Campfire Thrillers: Tallow Glee and the Golden Key

At last summer is bidding us farewell. The buggy hot days are shifting ever more towards long cool nights. It's the sort of transition that warms the hearts of us holiday lovers. We're approaching the final four months of the year. The ones scientifically proven to be the best. That being said we still have to deal with the lingering threads of summertime be it the deconstruction of back-to-school aisles or the sounds of the last rodeo. Keeping that change in mind I thought it'd be nice to kick off the Halloween coverage this year with something that straddles the seasons. As luck would have it the thrift store provided just such a topic with one weird, and free, VHS tape from Golden Book Media Productions called Campfire Thrillers. Dunno about you all but I'm down for thirty minutes of summer camp kids hearing spooky stories from a what appears on the cover to be a meth-head with magic powers. Won’t you join me?

As expected this tape begins with a title card reading Campfire Thrillers but then the title switches to Tallow Glee and the Golden Key. Before we have time to accuse Golden Books of a bait and switch we're treated to some nice moody scenery of a camp at night. Owls hoot as the sunset glistens on the waves of a wooded lake, classic stuff. Then the narration starts with some guy thinking back on a special night at camp though he speaks with as much excitement as someone on their sixth drink of the evening. That special night in question was the night he would visit a place somewhere between dreams and reality that would change him forever. In reality it’s just a campsite occupied by a strange man.

Inside a cabin we meet what are presumably going to be our core protagonists. First up is Randy, a blonde lil shit who I'd usually call out as the bully of the picture if the story were so inclined as to include actual conflict. Honestly he’s more of an honorable turd than any sort of threat. Then we have Danny who's obsessed with proving the legend of Tallow Glee to be true. When asked who tallow Glee is Danny responds that everyone knows who he is, the greatest storyteller ever. Obviously not everyone knows that if you're being asked about it. Maybe spend your summer brushing up on deductive reasoning, Danny. Finally we have our narrator, Pete. Poor lil Pete is, for lack of a better word, a bit of a puss. Just the notion of going out into the woods in search of a legendary figure freaks this kid out. Total L 7 weeny right here. He falls in line quickly enough to follow Danny and another kid who can feel something pulling them towards the woods. Randy follows for lack of anything better to do.

Everyone meets at a nearby totem pole including a few girls from what Danny calls “the other camp” (such world building). Everyone works out some National Treasure style puzzle based on following the gaze of the fourth totem mask towards a clearing in settler's woods. Pete tries to duck out since he fears getting in trouble, ugh this kid, until Randy shames him into following along.

After being treated to an exciting montage of children fumbling their way through the woods they at last find the mythical clearing which looks more like a forgotten campsite. Ever the optimist Randy declares this all to be nonsense. Of course religious zealot Danny knows there's a special way to call Tallow Glee. Wouldn't ya know a nearby rock has instructions to hoot at owls and howl at wolves until shazam! Some dude who looks like Moses appears. This guy speaks almost entirely in rhyme and pulls fire from his sack, all vital signs to run in terror. Along with fire he has a magic box that emits a startling amount of smoke. Furthermore Tallow Glee dodges questions like a purebred politician. When asked where he comes from he responds with something like “a place older than time and younger than today.” The shit does that mean? Does it simply sound more mystical than admitting you spent the whole night at Buddy Ray’s Wing Shack off highway 3? The kids switch tactics to asking about the magical smoking box. A girl named Betsy is especially notable for asking “what’s in the box?” with just enough urgency to give me flashbacks to Seven.

Tallow's whole pitch revolves around using a key to open the doors of this magic box in order to experience tales of all kinds. None of the kids are fool enough to volunteer though they are daft enough to join in a ritualistic ceremony as the key magically teleport around them. Guess who gets the honor of story one? Pete the puss is on the case.

At last it's time for our first tale. Things shift here as all of Tallow Glee’s stories are presented via some very crude animation. Glee is also responsible for providing all the voices which hits the highest peak of absurdity whenever he pretends to be a young girl. As for this first tale; it's about two brothers who've recently moved to a house with an accompanying ghost story of a young man who drowned and whose dog disappeared soon after. Quite the coincidence as the brothers adopt a wild dog they name Stranger who my be supernatural in origin. Honestly it's a pretty lite affair that at best would have made for a moderate episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? While there is admittedly some supernatural elements at play I’m not convinced this qualified as a thriller. For making these kids suffer humiliation and the perils of a moonlight forest, Glee is really giving out some lackluster rewards. It seems enough to make Pete stop whining so that's a plus.

