episode #10, segment 1: The Shadow Man

#10a: THE SHADOW MAN written by Rockne S. O'Bannon; Directed by Joe Dante

It slides out from underneath a bed, a thing of darkness. What is he? What is it? It speaks with a raspy voice - "I AM the Shadow Man. And I will never harm the one under whose bed I live." Then it creeps out into the night and begins hurting people, mostly kids. Aagh! This episode works best, of course, if you're in the 8-year to 14-year-old age bracket, aiming at giving the kids some shudders. This preys on the common fears of youngsters - what's underneath the bed? What is in the closet? What's in that dark corner over there?  But, I still admire the solid execution here, even in my advanced years.
The plot concerns a wimpy kid who is looked down on by most other kids at his school. Most of the taunts hurled his way involve his cowardice (he still goes to bed with the lights on). His mother puts her foot down and turns off the lights one night and, later, that's when the Shadow Man shows up. No explanation is offered for what this thing is or why it appeared. If you're into sci-fi, you may conjure up the rationale that it's from another dimension and blah-blah-blah. The next day, the entire school is abuzz about some tall dark creep who broke a kid's arm the past night.

The central character, though wimpy, does have a sneaky side; he soon manages to work the situation to his advantage, knowing that this Shadow Man will not harm him. Pretty soon, he's popular with other kids, including the girls, since he's the only one who braves the outside at night.

The tale is a parable and a morality tale, again focusing on a character with weak character traits. The story tells us that, with such traits, it's inevitable that what comes around goes around - the poetic justice climax. Yes, this episode again throws in a wicked twist ending (I admit it, I really like those twist endings in TV series such as these). The twist is presented very effectively and manages to be creepy, especially if you're alone at night, watching this. BoG's Score: 8 / 10