One Step Beyond

Thanks so much for the tip. I would watch One Step Beyond with my sister, mother and father every week.

All of us, regardless of age, would get creeped out.

mf

Lie? But why, when the truth is so much more fun?

I've enjoyed the few episodes i've seen so far on You Tube.

It's difficult to impress upon modern viewers just how frightening "One Step Beyond" was to kids in the late fifties and early sixties.

Remember, it was in the days before horror movies became so mass produced they no longer conjure up the kind of thrills found in classic features and tv shows. There simply was nothing else like it, until the short-lived "Way Out" and "Thriller" arrived.

Even today, not having seen any of the shows for decades, I can recall the spine chilling opening music and John Newland's voice which kept me pressed to the back of the sofa (usually behind a large pillow).

I may look up whatever episodes are available on the net someday, but for the present, I don't want to dispell those long ago nightmares that haunted my sleep when I was a young adventurer and everything was new.


To God There Is No Zero. I Still Exist.

To this day I remember vividly the episode called "The Burning Girl". I was about nine years old and it was the first time I understood that there were unexplained phenomena in the world. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time and I became obesessed with books that talked about all sorts of these mysteries that normal science had no answers for. As an adult I was a fan of the original series of Unsolved Mysteries but as an adult the fear and excitement had evaporated and all that was left was some satisfying television
entertainment.


"I dream of a society where a chicken can cross the road without its motives questioned."

Several episodes seen during its original run in childhood made an impression on my young mind. Most prominent is probably Preminition (alliteration unintended); the visual of the chandelier separating from the ceiling scared the well-know stuff out of me. Recently seeing practically every episode on dvd, I'd have to say my favorite is The Dead Part Of The House feautring Phillip Abbott, Joanne Linville, Mimi Gibson, and Philip Ahn. Despite the ominous sounding title, it's one of the more beneign episodes.

But throughout it all, my motto was "Dignity! Always dignity!".

This series haunted a good deal of my childhood too. 2 episodes really stand out
ORDEAL ON LOCUST STREET, about a family's "fishman" son living in a locked room, and IMAGE OF DEATH where a stain on the wall becomes the face of a man's murdered wife. These really put the fear into me.

Why would it be less frightening to kids now?

The low-budget, black and white, aged look of the prints of this series just
add to its spookiness. The episode "The Clown" played a big part in my lifelong
uneasiness with circus clowns. I still have to check my rear-view mirror in
my car sometimes just to make sure that the image of a clown reaching out to strangle me isn't there.



I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.