Who deserves the second tale? Ah who cares about deserve? Randy demands the next story be something scary so Tallow Glee gives him the next crack at his magic box. This second offering concerns a lonely old cat lady waiting for a birthday call from her daughter. When the phone rings she's shocked to be threatened with a forthcoming visit by a raspy man who calls himself The Viper. The calls continue to escalate until it is revealed that the Viper is actually a small immigrant window washer with a bad accent. The old lady either passes out or suffers a massive infarction for her fear of foreigners. Can’t tell you how many times I heard this tale as a kid so nothing here was a surprise. Randy seems satisfied enough cause it's time for someone else to get a story.

With Pete having already learned his lesson and Randy the dick bullying his way into the spotlight, who will get the third and final tale of the night? One might imagine Danny seeing as he's been an unwavering follower of Tallow Glee this whole time, suffering humiliation, bullying, and getting in trouble with authority figures just to seek this legend. Kid has bled for this. Clearly his slavish devotion should result in him finally being the recipient of a tale. Or maybe will just give it to Betsy… you know, that girl who's had like one line in the whole damn tape. I get it, and I agree, one of the girls deserves a story but Danny's has got to be fuming after Randy got one instead of him. General rule of storytelling is not to set up a long-held obsession for a character only for it to go unfulfilled.

Let's talk about this last tale though. Despite this tape being called Campfire Thrillers, so far there has been much more silly rhymes and pyromania than any distinct thrills. Well it turns out for how unassuming Betsy may be she's clearly done something to earn the most outright grim tale of the bunch. Good on you sister.

This final installment revolves around sisters Veronica and Jessica. They live with their mother and younger brother in a fine harbor town brimming with business. One day some peddlers, cough’ gypsies, come to their home to make a sale yet mom can't afford anything. The peddlers daughter takes an apple from the family tree causing one of the sisters to start yelling at her. Later on the girls spy on the peddlers camp where they discover his daughter has the power to make her toys come alive via a special flute. The sisters offer to do anything for this flute so the peddlers daughter sends them on a series of crude errands like stealing from their mother, or collecting her tears. The final request is to look into a mirror and give up twenty happy years. When the girls return home with their non-functioning magic flute they find their brother is a swole ass man and their mother is a broken spinster haunted by the memory of her children who ran away. The pair is left crying, aged, and forgotten on their porch denied love by their own family. Someone should really tell old Tallow Glee to ramp up his stories more carefully. Guy went from a lighter episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents to Rosemary's Baby in a matter of minutes.

With that third tale Tallow calls it a night. The children wonder when he might return though as usual he responds with more nonsense and riddles. Accepting that their hero is likely wandering off to the nearest Denny’s to load up on carbs and breakfast links the children let it slide. The wise and mystical storytelling bides his audience farewell before walking towards the tress and fading away. With his absence the fire disappears and the kids freak out and split. Personally I’d have preferred the mystery man to fly off into the night sky howling his name, TALLOW GLEEEEEE!!!! With that the kids return to their bunks never to directly speak of this experience to anyone else, much like most who suffer at the hands of a stranger. Oh and narrating old Pete yammers on about how he found courage within himself or some such foolishness.

For as much as I’ve mocked this tape it made for a perfect early mood piece for the season to come. No doubt this is a product of its time, that being the early 1990s when every kid was into supernatural stuff be it Goosebumps books or watching Unsolved Mysteries with the fam. Likewise this was probably the last point in history where a company could produce a tape that encouraged kids to seek out entertainment from a strange drifter. On that front Campfire Thrillers works as a bit of nostalgia whether you saw it back in the day or are encountering it for the first time. What’s more important is that the adventurous nature of such stories makes fine inspiration for those of us planing our Halloween activities. More than any other time of year this is when it’s best to cut loose and look for something new and exciting. For legal purposes I’m not advising you look into a strangers magic box just do something reflective of that same ideal.

