Rod Serling might have moved from sci-fi/fantasy to the macabre with Night Gallery, but two out of the three tales in this episode feel more like something out of The Twilight Zone.
The first story, Room With a View, sees a bedridden man manipulating his young nurse (Diane Keaton) into killing his unfaithful wife and her lover. It's over before it's begun, and doesn't leave much of an impression.
The second story is very 'zone', not just in general tone, but also because it stars Burgess Meredith, who previously made several trips to the fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. Here, he plays ex-physician turned wino Dr. William Fall, who stumbles upon a medical bag that has accidentally been sent back in time from the year 2096.
Instead of pawning the bag so that he can buy booze, as his newfound acquaintance Heppelwhite (Chill Wills) would like, Fall sets about using his discovery to cure the poor. Heppelwhite realises that the bag is worth a lot more than the eight bucks offered by the pawnbroker, so he kills Fall, takes the bag and organises a meeting with leading medical luminaries to demonstrate the futuristic equipment. In a neat twist, his actions prove fatal when the kit is deactivated by a technician in the future.
The third story is also rooted in science fiction rather than horror and feels like something Alan Moore might have written for 2000AD. Other reviewers don't seem to like the rather ridiculous nature of the story -- astronauts being attacked by giant moon mice -- but I love the silliness of the whole thing, including the notion of building a giant mousetrap to try and kill the oversized rodents.
The first story, Room With a View, sees a bedridden man manipulating his young nurse (Diane Keaton) into killing his unfaithful wife and her lover. It's over before it's begun, and doesn't leave much of an impression.
The second story is very 'zone', not just in general tone, but also because it stars Burgess Meredith, who previously made several trips to the fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. Here, he plays ex-physician turned wino Dr. William Fall, who stumbles upon a medical bag that has accidentally been sent back in time from the year 2096.
Instead of pawning the bag so that he can buy booze, as his newfound acquaintance Heppelwhite (Chill Wills) would like, Fall sets about using his discovery to cure the poor. Heppelwhite realises that the bag is worth a lot more than the eight bucks offered by the pawnbroker, so he kills Fall, takes the bag and organises a meeting with leading medical luminaries to demonstrate the futuristic equipment. In a neat twist, his actions prove fatal when the kit is deactivated by a technician in the future.
The third story is also rooted in science fiction rather than horror and feels like something Alan Moore might have written for 2000AD. Other reviewers don't seem to like the rather ridiculous nature of the story -- astronauts being attacked by giant moon mice -- but I love the silliness of the whole thing, including the notion of building a giant mousetrap to try and kill the oversized rodents.