F13:TS 25 - Hellowe'en

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Episode Recap #5: Hellowe'en

Original Airdate: October 31, 1987

Starring:
John D. LeMay as Ryan Dallion
Louise Robey as Micki Foster
Chris Wiggins as Jack Marshak

Guest cast:
R.G. Armstrong as Lewis Vendredi
Adrienne Pocock as Greta
Victoria Deslaurier as Evil Greta
David Matheson as Larry
Alan Watt as Howard

Written by Bill Taub
Directed by Timothy Bond

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We open on kids trick-or-treating, telling us it is Halloween!

Micki is in her room, putting the finishing touches on her amazing witch costume. We see someone is watching her. Micki hears a noise and moves the dressing screen to find a ghost-like creature sitting motionless. She touches the thing and it falls, freaking her out. Ryan rushes in and the creature laughs. He is a friend of Ryan's, helping him play a prank on Micki.

Micki is upset and still not thrilled with the idea of having a party at the store. Ryan, dressed as Robin Hood, I guess, believes it is a great idea and invited many people from the neighborhood to help the store's image. Seems everyone around was terrified of Lewis and what went on there in the past. Micki is worried about having strangers in the store. Ryan says he made a sign to keep people away from the vault.

Jack, dressed as Merlin, is having fun performing magic tricks for the guests. Ryan hopes the guest, and Micki, will be scared enough to let their hair down and just have fun. Larry and another guest slip downstairs. Seems Larry has always wanted to see what lay beneath the store. He ignores Ryan's "keep out" sign and soon enough they are close to the vault and Jack's assortment of occult items.

A guest is talking with Jack, saying how he saw things at the store that made him vow never to return. But he is impressed with how things have changed. Jack starts a Tarot card reading for the guests as Larry and his buddy continue to snoop around. Larry turns off the power to scare everyone, but when he goes to turn it back on, the fuses short out. Jack continues to calm the guests.

In the basement, Larry sees Jack's crystal ball glowing. Goofing around, he mockingly calls to the spirits of the night. The ball reacts to his words and they decide to leave just as Ryan comes down, scolding the pair for intruding. He gets the lights back on, then hears a noise in the basement. He sees the crystal ball glowing, now accompanied by and eerie mist and the sound of someone breathing. He rushes back upstairs.

Ryan tells Jack and Micki about the crystal ball right before a strange wind blows through the store. Part of the ceiling falls in and the wind grows more intense. Guests flee out the front door and Ryan locks it behind them. We hear the sound of galloping horses as the wind dies down. Jack tells Ryan to draw a pentagram and has Micki get his bag while he retrieves his crystal ball.

Jack says Ryan's friends accidentally threw out a psychic line and hooked something from beyond. He says Halloween is no kid's game, it is the one night of the year the spirits of the dead can roam the Earth with freedom. A Jack-o-Lantern on a shelf explodes as the eerie noise increases. Jack uses a spell to drive the spirit out fo the store and it appears to work. Ryan says they need a drink and Micki goes to help him.

Great costumes! Micki is no wart-wearing witch!

Jack hears a knock at the door and we see a black cat with a jewel-studded collar jump from a pumpkin out front. When Jack opens the door to investigate, he sees a little girl crying. She says she got seperated from her mother and is lost. Jack says he will see her home and they go off down the sidewalk.

Inside, Micki and Ryan come down with Halloween punch but can't find Jack. He is still walking with the girl, however he thinks they have gone too far. She insists her home is close by and pulls him along. Micki goes through Jack's bag, looking for ways to help in case the strange, supernatural wind returns. Ryan scoffs at her, but soon enough they hear it return, along with a strange, breathing sound.

Jack thinks the girl is playing a Halloween prank on him, but she pulls him along, further away from the store.

Micki and Ryan are frightened by the noise when a mist appears, quickly forming the ghostly form of their dead Uncle Lewis. The pair back away from the spectre, scared. He says he isn't their to harm them, he can't even touch them. Ryan says Lewis has done enough damage, not only tonight, but also since his actions have them chasing down cursed antiques from now until doomsday. Lewis says he is sorry and that he wants to pay for his sins. He says tonight, he has a chance to make ammend, that he has come back to undo the curse. Ryan and Micki look at him, skeptical.

