The Vine: May 14, 2007 #2
Dear Sars:
All right, since your readers do such a great job of identifying stories and such, I’ve got another one — this one’s a TV show. When I was a kid I couldn’t sleep one night, so I got up and watched TV with my dad. This sci-fi show was on that scared the bejesus out of me (ensuring many more sleepless nights). It might have been a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode, probably dating from the ’60s; it was the early ’70s when I saw it, and my dad claims not to remember it.
The protagonist is a young businessman with a good job and a pretty wife named Julie. His boss asks him if he’s noticed anything strange about Julie. No, he hasn’t; they’re perfectly happy. Why does he ask? Boss says that when he was over at their house for dinner the other night, he saw her remove a red-hot casserole from the oven with her bare hands.
Our hero goes home, seed of worry planted in his head. Julie assures him that everything’s fine, but then he notices something he hasn’t before: she never blinks. A high-pitched *woowoowoowoowoo* noise comes from outside, making Julie hysterical with fear. Her husband tries to comfort her — but suddenly she’s disappeared, and he’s left holding nothing but her clothes.
He goes to work the next day (?!) and dictates a letter to his secretary, who never blinks. We hear the noise again, and the secretary freaks out and jumps out the window. The man runs downstairs and outside to find the secretary’s empty dress and stockings lying in the street. A
crowd gathers around him to see what’s happened. As the camera pans across their faces, we notice that our protagonist is the only one blinking.
Typing this now I see that the story makes little sense — there must have been more to it than that. But it was the scariest thing ever when I was eight. Does anyone out there have any idea what show I saw (beyond “sounds like The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone“)?
Thanks in advance —
Sleeping better now
Dear Sleep,
I haven’t the foggiest, but let’s put the readers on it.
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
http://www.scifi.com has a listing of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone tv shows.
Also don’t forget to google The Night Gallery also by Rod Serling
That definitely has the feeling of an Outer Limits storyline, but without being able to say for sure, I’d recommend posting your question at the Outer Limits Cafe board. There’s also an official Outer Limits site here with all the episode listings. Good luck!
I’ve gone through the Night Gallery, uh, Gallery, and it’s not that.
Was it black and white or color? That’d narrow it down a bit further…
As soon as you said that she took a casserole out of the oven with her bare hands it struck a memory nerve. I was pretty sure it was a movie not a TV show.
Try this one: Unearthly Stranger
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057623/#comment
Re: Rebecca’s suggestion of Unearthly Stranger, the imdb comment on the second page notes:
“Memorably eerie things to watch out for are the unblinking aliens and a piping hot casserole casually removed from an oven without gloves!”
This must be it!
Original poster here…Yes, that movie definitely sounds like what it must be! (78 minutes long? I must have come in at the end. No wonder it made no sense.)
However, I was just on the phone with my sister today and she was telling me about meeting someone who didn’t blink. I said, “That reminds me of this show that scared the hell out of me as a kid…” and started to describe it.
“…And they were aliens who never blink!” she said. “Yeah, that was a Twilight Zone episode.” (30 years I’ve been wondering about this, and she only now mentions that she’s seen it too?)
If it really is that movie, though, I’m now on a quest to rent it and prove her wrong.