And with that our Halloween coverage has officially begun. The original plan was to wait a week or so longer but there's just something in the air this year. The season refuses to be ignored with plentiful amounts of novelties, foodstuffs, and entertainment already finding their ways into the hands of the devoted. As always I'm excited to wave goodbye to the doldrums of summer in order to embrace the best part of the year. We're gonna have tons to talk about on our journey from this night to that Griswold moment when we look up to the skies on October 31^st. I hope you'll all gather round the fire and listen to my whacky tales leading up to the big night.

Ryusoulger Episodes 19-22 Review

As always seems to happen the month of August has done its utmost to beat me down. Allergies were in full bloom, no luck with the job hunt, a kitty with an ear infection, you get the basic idea. At the same time there was this little spark of luck that has been building for weeks in order to combat the troublesome ways of summer. This has taken further hold in recent days with excellent thrift store finds, the cats quickly improving health, and the miracle that this years allergies didn't bring the usual bouts of narcolepsy with them. Amid the hassle I had some difficulty keeping up with Ryusolger but that changed in recent days and much like it was during our previous recap this show is continuing to break out of its shell to provide some lovely entertainment. We've got plenty to discuss so let's get to it.

Story:

Episode nineteen was very much a small adventure focused on a mascot character, in this case the dinoknight Tyramigo, which would normally mark it as just a simple diversion. There was a level of craft on display however that helped to make this an excellent slice of TV that added ever so slightly to the series depth. The key concept involved a Minosaur made from a very strict, and rather lovely, elementary teacher whose obsession with rules made for a beast that sent people to a kind of detention dimension for any transgression against the rules. Tyramigo is apparently quite fond of visiting the students here which helps to get him wrapped up in the action. After a few slip-ups from the good guys however the dinknight ends up working with his least-liked connection, Melto.

While it may have been just a simple romp of an episode there were some interesting tidbits such as learning where the hell Tyramigo goes all the time, he's essentially a man (err... dinosaur) about town at this point. Then we have his strained relationship with Melto whom he simply doesn't like though he gains some slight respect for him. There's also a small demonstration of heroism on Asuna's part that is further developed in the following installments. All in all it was a breezy and very well-done addition to the series.

For episode twenty the focus returns to someone who's been mostly hanging in the background for a while when Towa gets called out for relying solely on his speed rather than any kind of strategy during a training session. He scuffs at the accusation painfully unaware that the writers room is setting him up for a challenge.

There's another object minosaur in the mix. This time it's a sketch pad which Wyzul uses to rain traps down from the sky in order to capture the heroes. Towa can dodge them due to his speed yet he has no clue how to rescue his friends. The situation leads to some deeper insights into his personality, namely fears of being alone and worthless. To top it all off he's confronted by Gaisorg who offers words of advice from the kids former master. Let's note that despite having faced each-other during Sentai Strongest Battle, Towa shows no recognition of the sentient armor. We'll discuss this later.

Once again this is mostly a contained and well-done adventure all on its own with the addition of further depth for our green ranger along with some doubts about his brothers honesty regarding the fate of their master. Solid entertainment all around.

Episodes twenty-one and twenty-two mark a reemergence of some headier themes for the series, largely that of loss. Around the whole country different lifeforms are disappearing while at the same time dead people are returning to life. For our heroes this phenomenon takes the shapes of Ui's mother and Asuna's former master who are both alive and well with no discernible explanation. Also back in the land of the living is Lord Tankjoh much to the pleasure of Kreon.

These sort of adventures are where the true heart of this shows comes out. For many series the simple set-up of an earlier villain returning over and over regardless of how often he's destroyed might make for enough story to fill the run time. Yet here we're treated to some fine character moments for our two main girls. For Ui's part she stays at home to bond with the mother she hasn't seen since she was little. Asuna on the other hand must finally come to terms with what her master meant to her as well as her proper place within the team. Beyond that we slove the mystery of why Ui's father ocassionally slips into weird trances to deliver Important information as he's possessed by a former Ryusoul Tribe member whose tomb he once explored. Plus there are two raptor robots that wield some control over the forces of light/life and dark/death. Heady stuff though we'll get to the biggest points in the next section.