The young girl leads Jack into an alley where he suddenly trapped by iron bars. The girl transforms into a little person whom Jack seems to recognize as someone connected to Lewis.

No treat here, Lewis is back to his old tricks!

Micki and Ryan are wary of their uncle, since they thought curses were forever. He says no, he can undo, but he has only until dawn. He needs their help though, and wants to start with his greatest sin: the murder of his wife. He waves a hand and a wall of shelves in the store moves to reveal a secret room.

Trapped in the alley, Jack searches for a way out.

In the secret room, Micki and Ryan find a fire burning in the fireplace and a woman laying on a bed, dead. Lewis says she is Grace, his wife. He says he killed her, not with his hands, but with his ambition and greed. He tells them he needs something from the vault to free her soul, the Amulet of Zohar. Ryan is reluctant to bring him anything from the one place the items are safe. Lewis begs them, for Grace's sake. If they help him, he will end the curse.  Micki and Ryan decide, for Grace's sake, to get the Amulet.

Jack berates himself for being a fool when two young guys drive up, looking for some Halloween fun.

Micki, holding the Amulet from the vault, says she is surprised Lewis isn't a monster. Ryan thinks Jack would say to give Lewis the Amulet, believing they have nothing to lose since Lewis can't even touch them.

Back in the secret room, Lewis tells Micki to hold the Amulet next to Grace. But it suddenly glows and Lewis is transformed into a flesh-and-blood human again. He grabs the Amulet and rushes out of the room, waving his hand to lock Micki and Ryan inside. He says he has something to attend to and meets Greta, the little person who tricked Jack, in the garage. They get in the car and leave the store.

At the alley, the men continue to mock Jack, who begins goading the pair. They want to hit him, but can't reach him, so they decide to get chains from their truck.

Micki continues screaming for help, but Ryan tells her to knock it off, since no one is out there. They hate that they fell for Lewis' scam. They look for a way out of the secret room.

The men use their chain and truck to bend the bars of the alley cage. Jack slips out of the opening but before the men can beat him up, he uses his magic to vanish.

Micki and Ryan find a vent to crawl through, escaping the room. Back in the store, they realize Lewis has left and Micki goes to one of Jack's books to look up the Amulet of Zohar. She tries to translate and it seems that the Amulet can help Lewis transfer his spirit into a recently dead body. Ryan finds a list of mortuaries in the phone book and runs to get the car, but finds Lewis took it. Micki leaves a note for Jack as the pair head out to find their uncle.

Greta is a creepy demon. Hope the gang put her necklace in the vault.

At the mortuary, Lewis and Greta view the bodies in the freezer, finding they have all died violent deaths and are therefore unsuitable for Lewis' plan.

Rushing back to the store, Jack manages to evade a persistant group of trick-or-treaters. Micki and Ryan make their way to the mortuary and spot their car out front. Just then, a hearse arrives with a new body. Lewis and Greta come out and greet the driver, smashing him over the head with a wooden crate when he questions what they are doing. They bring the fresh corpse inside. Micki and Ryan break into the mortuary and search for Lewis.

Jack arrives home and finds the note. He gathers up some of his supernatural items and heads out after the group.

Back at the mortuary, Micki and Ryan watch as Lewis and Greta begin some occult ceremony, having placed the body in the middle of pentagram with candles lit around the circle. They formulate a plan to stop Lewis. Micki goes and distracts Greta, causing the small demon to chase her through the building. Ryan uses the diversion to slip in and try and get the amulet from Lewis. Micki is caught by the demon Greta and put under a spell, levitating in the air and into a wooden coffin. Ryan attempts to tackle Lewis, but the man merely tosses his nephew away. Ryan runs out and is caught by Greta, put under a spell and into a coffin, like Micki.

Jack continues to rush to the mortuary.

