StoneGriffin

Tales from the Darkside for a lot of it's run was either "hit or miss" . Though it bragged an impressive array of well known (or future) stars, a sizable portion of the scripts were either lame or were good until ruined by a lame or lackluster ending. This episode (amongst some others) is one of the finest in the series. For one, the musical score is rich with stringed instruments, a far cry from the synthesizer 80s schtick that appeared in so many other episodes. The themes are very haunting. Secondly, the 'twist' ending is something most viewers won't expect (and if they did anticipate it then they won't expect the double twist at the end). This episode, about a creepy doll house that happens to appear in suddenly vacant family homes, is a subtle and well crafted chiller. Tales from the Darkside always suffered from a low budget, but this one was extremely effective. A solid recommendation for this episode and the fine acting by the cast.

This movie has extremely poor video quality. It was obviously shot on video, but has a very muddy and soft focus look throughout the movie. The angles were uninventive and the general feel of the movie is mediocre. There are insipid colored filters on some of the interior lighting that just makes the details of the image that much harder to see. Bad lighting and bad audio are just a few of the problems with this 'movie'.

LICH or RESIDENT DEMON as it is called on video, deals with an 'entity' that moves from person to person via touch. Supposedly a witch (a hot looking one, go figure) died in a house and somehow cursed it. We get a group of people having a get together in the house when people start dying one by one.

One good thing, the young actresses in this film are quite beautiful, BUT .... When we are teased with the possibility of seeing some beautiful (but inexperienced) 'actresses' showing some skin, we get nothing. Okay, a bunch of nudity would have helped the bad story, AND good gore effects and violent kills would have helped as well. Oh well, we're out of luck. There are some okay gore effects but the directing (or lack there of) eliminates any horror, dread, shock or emotion at all in any of these scenes.

A tremendous disappointment ... and the recent DVD cover has new cover art that implies some sort of 'RINGU' like creature prowling the hallways, but this is a sham. There is no such creature. Only inexperienced actors running around and ending up bloody. Avoid at all costs.