Heroes:

One aspect of this series that continues to surprise is how much the character rankings can shift with just a few small moments. I've noted some dissatisfaction with Asuna in the past as he role of dumb grunt doesn't mesh very well with her place as the only heroine. During these episodes we see her shift from being a pure smasher when she commits to being a protector. She has more strength than anyone around her and at last she's using it in a focused and meaningful way. At one point the majority of the team holds back and feeds her more power so she can take on Tankjoh solo. We see a hint of this shift earlier when she protects a group of kids despite harm to herself but when this development takes full shape when she declaires her goal of protecting the others it makes for a much more compelling character. What's better is this growth was aided by a realization of her masters imperfections as the minsoaur who swamped lives was born of her jealousy towards the living.

Ui sat out a some of these adventures but the time spent with her mother made up for it. Not only did it gave the actress more to work with but the knowledge of what happened to her mom re-frames her personality. It was already obvious how Ui was rather lonely before meeting the Ryusoulgers which explained some of her traits and tendency towards depression. Knowing she lost her mother to illness at a young age colors her whole Dora the Explorer act as a form of self-imposed arrested development to maintain her childhood innocence.

As for the guys the tidbits about Towa and the potential of secrets between the brothers could make for some fine drama later on. Canalo doesn't spend as much time in the spotlight which is fine since he just had a ton of focus recently and he gets several excellent comedic scenes. Melto has received a more balanced personality as he's lightened up, which is often aided by hi friends mockery of how serious he can be. The only loser here is Koh who hasn't gotten anything other than new toys and power-ups to play with. Given recent Sentai history I'm more than glad to step back from the red ranger. It just seems a tad off for the leader to possibly be the least developed hero.

Villains:

Let's get the elephant out of the room first. Towa not remembering Gaisorg is such an odd goof when you consider how Strongest Battle included a shot of some mysterious person taking the armor for their own use as a prelude for its appearance in this series. It's just such a mis-match of forethought and forgetfulness. At the very least this current incarnation of Gaisorg is proving far more interesting than his original outing.

Seeing Lord Tankjoh back in action proved to be more fun than anticipated since the recent trend of improved writing lent him a little more personality than was showcased in the past. Guy actually had some fun palling around with Kreon again and reliving the glory days. The little slime pile got some mileage off the event as well displaying sorrow at his inability to keep his revived friend around.

All that said this is still Wyzul's show and I couldn't be happier that he's still around. While Kreon may provide the sort of mascot style comedy Wyzul still manages to balance creulty and comedy in just the right way. Seeing him lend a hanky to his depressed underling made for a surprising bit of tenderness among the bad guy camp/

Action:

As with everything else the action scenes are on their way up as well. Most fights during this batch of stories seemed a bit shorter which, honestly, makes more time for proper plots so I'm all for it. The focus should be on making the fights stand out for their production and this is ever more the situation. Moves are faster and more fluid, the camera and editing teams is doing a better job of hiding mistakes. Best of all is some of that fancy camerawork my favorite being a shot that cames from behind two robots into the heart of battle. It seems almost unbelievable that there would be more innovation in action from childrens television than proper movies. Guess that's just the world we live in.

Overall:

Much as I love Tokusatsu programs I'm still something of a novice compared to some of the fans that are out there. That being said I've never seen a series dive and recover in quality quite like Ryusoulger has. The show began with real potential before settling into a dull routine and is now something very nice. The show is beging to feel like some of the 90s Sentai shows that sometimes made questionable decisions but always sought out unique storytelling. Comparatively this could become a modern day Dairanger, though hopefully with a significantly better ending.

Halloween coverage will be starting within the next week or so but don't let that concern you Sentai fans. I've been working ahead on seasonal content so that I should havenjust enough time to keep this show on schedule amid all the pumpkins and ghosts. For now my dizzy cat and I are off to bed.