Greta locks the pair in the wooden coffins and send them down the conveyor belt to the crematorium furnace. Lewis continues his ritual with the Amulet.

Jack finally arrives and slips inside the building. He looks around and finds Lewis and Greta working their spell with the dead body. Unnoticed, he slips out to find the others. Just in time, he finds the room with the furnace and pushes the coffin off the belt. Micki stumbles out, still in a trance. He slaps her, waking her finally. Ryan yells from the other coffin and the get him out, as well. Jack says they can't stop Lewis, but they can slow him down enough to make it to sunrise before he finishes.

Ryan and Micki cause a commotion to get Greta away from Lewis, which works. She runs after the pair.

Jack slips into the room and Lewis says he has been waiting for him to arrive. Jack tells Lewis it is too late, he has made his bed and no he has to lie in it. Lewis says Hell is horrible, he dies there, over and over, and he won't go back. Jack isn't frightened by his old friend and begins his own incantations as Lewis tries to continue his spell to transfer his soul into the dead body.

Micki and Ryan continue to try and escape the demon, running around the mortuary as she tries to attack them, tossing items about. A chair smashes into the electrical panel and Greta trips and falls, impaling herself on a sharp piece of the broken chair. She gasps and then vanishes, leaving behind just the jeweled necklace.

They rush back to Jack and Lewis and find Jack is exhausted almost all his strength keeping Lewis at bay. Lewis thinks he has beat them, and Jack says it is too late, the sunrise is coming. Lewis says there is still two minutes on the clock. But Micki opens the window, telling Lewis the clock has stopped. Micki pushes the shutters open, letting the sunlight in. Lewis screams as he slowly vanishes away into nothing. Jack says Lewis certainly can make an exit.

As the clean up the store later that day, Jack says he is amazed he never knew there was a secret room there. Micki asks how much of Lewis' story was true. Jack says some of it. Lewis was married to a woman named Grace, but she was never in that room. Grace died and was buried and he lost a good friend, that she was a wonderful woman. He reminices and describes Grace's beauty. When he sees them watching him, he stops. They ask how well he knew her and he says better than he ought to have, but not as much as he wished.

Ryan says he just wants to rest and is glad Halloween only comes once a year. But Jack reminds them that in two weeks it will be Friday the 13th!

Wonderfully framed shot of our trio at the store!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thoughts:

A great Halloween episode for a great horror show!

First off, I love that we get Lewis back for the Halloween episode - just perfect! We also get trick-or-treaters, costumes, Halloween decor, a party, a demon, dead bodies, spells - what more can you ask for!

I love the scene when they first meet Lewis and Ryan berates the old man for the fact that they now have to spend their lives getting back all the antiques he cursed. Damn right, Ryan - I'd be angry, too! But when their uncle offers them a way to undo the curse, adding the bonus of helping poor Grace's soul, they can resist. It would make their lives so much better if it was all just undone in one fell swoop. Naive? Yes, but remember, this is still fairly early on in their time at the store. After tonight, they learn just how much they can trust Lewis. As in, not at all.

Also like how Jack is willing to help the girl get home, but grows more and more suspicious the further they get.

Having the black cat become the girl and then transforming into Greta was great yet subtle. And it makes sense that someone like Lewis, so involved in the occult, would have a familiar. Love when Jack recognizes her, too. Some back story there we don't get to learn!

When Lewis and Greta are searching the morgue and finding all the bodies that met violent deaths, I had to wonder just how many were there because of some other antique Lewis let loose on the world.

Oh, and after the Halloween party gone horrible awry, will anyone from the neighborhood ever go into Curious Goods again?

The backstory of Lewis' wife Grace, and how Jack seems to have been quite close with her, begs to be shows as a prequel episode, to when Jack and Lewis were younger. We never get that, but it is quite intriguing.

Love the bit at the end, where Jack says Friday the 13th is in two weeks! He almost smiles at the camera!

The Obscure Hollow did a post on this episode. Check it out for many more pics!

Next week: "The Great Montarro"