Forgotten TV: 'The Outer Limits' vs. Ron Perlman's Reality.

 Another Episode of The Outer Limits for the DVD I bought.
Gotta get that $3.18 worth of value, after all.

This one is actually what I watched first.

Was it because it was the one with Ron Perlman.
Obviously, yes.

To see how Black Mirror got its mojo, check out this Episode here...

A man- Perlman- is first seen lying near dead in a river dressed for combat.

He wakes up from this dream...or memory and is told by his Bosses in a Meeting that they must make Sales.

He's greeted by a Client who arrives unexpectedly.

Later, he goes to a Bar and she greets him again.

At work, he's still not doing well.

He's trying to get in touch with his estranged daughter and he's starting to see a helmeted men around all corners.

He goes to see his ex-Wife and she's not much help.

She says that his Daughter wants nothing to do with him.

As she leaves, the same helmeted man strikes her down his car!

After being talked to by the Police, the woman shows up again.

He's really starting to suspect that something is up.

She reveals that she's actually a Psychiatrist for the VA and wants to help him.

He doesn't exactly want help, but he clearly needs it.

Ron gets in a fight with his Boss and his friend at work & is obviously fired.

While trying to console himself, he starts to feel strange, see flashes and...

Here's the reveal.

Perlman's visions were flashes of his real memory.

He was a Soldier (quite recently) sent to recover some important device.

He was betrayed and left for dead by one of the men and only he saw their face.

They used this machine to stabilize and get him to see the truth- so they can as well.

Despite the risk, the woman goes back in one more time.

He's not stable, his vitals are failing and his grip on this new reality won't last.

She finally gets him to remember and the culprit is...the guy who was his friend in the imaginary world.

Now they can catch him, while Perlman 'makes peace' with his 'Daughter' in his final moments.

I suppose this one definitely qualifies for the 'Death and Beyond' tag/theme of this release!

It was pretty clear that something was off about this world.
Hell, even if you had never watched a single one of these Episodes, your brain would tell you that.

Perlman really sells this, treating his Character with dignity and really portraying the breakdown of his 'world!'

The other Actors/Actresses- like Chris Mulkey (above), Maria Del Mar and Peter DeLuise (below) do their parts very well too.
This is Ron's show though.

Speaking of Shows, this one was Directed by a veteran of many TV Shows (like Wings and NBC's Chicago Shows)- Steven Weber.
It's also his only Directing Credit, so...weird.

This one has just enough of a Sci-Fi hook to qualify for this kind of Show without being potentially being bogged down by it.

A big improvement over the previous Clip Show one.
You do believe me...right?

A very strong and emotional Episode with a nice, if familiar hook.  Here's hoping that a jump back to the very first Season for the next Episode is as solid.

Shudder Day: The Mortuary Collection (2019)

 As a connoisseur of Horror Anthology Films, I'm actually surprised that I've missed this one.

Let's make up for lost time with my Review of...

Clancy Brown runs a Mortuary- naturally- and he has a Help Wanted sign out front.

After a kid's funeral, a young lady is hanging around and asks for a job.

He tells her that he has a Library full of stories about how people ended up in his care...

In the first Segment, a thieving woman gathers her ill gotten wares in the bathroom.

However, there's a danger hiding behind the mirror!

The young lady is less than impressed with this tale.

As such, he tells her another- 'Unprotected.'

A dirty young man- Jacob Elordi- is part of a Fraternity that focuses on hooking up with chicks.
So, a normal Fraternity.

After he hooks up with a young lady without protection, he starts to feel...different.

After a brief bit in the Mortuary, we get the third segment- Till Death.

A man marries a woman and she goes into a seemingly irreversible vegetative state.

A Doctor- the same one who saw Elordi- gives him a way out.

Taking it, however, won't be as easy as he hoped.

Another bit at the Mortuary sheds more light on the new hire before she tells a story of her own- The Babysitter Murders.

A young woman battles a stranger in the House after hearing about a breakout at the Asylum.

Of course, there are twists and turns galore.

The finale is the end of our Framing Device.

The truth about all parties comes out and fate changes for them all.

To find out more, stream it now.

A very different kind of Anthology Film- and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

A typical one of these has disparate Stories with a Theme throughout.  A more modern approach is making up the Film out of Segments by many different Directors.

This one is more like the former, having one single Director and a general Theme.
It's also the 2nd one of these I've watched about a Mortician telling tales to someone.

In fact, the last Story is just a Short Film made a few years earlier by the same Director.

With one Director, you get little throughlines and connections, which I like.