Summer 93 Summer Free VHS Review

Once in a great while life bestows us with the most mystical and valuable of items; free VHS tapes that some thoughtless person left behind. Maybe those will never be words of wisdom on a inspirational calendar but the fun-factor of forgotten media is truly priceless, moreso when nobody charges you for it. Twice in recent months I’ve been lucky enough to stumble across some very interesting tapes in a display of free VHS at a local thrift store. One will come in a few weeks as we transition to the Halloween countdown. The other serves as something of a farewell to summertime. Today I want to take you back to the summer of 1993 when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Harrison Ford was on the run, and Arnold Schwarzenegger dealt with the ramifications of a magic movie ticket. We’re talking about the same season that introduced kids to Power Rangers which makes me feel profoundly old. Our topic for today is a bit different than all those explosive adventures as we’re going to look at a promotional tape called Summer '93 Summer Free which is meant as a promotional item to showcase hit songs from CCM-TV.

What is CCM you might ask? According to research it was a christian music program that aired Saturday nights on the Family Channel before it mutated into Fox Family, ABC Family, and settled on Freeform. Can’t say as I have any concrete memories of the show but given that it was on during my years of youthful television obsession it’s very likely I saw chunks of it. Despite noting the program on the packaging and in some adverts this tape doesn’t bother to include any hosted segments opting instead for a dozen “hit” videos of that season along with a few commercials.

It should probably be noted, in case it wasn’t obvious from everything I do, that I am not a christian. If anything the closet thing to religion in my life likely resembles the vengeance prayer from Conan the Barbarian.

 Sure I was bought up going to church but none of that stuck and I enjoy mocking tacky faith-based entertainment to the fullest extent. Question was whether this tape would provide a perfect smorgasbord of corny crap to mock. The answer is somehow both a surprising no and an overwhelming yes at the same time.

Let's elaborate on the surprise factor. For a good chunk of this decade when working my handyman shelter jobs I toiled alongside a guy who listened to modern christian radio which is akin to pouring sulfuric acid in your ear. I'm talking flaccid bullshit lyrics and limp compositions that maintain a fine balance of ignorant and offensive subject matter. As if to to fully showcase what a different era the early 90s were, nearly half of the videos on this tape deal with more universal concepts that apply to everyone instead of sticking to the religious base. It's downright shocking at times to see pleasant humanist messages tossed into the mix. Don't let this worry you too much though, I'll still find things to snark at.

Speaking of more universal themes this tape kicks off with the rap of D. C. Talk as they go on about ending segregation and racism. Here I am rubbing my hands together in anticipation of something truly awful only to meet with perfectly agreeable notions. To make things even stranger my nephew pitched in the critique that “as far as christian rap goes, I've heard worse.” Sure there were white dudes with bad haircuts and overalls planing to overthrow racism with Jesus along with usage of that always troublesome phrase “god's army.” Plus somebody does the classic drawn out “yeahhhh boyyyyy!” and while I could make fun of that it'd just be more cynical than anything. It's cheesy, dated, and a bit too peaceful given the serious subject matter but it wasn't totally offensive to the ears or mind.

It became clear that the first half of this tape couldn't be covered on a case by case basis as, at worst, the songs were just unbearably corny. That being said a few recurring themes began to emerge such as band members resembling b-movie stars. In one group the singer resembled like the unholy union of Tommy Wiseau and Wings Hauser. Yet another singer looked like Matt Hannon of Samurai Cop fame only skinny and clearly not built to slaughter yakuza goons by the truckload. I'll consider it a mercy that none of these guys looked like Robert Z'Dar.

Another recurring element that arrived in around the third video was abandoned factories. This phenomenon wasn't solely contained to christian music mind you, for some reason every record label under the sun had an old factory strictly for the purpose of having guys in wife beaters and unbuttoned dress shirts dance around in them. To a certain extent I can't blame them. Time spent guarding an abounded glass factory taught me that impromptu dancing in puddles of rain water is a legitimate source of entertainment. Music videos wisely leave out the part where you get bored and start urinating in all the loading docks.

More surprises came with further videos such as one stressing the importance of PDA, which yes they meant showing godly love and such. Yet even as one of the lesser offerings in the portion of the tape the general concept spreading love and not being a total asshole to people is solid. Let's note that this is the same religion that earlier this decade gave us the side-splittingly awful Christian Side-Hug because, ya know, regular hugs are kinda dirty what with all the pelvic action. This was actually a thing, look it up if you don't believe me, I'll be here when you get back.

