the leading man is my tpye

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Using only B&W, atmosphere, and high quality scripts from writers who really knew how to scare you, "Thriller" remains unsurpassed in creating hauntingly memorable shows that people remember. No gore, no expensive FX, just great scary storytelling. I can still watch episodes from almost 50 years ago and get really creeped out.Compared with other similar anthology shows, the only one which approached it for scare value was "One Step Beyond". As much as I liked "The Twilight Zone", its shows never scared me as much as "Thriller". "The Outer Limits", OTOH, never impressed me much. It was too far ahead of its time and needed to wait for the age of CGI FX to be effective.Like those other shows, it's interesting to see them again and see the talent involved - both in front of and behind the camera. Going through the credits, you'll see lots of people who would go on to become household names.UPDATE: I recently found an online specialty video dealer who sells a complete DVD collection of the entire series. It's not cheap ($75), but I was glad to pay it. I'm not sure whether the guidelines will allow me to post the vendor's name, but I found them through Google.

When Thriller first came on TV I didn't pay much attention to it. Naturally I watched it because I heard that Boris Karloff would be the host and assumed these would be one hour mini movies of horror. Nothing could be farther from the truth! They were mystery shows, told in segments with Boris telling us a bit about the show before each episode began. Thriller was doomed from the start. It seemed it didn't know which direction to follow and each show was in no way related to the previous one; ranging from mystery to comedy. I soon grew tired of this and went back to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Then came that fateful night. I decided to give it another try. After airing something like 14 episodes I tuned in to one titled The Cheaters. It started out grimly enough with a hanging and Boris, with that wonderful voice, assuring us that this would be a Thriller. Well, by the final episode when Harry Townes dons the special eyeglasses and looks into the mirror, what he sees sent me into total goosebump shock! I had nightmares for a week. It's all I could talk about at school. For a 12 year old boy this was the scariest thing I had ever seen. So I watched again the following week. This time it was an episode called The Hungry Glass with William Shatner. A creepy old house with images appearing in the windows, a really horrific ending, but still not as scary as last week. OK, I said to myself, this isn't so bad. Sure enough the next few episodes went back to murder and suspense and I again lost interest. But along comes Well of Doom which was a mystery in disguise. They tried to trick a wealthy man with magic and a giant hulk of a man to gain possession of his estate. At the end we discover all the horrors had been staged and the man ended up scaring his tormentors half to death! Directors on this show ranged from Ida Lupino to John Brahm, one of the finest TV and movie directors of all time. The rest of the season went back and forth between horror and mystery and again I stopped watching. But I did catch the last show of the season and I'm glad I did. Called "The Grim Reaper" it starred William Shatner. His wealthy aunt had purchased a painting of the grim reaper, a really horrid thing, and when Shatner comes for a visit he tells a tale of murder and intrigue and terror. Those who owned the painting all met violent deaths. As he tells his story to his aunt and guests he stops, looks at the painting, touches it, then turns toward his audience extending his hand. There's blood on his fingertips! At the end, his aunt dies and no one is left in the house except the secretary. Shatner explains the whole thing was a gag to scare the old lady and get her fortune. The secretary locks him in the room with the painting and goes for help. I shall never forget what happens next as long as I live. Alone in the room he taunts the painting, wallowing in his victory. But when he turns to see what made a noise he sees the character in the painting is gone! He looks around. There is no music, only deadly silence as the look on his face says it all. He is so terrified he can't even scream; no sound comes out. What does he see? Finally the police arrive and break down the door. The inspector and his partner find Shatner dead on the floor. Then someone says, "Oh my God. Look at the painting!" The camera slowly zooms in and we see blood dripping from the scythe. I thought that since I was so young yeah, that's why it scared me. I bought this episode on videotape and played it again. Knowing the plot, knowing what would happen, and being 58 years old, I still got chills at the end! Karloff himself appeared in several episodes, and to fans there's a top 20 list of the best shows. They include the ones I just mentioned of course plus The Incredible Doctor Markesan, A Wig for Miss Devore, Waxworks and more. Sadly the show went off the air that second year but it left it's mark on TV history. Stephen King was influenced by it, as was I. The one episode that scared both of us was Pigeons From Hell. He was inspired to write several stories watching this and I won a short story contest at that time. I also didn't sleep for weeks after seeing it. It was scarier than any horror movie of the time, and most of today! In fact, this episode would not even be allowed on TV today. The censors would not allow it. Critics hated it, fans were confused, so much behind the scenes bickering finally killed off Thriller. Yet Hitchcock was so envious of the show he expanded his own show to one hour, a terrible mistake. While his little stories worked well in the half hour format, the one hour shows did not. If you have never seen this classic horror fest by all means do so. It's black and white which adds to its air of suspense and terror. Sit back and prepare to see something you will never see on TV again!