The Doctor in every Segment (save the Bathroom one) is one of the guys from the 'Progressive Helps You From Turning Into Your Parents' Ads, so that was a nice refrain.

The Segments were a bit varied in both story and setting, but not direction.  If that's alright with you, great.

As a group of segments, I've seen better.
As a singular Film, it looked pretty good.

Will this face help me with the algorithm?

An Anthology Film that is more of a sampler of a Director's work than anything.  It's still quite fun overall, especially with Clancy Brown in it.

Forgotten TV: 'The Outer Limits' Ends with...a Clip Show?!?

 A Sci-Fi must-see for people who lived in the 1990s, The Outer Limits revival was huge!

It got 7 Seasons.  It was nominated for 49 Awards and won 18, including a Primetime Emmy.

All of that build-up is to then let you down for what would turn out to be the Series Finale.

Season 7 was its last and this Episode was the final one ever...

A man flies his Ship to a Base.

After a whole thing where they pretend to try and steal his ship, they reveal that he is one of 4 Candidates for an important job.

The Trials will take place using a VR device...

These Trials make up about half of the Episode's runtime.

It wouldn't be so bad, but they are all Clips from previous Episodes, like Season 4, Episode 20 (aka Nightmare)...

Or this 'Trial' which is just Season 4, Episode 3 (Hearts and Minds).

This one is actually mined for clips later, so more filler.

...or this Trial, which is just the climax of Season 5, Episode 7 (The Human Operators).

...or, lastly, the extended finale of Season 1, Episode 15 (The Voyage Home).

There is at least a vague throughline here, but still.

Our Hero is told to watch the last applicant (repeat offender here Lochlyn Munro) and shoots him.

He wakes up and learns that EVERYTHING after he sat down in the VR Helmet the first time was a simulation!

Everyone was real and was tested, but only he passed.

The twist- he's so loyal to commands that he's now going to be turned into an AI Program!

We see a quick shot or two of him being tortured virtually ('Monster', 'In the Blood' and 'Worlds Within') and he's even Eric McCormack being attacked by a space bug (Season 3, Episode 9's 'Tempest') as we fade to black.

The End.

To be fair, I have seen worse Clip Shows.  This one at least isn't just people teeing up 'memories' in silly ways.

They did build a Plot here.  The idea was sound.
You knew things would turn out bad, since the Good to Bad Endings Ratio on this Show leans towards the latter.

That said, once you realized that they were just teeing up Clips in THIS way, it was a little disappointing.

They did credit the Actors (as SAG I'm sure mandated), but were they paid again?  Did this Episode count towards their residuals?

For a Show like this to do a Clip Show isn't great.
For a Show like this to have their Finale (planned as such or otherwise) be one is just sad.

Take us away, 90s Morph Effects...

On the plus side, I've got 5 other Episodes in the 'Death and Beyond' DVD and one was already better.

Even so, what a wet fart of a finale.

Shudder Day: Horror Noire (2021)

 I love Horror Anthologies.

This is Black History Month.

I'm out of Tales from the Hood Films, so let's do this!

In "The lake,' a woman with a vaguely dark past moves into a new home with a titular lake next door.

She's warned about going in it, but will she listen?

In 'Brand of Evil,' a man must make a choice between profit and people.

When he gets paid, will everyone else suffer?!?

In 'Bride Before You,' a post-Reconstruction household is rocked by a secret that refuses to stay quiet behind the walls.

Will the truth come out while anyone of them is alive to tell it?

In 'Fugue State,' a man investigates a local Church while strange attacks are going on.

These two things are obviously related, but will they make the connection?

In 'Daddy,' a man who has recently married a woman with a young child of her own struggles to do his best.

Can he find the power he needs?

Lastly, we have 'Sundown.'

A bunch of Campaigners end up in a small Town that doesn't want them to stay after dark.

When they have to, what happens?

To find out, stream it now!

************

A fun, if uneven collection of Horror Shorts.

That's always the case with these, isn't it?  Unless it is ones by a singular team- like, say, Creepshow- there's bound to be a variety in quality and tone.

Some of them- like The Lake and Brand of Evil- have not so subtle Themes to discuss.

Others- like Fugue State- try to muddy things a bit.

Thankfully, we have some more simple ones- like Sundown- which just take a real concept- Sundown Towns- and put a good, Horror spin on them.

The ones that tried to be vague and, to be honest, a bit preachy, were not my favorites.
That said, none of them were outright bad or disgusting.

Hell, even ones that I was mixed on, like Fugue State, have their obvious upsides...