Moving further down the rabbit hole brings items like a remake of God Gave Rock and Roll yo You preformed by some headbangers alongside a trio of rappers. Both halves are semi-decent and they're covering a song that at the time was most recently done by KISS for Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. The video after that sampled Al Green's Let's Stay Together re-framed for families who break apart. It's as if people had some slim amount of taste.

Within the first seven videos there's nothing really all that despicable. Probably the worst song of the bunch is about friendship and it's greatest crime is bearing so disgustedly positive as to potentially cause diabetes. Where was the off-key singing? Where were the lyrics that resembled oral favors for an imaginary friend? Where were the worrying mentions of evil outsiders? Sure I wouldn't break these songs out at a party but they were a far cry from the wretched shit I'd hear pouring out of my co-workers radio. Eventually some of that awfulness began to slip through.

At roughly three or four points in the tape we break for some advertisements. There's one for the CCM Magazine, a few odd hype spots for upcoming solo albums by different girls complete with glamour shots involving old barns and blossom hats, then there was the sweet spot. An ad for a young christian study bible thingy with sections about facing real world problems like necking, abortion, and from the look of it, dinosaurs. This must have been when churches started creating weird workarounds for the whole dinosaur part of history. It's weird but for all the wacky uptight shit my old church did I never recalled them having an issue with thunder lizards. Perhaps they were too concerned with condemning everyone for anything to even bother with how a triceratops fits into the bible.

With the eighth music video everything started to shift. The cliches and horrors normally associated with christian music began to show their ugly faces. Boring white guys standing on the beach staring at nothing... check. Women who are somehow both childlike and ancient spinning in meadows carrying on about nonsense... you better believe it. Guys who are clearly making too much money off this racket and not returning anywhere near enough of it to the world... you bet your bippy. This was the sort of tacky crap I recall as the general image of religious music back then yet even these were often more forgettable than revolting. Even the videos veered towards the dull and uninspired with folks leaning on objects and looking soulfully at the horizon. One video did get me chuckling a bit with this singer and guitarist married duo. She'd flail about this old house while he eyeballed her and played his instrument. The whole thing played out like one of those old thrillers where somebody's trying to make a girl go crazy in order to steal her inheritance. That video doesn't seem to exist online making this tape a true artifact.

Sure enough the tone and subject matter had changed from universal concepts like being a decent person or standing by your family to lifting up the ego of their creator and giving him credit for everything in life, I think he even did the dishes at one point. This was the sort of stuff made strictly for established followers. No effort was made to reach out on the fronts of musical accomplishment or lyrical substance for anyone who wasn't already aboard the god train. Even so this wasn't what I picked up the tape for. I wanted something hilariously absurd in how dated and out of touch it could be in equal measure. The sort of thing that even a true blue god wad could look at and say “that stinks.” Way at the back of the tape when all hope seemed lost, my dream came true.

This is the Life by Phillips, Craig, and Dean is so terrible it must be fattening. A thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters could work for years and never craft a write up worthy of this nonsense. We have the three whitest men to ever walk the earth clad in their best tacky sweaters preforming dance moves that would make rigor mortis seem smooth. The setting and theme of the video is them doing wacky antics in gift and bible store. If you're wondering what constitutes wacky in such a place it's rowdy activities like playing monopoly in the kids corner, placing their CD in front of competing bands, or putting om impromptu puppet shows for no one in particular. It all gets a bit weird when they start forcing their CD on unsuspecting customers. What message could possibly go along with these visuals? Life is best when devoted to Christ. The response to any criticism towards that statement? We're right, you're wrong. Mix all this shit in a blender and let it roll for close to four minutes. Viewing this brought a wave of hushed horror over the small audience of my living. This is what I was looking for during the whole tape; pure unadulterated garbage. At last I was satisfied.

With a final round of repeat ads the tape was over. It's such a strange relic of the time it that it seemingly showcase two directions christian music could have leaned towards. One that was more secular and all-encompassing or another that was full of embarrassing mantras for the already initiated. From my experience it seems that the latter camp sadly won the popular vote.

