Night Gallery (TV Series) The House/Certain Shadows on the Wall (1970) User Reviews

Two Ghost Stories

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 21 July 2018]

Divided in two segments hosted by Rod Serling, "Night Gallery" presents two ghost stories. "The House" is an attractive but senseless segment with the gorgeous Joanna Pettet in the led role. The plot point is confused and does not make sense. "Certain Shadows on the Wall" is a segment with a better story and Agnes Moorehead excellent as usual. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Galeria do Terror - A Casa / Certas Sombras na Parede" ("Gallery of Terror - The House / Certain Shadows on the Wall")

Night Gallery Episode 4

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 7 August 2010]

In THE HOUSE, the haunting performance of the stunningly beautiful Joanna Pettet is a tremendous asset as she portrays an enigmatic psychiatric patient, Elaine Latimer, who has a dream of herself driving a car to a specific house, knocking on a door, and leaving right before the owner opens it. Once released from the hospital, Elaine purchases that very dream house(with a reputation for being haunted)from real estate agent, Peugeot(Paul Richards). The recurring dream and Elaine's new house both could be related, distorting what is real and unreal. In the Rod Serling penned CERTAIN SHADOWS ON THE WALL, Agnes Moorehead has a cameo as a dying woman whose brother, Stephen Brigham(Louis Hayward), a failed physician who gambled away his earnings, is slowly poisoning her. Stephen wants the inheritance(supposed to split among the remaining three siblings)and is tired of having to read Dickens to Emma(Moorehead)over and over, day in and day out. When she does pass, her shadow remains on the wall of their living room as a reminder of Stephen's misdeeds. The other siblings, Ann(Grayson Hall; DARK SHADOWS)and Rebecca(Rachel Roberts; PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK)actually grieve the loss of their sister and do not approve of Stephen's wanting to split the assets and money evenly, soon understanding that he was responsible for Emma's death. Stephen, tormented by the shadow he can not get rid of(no paint or removal of light can remove Emma's "ghost"), will eventually pay for his transgressions, with the kind of twist Serling is famous for..Emma's shadow may not be the only one on the wall. While NIGHT GALLERY continued to be a lot more talky(and less chilling) than Serling's more famous TWILIGHT ZONE, every once in a blue moon a gem like SHADOWS would pop up with the caliber of character actors known to appear in these kind of stories about how greed and murder do not go unpunished. THE HOUSE is more of a head-scratcher with the appropriate amount of disorienting atmosphere such an odd plot provides regarding a woman's "mysterious calamity" in regards to a dream which feels all too real and when it comes true, vivid details of a house she has never set foot in, emerge so clear and precise as she describes it to Peugeot, who is befuddled at such knowledge. Pettet's beauty(the director definitely shoots her face up close quite often, and rightfully so)is used effectively.

Scary show from 1st season

[babeth_jr · 7/10 · 13 June 2007]

I was nine years old when this episode aired in 1970, but I can still remember the ending because it scared the absolute hell out of me.

I haven't seen this episode in over 35 years, but would love to see it again. I don't know if it would be as scary as I remember it, but I'm sure it is creepy nonetheless.

Agnes Moorehead played her character with her usual flair. She was a very underrated actress. She is usually remembered as playing Endora, on "Bewitched", but it would be a shame to remember her for just that role. She was actually originally a dramatic actress who was nominated for 4 Academy Awards in her long career (although she never won).

I think it says a lot about this episode that the fear it generated in me is something that I remember after all these years!!!!

A quartet of pros makes this one memorable from the 1st season

[garrard · 30 March 2007]

Louis Hayward, Oscar winner Grayson Hall, Rachel Roberts, and the legendary Agnes Moorehead are superb as siblings, living under one roof, bonded due to the stipulations of their parents' will. The doctor brother (Hayward) detests his living conditions and has been slowly making plans to alter his situation. Moorehead's character is bedridden and is attended by the younger female siblings with the brother reluctantly "entertaining" her with is book reading.

The ending, like the better "Night Gallery" episodes, is stunning, though a tad predictable.

Speaking of Moorehead, she was still filming "Bewitched" at the time of this show's airing and it was gratifying to see her give another brilliant dramatic turn, something the hit comedy didn't afford her.

"We're a family again"."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 13 May 2017]

The first question one might ask of Joanna Pettet's character, Elaine Lattimer is, after ten years in a mental institution, where did she get the money to buy a house in the country, even if it was the exact same one that appeared to her in consistent dreams since she was a teenager? With that though, the set up was a good one, and had one expecting some creative twist in the matter of revealing Elaine's 'ghost'. However the resolution was a convoluted one, and instead of tying up loose ends, left Elaine Lattimer in a sort of living dream, or endless loop as it were, resigned to answering a knock on the door with her alter-ego on the other side. Perhaps the writer for the story was making a statement about the nature of mental illness with this offering, but don't think you're going crazy if the story doesn't make any sense to you.

