Old School TV: Boris Karloff's Thriller- 'The Twisted Image'

An Episode with a notable Guest Star and a clear influence on Pop Culture for Decades to come.

This is...

The eyes have it!  We're promised that this one will be a Thriller...as sure as his name is Boris Karloff.

I mean, it's not.  His name was actually William Henry Pratt- just FYI.

Our Lead is...Leslie Nielsen?!?

Back in his straight man days, he played a Corporate Executive with one big issue...

This obsessed lady.

She literally just kept staring at him every afternoon for a month before she finally talked to him.  He politely dismisses her advances, but she clearly misreads everything.

On top of that, there's a wannabe Executive in the same Office (who works in the Mailroom).

He does what he can to look the part, but he's nothing special- at least that is what his mean-spirited Sister tells him!

His obsession with being like Nielsen eventually leads him to meeting up with the woman, who is obsessed with BEING WITH Nielsen.

He tries to make her fall for him- since he's 'just as good'- but that doesn't end well for one of them...

In the aftermath, the man manages to somewhat-successfully frame Nielsen for the crime and goes full-on delusional as he 'returns home' to see Nielsen's wife and child.

He ends up taking the latter and standoff ensues.

Nielsen manages to get the kid back as the Police arrive and the man engages in some not-so-subtle symbolism.  Do you get it?!?  The End.

A strong, personal-feeling Episode.  This one is interesting for having pretty much no supernatural element.  Others I've reviewed featured magic mirrors, visions of the future or at least implied mysticism to keep one alive for Decades longer than normal.  This one- just people with clear emotional and psychological issues.  I mentioned at the beginning how it seemed to be a big influence on Pop Culture.  The obvious example would be American Psycho.  Nielsen is emulated by a person who wants to literally become them, aided by the fact that they look somewhat alike.  The Book and Film are full of similar-looking guys for obvious, thematic reasons.  On top of that, you have Films like Single White Female and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle that definitely feel similar to this.  That said, I'm not claiming that the Writer of the original Story (adapted here) necessarily *invented* those ideas.  It is just interesting to see something that feels more recent than it is on a Show from 1960.  Seeing Nielsen play things 100% seriously is nice too and he does a good job.  The Writing and Acting tend to veer to the melodramatic, soap opera-y at times though.  It's not bad- just on the nose sometimes.  All in all, Twisted Image is a strong Thriller Episode.  As a bonus, it included a role for a person of color...kind of...

After covering all of the Episodes I have on hand, let's take a break from Thriller.  More Anthology Shows to cover, so keep your eyes peeled.