Karloff's classic 60's 'Thriller' was a rare, haunting gem of some of the scariest horror stories, written by the best authors of the genre. It's 'trademark' was its logo lines that would come in and out before and after the commercial breaks.Veteran directors such as John Brahm ("Hangover Square") employed dark, baroque german expressionism to evoke a creepy, ominous mood of paranoia. Newcomer, Jerry "Alien" Goldsmith's eerie soundtracks were unsettling and morbidly effective. (Wish it was available on CD).Karloff's intros were congenial and sinister, and helped to set the stage for the truly suspenseful and frightening tales. He also appeared in a few episodes such as 'Premature Burial', 'Last of the Sommerviles' (with Martita Hunt from "Brides of Dracula") and 'Incredible Dr. Markeson' with Dick "Bewitched" York. The zombies and dank atmosphere of 'Markesan' seemed like a pre-cursor to "Night of the Living Dead." Ending was truly terrifying.A pre-Kirk William Shatner appeared in two outstanding episodes; 'The Hungry Glass' with Russell "professor" Johnson and 'The Grim Reaper with Natalie "Lovey" Shaffer. Both were written by Robert "Psycho" Bloch and were genuine supernatural classics.Robert Arthur wrote 'Prisoner in the Mirror' where researcher Lloyd Bochner ends up trapped in a mirror by evil magician Henry "The Body Snatcher" Daniell. The conclusion was unexpected and quite disturbing - something Hollywood would never have the balls to do today with all its "play it safe" and PC crap.Feminists may find it interesting to know that THRILLER was one of the first shows that had a woman director. It was Ida Lupino, who did a marvelous job on superb episodes like 'La Strega'; that featured a pre-Bond Ursula Andress and Jeanette "The Big Heat" Nolan, who convincingly played the most horrifying witch imaginable. Had a very hard-hitting surprise ending that was not easily forgotton.Mz. Lupino also created Hitchcockian suspense in Cornell "Rear Window" Woolrich's 'Guilotine', which has a true kicker ending. Fine performance from Robert Middleton as the sensitive romantically jilted executioner.'Trio for Terror' was another great Lupino-entry which was a trilogy of three short horror tales; among them, "The Extra Passenger" which had the chilling atmosphere of J. Tourneau's "Curse of the Demon." Clever use of subtlety, which we no longer have today.John "One Step Beyond" Newland directed Robert E. Howard's 'Pigeons from Hell' with Brandon De Wilde, who, with his young brother, spend a memorable night in a old run-down southern mansion. A true terrifying classic and a masterpiece of atmosphere.There were many more exceptional episodes that need to be re-discovered due to their great, timeless classic merits.THRILLER was a genuine one-of-a-kind show, and a soaring tribute to the horror genre. There were also many memorable crime episodes that are worth your attention as well; written by top people such as John D. MacDonald ("Cape Fear"), Lionel White ("The Killing"), Fredric Brown, Philip McDonald; etc. Some of the darkest film noir with the most downbeat of endings. Also, there were occasions where episodes would do a criss-cross of the crime and horror genres to great suspenseful effect.Make it a top priority to check out this remarkable classic series which Stephen King also had the highest praise for.THRILLER was (and still is) the best of its kind. Needs a revival and full DVD release. Check the thread on the 'Classic TV' message board.

"Thriller" in the 60's would air on the Local NBC affiliate, Saturday nights at 9 PM. Of all the episodes, and I think I saw them all, had to be "A Wig for Ms. DeVore". Following Marie Antoinette's execution on the gallows, her hair was removed and made into a wig. The owners, of which there were many, all fell under a horrifying curse.For those of you who might come across this episode, BEWARE of the ending. If there was ever an episode of "Thriller" that would cause one to hide their eyes, this has to be the one, hands down.