A bunch of Tales that will make you shriek and also make you think.  The best tales can do both...and many of these only do one OR the other.

Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits Does 'M3gan' in 1998

 I control the vertical, the horizontal and the other directions too.

The 1990s revival of The Outer Limits was a big deal when I was younger, giving us a more adult-themed Sci-Fi Show.

How does it hold up to 2025 me?

This is 'Mary 25,' the 15th Episode of Season 4.

It is technically the Sequel to 'Valerie 23,' but they recap it nicely enough.

You'll see why I picked it soon enough.

After the 23rd Model didn't go well- see Footage of said Episode aired-, the Company is now up to the 25th Model and it will be a babysitter.

If you're wondering why they skipped 24, just wait.

* To note, I'm getting Screen Caps from a different (less HD) source, but you can stream these for free (ATM) on The Roku Channel in solid video quality. *

The CEO makes a bold move to keep the company running- he'll make Mary his Babysitter.

We soon find out that he's an awful guy, as he beats his Wife AND has relations with Mary.

Mary proves to be too strict in certain regards, as she separates the kids (a son and daughter) and locks them in while the Parents are away.

When Mom tries to stop her, Mary chokes her before being stopped.

The Mom tries to make moves towards the Engineer for Mary (Stargate SG-1's Michael Shanks).

He feels bad for her, especially when he learns about the violence towards her.

Meanwhile, Mary fills out the Nudity quota, showing off her butt in this Scene, after having her top off earlier.

Shanks feels bad for her and does some new programming on Mary.

Now she will take action against the Husband if he harms the kids...by way of hitting their Mom.
That's...logical.

He gets all choked up.

In the aftermath, Shanks finally can be with the no-longer-Wife and he's happy, until he finds out a secret!

The Wife is actually Valerie 24, given the face of the real lady after her Husband killed her.
I kind of want to see how he arranged that, but whatever!

She reveals that was all her plan, since the guy was going to replace her.  The End.

A solid Episode, even if it just a play on the previous 'Valerie 23' Episode.

In that one, a lady Android became obsessed with the guy and got deadly.  In this one, the lady robot was manipulated...by another one.

Incidentally, this is a Sequel Episode, but they changed the last name of the Husband from said Episode.  Whoopsie.

The Episode uses its Effects Budget wisely, giving you a couple good moments of practical effects and not using, what I recognized, as CGI.  See below for an example.

All in all, it is not amazing, but a solid Drama with some Sci-Fi flavor and a nice twist.  It is just also one of those Episodes that just kind of ends though.

Fittingly, this is my 2nd Sequel Episode I've covered on the Show.  This one doesn't have Ryan Reynolds, but it is quite good all in all.

Tubi Thursday: Tales from the Hood 3 (2020)

 A Horror Anthology?
Yes, please!

One anchored by the late Tony Todd.
Double yes!

This is...

In the Framing Device, Tony Todd is transporting a young woman away from 'the bad men' and to 'her Mother.'

She tells him Stories along the way...

In 'Ruby Gates,' a guy hires an arsonist to force out a family so that he can sell the building for a profit.

Things go horribly awry and they die, leading to him being haunted by visions and sounds.

In 'The Bunker,' a lone white man shouts to himself and people over a Radio about how he's surviving in a wasteland against the government.

Of course, it's not that simple and remember that this is Tales From the Hood...

In 'Operatic' a young woman wants to be a Singer and is lead to an older woman who used to be an Opera Singer.

Her boyfriend has some bad intentions for the old lady, but is it that simple?

In 'Dope Kicks,' a guy makes his 'living' by attacking and robbing strangers.

He's cursed by an angry Voodoo Woman and things go crazy when he steals some shoes.

As for the Framing Device, things reach a climax in the basement.

I'm sure that the little girl telling stories of murder and mutilation is not up to anything.

The End.

A random mix of stories that don't actually connect together.

Do Horror Anthologies usually have a full Theme? I feel like the last one did.

In that case, let's look at the Stories...

The first one is a pretty basic tale, but the Effects really sell it.  No shocks, but good scares.
The second one is right out of Black Mirror.  It's not exactly subtle.
The third story is a bit drawn out, but features some creative dark magic nonsense.

The final tale is a decent one about revenge, punishment and kinda like that middle part of Constantine.

Tony Todd is thankfully a delight in his Supporting Role.  He doesn't do much, but...he's also Tony Todd.

All in all, the Film isn't structured smoothly, but is quite enjoyable.  Now to put up my yard sign...

Another mix of random stories that vary from Sci-Fi to classic Horror.  It would be nice if there was a stronger throughline, but it is still fun.