first run.

Hosted by James Coburn in the role of, um, some dude in a darkroom, Darkroom aired during the height of the early '80s horror boom (the reason it was on the air in the first place) while explicit new R-rated horror films were debuting in theaters every week (also the likely reason that the timid Darkroom tanked). I was twelve at the time and my parents didn't allow me to see horror films in the theater and we didn't have cable or a VCR yet so whatever horror movies I was able to watch on TV were never new, everything was always a second hand experience for me.

So while Darkroom was useless to the older, horror-hardened crowd who could see Happy Birthday to Me on a Friday night rather than watching the neutered network version of horror on TV, for me each episode of Darkroom was a bonafide event. It didn't occur to me that it was a lame show that no one else would care about.

I should also mention that I was mightily impressed by the violent Robert Stack cop show Strike Force that ran at 10pm after Darkroom on ABC (and which at nineteen episodes barely outlasted Darkroom's cancellation). I think that prior to the age when I was old enough to drink, the few weeks that those two shows aired back to back were the best Friday nights I ever spent.

But while I couldn't recount much of Strike Force today, almost thirty years since their broadcast, I still vividly remember almost every Darkroom episode. The one most fans point to as being the series' finest hour is "Siege of 31 August", which starred a pre-Robocop Ronny Cox as a family man and troubled Vietnam vet whose past and present collide when his son's toy soldiers begin to come to life.

This maturely meant episode was definitely the story where the show's producers pulled out all the stops - staging an impressive showdown in a barn between Cox and the tenacious toy soldiers in a climax that mixes miniature FX, rear projection, blue screen work, and models and live actors in forced perspective. But I also loved the series' cautionary premiere episode "Closed Circuit", which starred Robert Webber as a TV newsman who finds himself being replaced by his own video image and the nasty "Catnip", penned by Robert Bloch, which pitted a neighborhood thug against a vengeful witch and her black cat.

In the course of its short run, Darkroom boasted a number of talented contributors. Author Robert Bloch and Hammer screenwriter Brian Clemens were among the show's scribes and director Rick Rosenthal (Halloween II) and Paul Lynch (Prom Night) helmed the vast majority of the series' installments with Curtis Harrington (Night Tide) directing an episode scripted by Clemens ("A Quiet Funeral"). And in front of the camera, stars like Helen Hunt, R.G. Armstrong, Quinn Cummings, Claude Akins, Esther Rolle, Billy Crystal, and David Carradine could be seen.

The show may have failed in the eyes of seasoned genre fans who regarded it as nothing but a facsimile of true horror, but it made a lasting impression on this viewer. When you're young, sometimes a facsimile can be just as important as the Real Thing.