And so, my journey with dated religious tunes was at an end. I've since found that looking up CCM-TV still nabs you christian media only it's from India. Why is it every time I bring home something free from the thrift store I learn the weirdest shit about the world? Still this tape seemed like a good way to ease out of summertime. Around these parts kids will be going back to school next week and pumpkin spice products will soon clutter the aisles. Even I'll thank god for that.

Friday the 13th The Series: Best of Season One.

These are tough times for fans of Friday the 13. It’s been a decade since the last film with only a video game, some toys, and some silly blu ray release shenanigans to barely tide us over. The key factor holding back further adventures of Jason Voorhees is a bonkers lawsuit that could potentially alter screenwriting law depending on how things play out and is now starting to leech out and effect franchise products like toys which may begin to dry up within the coming year. At this point the best we can do is dig into the deeper cuts of the franchise. Comics and novels are one thing of course but with most being out of print it’s easy for them to get costly. There is one branch of the franchise that people often forget however. One that may not always scratch that killer summer camp itch but can still provide a ton of fun and be gotten for rock bottom prices. I'm talking about the barely connected, but still worthwhile, Friday the 13^th The Series.

Originally conceived as something totally separate until producers figured it wiser to attach a popular name Friday the 13^th the Series is a supernatural case of the week show with a trio of heroes tracking down demonically cursed antiques. The items in question belonged to Lewis, a man who sold them in service to the devil. It falls to an old acquaintance of his named Jack Marshak along with Lewis's nephew, Ryan and niece, Micki to set things right. Also the latter two are only cousins by marriage which resulted in one of the strangest will they wont they relationships on TV. While the show never crosses over with the events at Crystal Lake there were a number of directors, writers, producers, and actors who bounced between both arenas. Not only was it often entertaining but proved to be quite popular in its day and provided another vital stepping stone for television series like The X-Files or Supernatural in the years following.

During its original airing I was aware of the show but far too young to get away with watching it, plus I hadn’t even been properly introduced to the films at the time. Over the following decades I would catch tiny bits of it on the likes of Chiller yet rarely heard anyone write much detailing the series overall. Even today most quickie articles about best episodes lean heavily on the first season which I can tell you right now is not accurate and implies that many folks probably drop out before finishing the entire series. For me I bought the complete DVD set nearly two years ago and have been moving through it at first in random bursts before recently settling on a nice two episodes every Friday pace. Currently I’m near the end of season two which is much more solid than its predecessor, though that doesn't take away from the highlights of season one. That's what lead to this article. I thought it was time to bring the show to light every so often, especially during upcoming Fridays of a certain date. Today I thought we’d take a look at which episodes from season one stood out as particularity interesting. Note you may one day see some of these expanded upon in greater detail one day.

Honorable mentions: Root of All Evil, Inheritance, Shadow Boxer.

Vanity's Mirror

I'd debated including this one as there are a number of silly elements that drag it down, yet for all of those issues it still stands out as a memorable and fun piece of television that quickly sums up the ups and downs of this series, making it a great introductory installment.

The storyline for this one concerns a miserable teenage girl who is, quite frankly, ugly inside and out. Boys pick on her constantly and she lives in her perky, attractive sisters shadow. That is until the day she finds a makeup compact with a mirror that causes any man caught in its reflection to fall obsessively in love until she has to kill them. At first she uses this to get back at her tormentors but soon sets her sights on the sisters hunky boyfriend.

What makes this one work is a strange combination of idiotic aspects like people struggling to avoid light reflected from a tiny mirror alongside more serious elements of teenage jealousy and isolation. The whole adventure takes a considerable toll on everyone involved and was successful enough to garner a lesser squeal episode in season two. Not the absolute strongest installment but a solid way to sample the show.

Hellowe’en

More than any other entry on this list this holiday episode veers more towards silly fun than brooding horror. Let's be honest though. If you're the type who's interested in a show like this, which is likely what brought you here in the first place, you're probably open to the idea of a fun Halloween adventure involving magic and tiny evil women.

It's Halloween night and our core trio are having a party to relax and get to know the neighborhood a little better. Everything's going great and looks like a party store commercial until Uncle Lewis comes back from the pit of hell with a few schemes up his sleeve. He wants to return to the living world via an amulet that allows his spirit to posses a body. It all comes down to a mystical showdown between good and evil in a mortuary while a little demon lady chases our heroes around almost Scooby-Doo style.

