Darkroom

Only lasting six episodes, Darkroom proved why anthology series can work, and why they can't.

Way too many of the short segments were clichéd (oh no, yet another 'man has a chance to change the past' story), obvious and dull. And then they'll throw in a story like "The Boogieman Will Get You", or the one with Billy Crystal to tease you into watching again, hoping for one good moment to make sitting through the bad moments worthwhile. Every so often they delivered, but not enough to work on a whole.

James Coburn tried to give the show a presence, but a show like this lives and dies by it's writing, and all too often it died.

"You are in a house. Maybe your Own. Maybe one you've never seen before. You feel it... something evil. You run, but there's no escape. Nowhere to turn. You feel something beckoning you. Drawing you into the terror that awaits you in the DARKROOM!"

I just watched the complete series of Darkroom over the last couple of nights and was completely surprised by how compelling, effective, creepy and amusing the short stories were in this anthology series. There was a nice variety to the tales in tone and length, with a certain cleverness within their imaginative twists and turns. Ending on a killer note. They were well-made and ably brought across with sound technical delivery despite the cheap looking origins.

The memorable intro is ominously unnerving and from the photographic darkroom James Coburn effortlessly narrates with a wry touch. Familiar faces in the cast show up, some even before hitting it big. Interesting to see some genre film-makers attached; Paul Lynch (Prom Night, Humongous), Curtis Harrington (Queen of Blood, The Killing Kind & Ruby) and Rick Rosenthal (Halloween 2). Other than one story I didn't care for (Daisies), I really enjoyed this creative, if short-lived series.

Some of my favourites were 'Make-Up' starring Billy Crystal and Brian Dennehy, 'The Partnership' starring David Carradine and 'Exit Line' starring Samantha Eggar and Stan Shaw.

Well worth a look if you were entertained by the likes of 'Night Gallery' and 'Alfred Hitchcok Presents'.

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If you love films like TALES FROM THE CRYPT or shows like THE NIGHT GALLERY you`ll like DARKROOM . But if you hate these types of shows then there`s unfortunately nothing here that will endear DARKROOM to you , the only real difference between this and its predecessors in the anthology series is that it stars James Coburn , well stars maybe isn`t the word because he`s only used as a links man to introduce the stories . As for the stories themselves they`re not at all different to anything THE TWILIGHT ZONE or NIGHT GALLERY had already done , and you do get the feeling the idea was well past its sell by date by 1981

I just binge watched every episode of this show on NBC so if you've been looking for it go watch it there before it vanishes back into the void of forgotten tv shows. First off it isn't 16 episodes as listed here it's 8 and each episode has 2 or 3 stories. Out of the 16 stories about 4 were actually good. The rest are very forgettable and i LOVE old movies and tv.

The major problem with this show is poor writing and episodes are either too long or too short. The 4 i feel you should watch are The Bogeyman Will Get You, Uncle George , A Quiet Funeral , and Make-up starring a young Billy Crystal. Those episodes were actually fun and the right length. Who knows you may like some of the other stories it was fun seeing all of the old character actors that popped up in EVERYTHING back in the 70s and 80s.

James Coburn hosted this short-lived anthology series where he presented each tale literally from a darkroom, where he would develop pictures that would relate in some way to the story. This only ran for 7 episodes, and the reason may have been because it so relentlessly cynical and downbeat, with rarely a happy ending for anyone. This might work once or twice, but for most of the 16 segments it must wear the viewer down, and make them turn it off. Did feature future stars like Helen Hunt and Billy Crystal. "Night Gallery" did this sort of thing better. Not yet on DVD, but was on YouTube for awhile. Universal studios owns it, so perhaps Shout/Scream Factory will release it?