The Twonky

I agree, this movie scared me half to death when I saw it as a kid (probably around 8 or so).

I was surprised when I ran into it much later on IMDb, and it was billed as a comedy. Looking back through adult eyes, it was probably pretty funny, and I hope to see it again someday. But back then, the idea that a TV that looked just like our TV could be alive, was really scary, particularly since I was already having nightmares about the big speaker from my dad's hi-fi system chasing me around the room.

Maybe it will come out on DVD or VCD some day, and I can see it again.

The Twonky is stranger than strange. A comedy-science fiction movie written by novelist Henry Kuttner and directed by one-time radio tyro Arch Oboler, it features Hans Conried as a college professor whose life is turned upside down by a television set that has developed a personality of its own, and seems determined to take over Conried's as well. Part of the fun is watching the star grapple (this may not be quite the right word) with his material in what may well be his only starring film role. I loved Hans Conried when I was growing up. He was a one of a kind performer who never got really well cast in movies or on television, though he had a successful stage and radio career. Conried was at once child-like and supercilious, and he had a vaguely European demeanor and sensibility, though he was in fact American-born. There was a refined, aristocratic quality to him, and he had impeccable timing. He was hammy and ironic at the same time, and he had a way of letting you knew that he knew that you got it. As an actor he was like a cross between Vincent Price and Joseph Schildkraut. Style was everything with him. What the hell he was doing in this bizarre-sub B movie is anyone's guess. He is well-cast in this film, but the movie is like a Saturday Night Live send-up of Ed Wood. As such it is enjoyable. Seldom has so much talent screwed up so regally as in The Twonky. I'm surprised it's not a cult classic.

This film scared me to death when I was a kid. I remember watching it on some Saturday morning scary feature show, on our old black and white TV, you know the ones... big rounded-corner screen, two knobs below. If you see the movie, that's what the alien/future thing looks like. And of course, I started seeing the "face" that was formed from that particular configuration of knobs and screen. To see it reviewed as a comedy is so far removed from my memories of this film, that it makes me want to see it again. I've always believed that my brother and I are the only two people who ever saw this film, or at least remembered it.

A television set takes on an intelligence and a will of its own and terrorizes its owner. It is an interesting and amusing story but is slow moving and has a very limited plot. There is not enough explanation of what the Twonky is, how it came to possess the man's tv and what its purpose is-besides driving its owner crazy.

I guess you either love or hate "The Twonky". Considering the kinds of big studio made films that were coming out of Hollywood at the time this film was made, I find the Twonky rather refreshing. It's odd and quirky, and expresses many people's fears and concerns over the early days of television and what it might do to our culture. The film is not without it's faults, but I can overlook them, one reason being the film's star, Hans Conried, who brings something more to the cheap little film than another lesser performer might have. I have NOT read the original story, so I can't compare the two, but usually the original story is superior to any film adaption. However despite the films shortcomings, I find it a unique item from it's time. Mike Walters