While this is a very over the top viewing experience it was actually an important step for the series as a whole. This was the first episode to not deal exclusively with a cursed object and brought uncle Lewis back as a recurring villain. Forces of evil would also come into play in later episodes in the forms of satanists, witches, And Lewis himself. Essentially this is where the series decided it could be more than just evil dolls and cursed statues. Plus it features all the costumes and decorations of a proper Halloween special making it a perfect mood piece come October.

Faith Healer

Coming from Legendary director David Cronenberg you might imagine this episode to be a knockout that would put everything else to shame. Oddly enough we find the director plaything things rather straight though there are a few of his usual touches to be found.

The main topic is, as you might expect, a faith healer who is shamed and debunked by a man right in the middle of a gathering of his flock. Retreating in shame and rage he soon finds a white glove that allows him to absorb the sickness of whomever he touches. Problem is the illness will build up inside his body until he dies which means he must transfer it to another poor soul who will die of a much worse version of whatever malady he originally collected. In typical Cronenberg fashion this is visually depicted by the glove becoming disgusting and flesh like as it pulsates with disease.

Anyhow the faith healer is now a public sensation thanks to his ability to actually cure people. However few know of his side-project of murdering homeless folks with a single touch. After the main characters get wind of this Jack seeks out his old friend who originally debunked the healer for help in recovering the glove. Things spiral out of hand however as this man is now dying of a disease and has his own ideas for using the glove.

This one's a great deal more cold and grim with a few nasty touches of body-horror to boot. What really helps it score is how the drama between different groups plays out. What would a man without faith do if someone suddenly had the mystical means to provide aid, even if those means have terrifying costs? What is the value and cost of life? Heady stuff but preformed briskly enough to stay engaging and a definite must see novelty for fans of the director.

Double Exposure

If I hadn't known any better I'd have thought this episode had been directed by Cronenberg as well due to the strange take on duality on display. This tale concerns a news reporter whose career has been in the dumps until he starts receiving on-air phone calls from a serial killer not unlike Dee Wallace in The Howling. Unlike Dee this reporter knows the killer all too well, because he is the killer, or rather it's his duplicate.

The antique in question is an old camera that allows for the creation of short-lived murderous doubles with a set amount of time for the original to destroy the photos and duplicate in order to not be destroyed themselves. In the middle of all this is Ryan and his newest girlfriend. He sees the reporter hack someone to death, yet with the perfect alibi of being on a live news broadcast the reporter lures the couple into his world.

There's some really crazy stuff going on in this episode be it the birth of duplicates all the way down to the bizarre wrap-up. It involves topics like how far we're willing to go for what we want be that success or vengeance.

Scarecrow

Undoubtedly the crown jewel of season one has got to be Scarecrow. At least that was a statement I'd regularly encounter across the web but given how inaccurate some of those lists could be I can be forgiven for doubting them. It's true though, Scarecrow really is an outstanding episode and one of the few pieces of scarecrow fiction actually worth your time.

A series of killings draws Micki and Ryan out to the countryside in search of a scarecrow. Sounds simple enough but when you add in the wacky locals, an orphaned kid, and sudden emotional revelations about Ryan's past it all starts to pile up.

Just about everything aspect of this episode is solid, which is why I'd prefer it be a surprise for you all out there. The setting and scenery are fantastic, the scarecrow himself is a fun threat and his human master is even nuttier, plus the character drama is another deeper direction for the show. Ryan's messed-up family is brought up again near the end of the season so the writers actually remembered what they'd set in motion. The ace in the hole though is the setting and atmosphere. This is autumn personified. Almost like the opening of Halloween 4 if it were forty-odd minutes long.

And there we go, the best offerings from season one of this fun and often overlooked series. We'll be taking a look at season two next month on everyone's favorite Friday but for now consider this the unofficial trumpet of seasonal material. We're not moving all the way into spooky territory just yet though as there's still a couple of Summer topics to wrap in the coming weeks. Still wanted to give you all something of a preview as to what's coming.