'Certain Shadows on the Wall' has a set up that suggests the eventual finale, as greedy brother Stephen Brigham (Louis Hayward) conspires in the murder/death of older sister Emma (Agnes Moorehead), while siblings Ann (Grayson Hall) and Rebecca (Rachel Roberts) have ideas of their own regarding the family inheritance. If anything, the kicker here is not that the shadows of Emma and Stephen both appear on a wall of the living room, but that Ann and Rebecca are perfectly content to live with the memory of their murdered siblings keeping them company each night. I'd say that was a little creepy.

An episode that does benefit from Serlings' touch.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 5 January 2020]

"The House". The lovely Joanna Pettet plays Elaine Latimer, a former mental patient who has constantly been dreaming of visiting a beautiful country estate. Then, upon her release from the sanitarium, she finds the place to be real. So, of course, she impulsively buys it, despite the realtors' (Paul Richards) obligatory warnings about the place, which neither of them take seriously. In general, this IS an appealing segment, scripted by Rod Serling himself from a story by Andre Maurois. But Pettets' endearing performance basically has to carry it, since it's resolved in a rather obvious way. But she's so good (and is ably supported by Richards, and Steve Franken as a sympathetic psychiatrist), that one doesn't mind spending time with this character. Directed by actor John "Gomez Addams" Astin.

"Certain Shadows on the Wall". Serling again writes the script, taken from a story by Mary Eleanor Freeman. This stars Old Hollywood veterans Louis Hayward and Agnes Moorehead. He plays Stephen, a disgraced former doctor and Emmas' (Moorehead) brother, who reads Dickens nightly to his ailing sibling. After she dies, her shadow takes up a permanent spot on one wall of the house, as if to accuse him. Again, a viewer can make a reasonable guess as to how this all turns out, but that doesn't really mean that the end is ineffective. And again, it's a pleasure to watch these veteran actors (Grayson Hall and Rachel Roberts play the other two siblings) at work. This segment is a little better, overall, generating decent results for the 50 minutes plus run time of the entire episode. Directed by character actor / acting teacher Jeff Corey, who had co-starred in the first episode of the series.

Seven out of 10.

Joanna Pettet -- Lovely Woman, Wonderful Actress

[josephruby · 10/10 · 22 June 2009]

First of all, I have to say I hope Miss Pettet reads this because she should know she has a large fan base and we miss her presence on both the small and big screens. From having read about her on a number of websites, I know she has had much personal tragedy and has retired from acting. Getting to this episode, "The House" is a story I could watch once a month, every month for the rest of my life and never grow tired of it because each time I see it it gives me pleasure. It is beautifully written and photographed and the acting is nothing short of superb. The story is eerie and unsettling but somehow sweet and good-natured at the same time. Miss Pettet was never more stunning than when she played the ethereal Elaine Latimer. Director John Astin allows the camera to linger on her gorgeous face a number of times, but her beauty does not detract from her excellent acting skills. With her willowy and wistful appearance as well as her somewhat smoky voice, Miss Pettet gives Elaine a palpable presence that stays with the viewer long after they have seen the story. This is a story that I don't really understand but that makes it all the more affecting. What IS going on here? I don't know but I like it just the same. The mystery and rafter of unanswered questions makes this episode vastly compelling and beguiling. I fully empathize with the great Paul Richards in his performance as the real estate agent Mr. Peugeot. As an older man, I understand what is probably his attraction to this obviously intelligent as well as independent and beautiful younger woman of means. Miss Pettet has a way of looking off to the side as she discusses her house purchase and what it entails as if she sees something not obvious to the rest of us. She was a remarkably intuitive actress and did such fine work on "Night Gallery". I believe she holds the record for the number of performances on the series - four stories. I heartily agree with the previous reviewer Alsatian5 that this is a television moment that needs to be shared with future generations. Joanna, we miss you and we hope you are well. Please think about coming back.

"The House": a modern-day precursor of "The Others"

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 9 May 2016]

Episode three from "Night Gallery"'s brief freshman season features Joanna Pettet (who would eventually find herself in three more Gallery tales down the line) as a woman "without both feet on the ground," just released from a sanitarium, who comes upon the house of her dreams...literally. This teleplay, by "Night Gallery" host Rod Serling, from a story by André Maurois, begs to be expanded upon--25 minutes simply cannot do this scenario justice. Pettet, who buys the house outright--even after she's told by the realtor the place is haunted--doesn't seem have any other agenda, and we wonder where her money is coming from. The central idea of déjà vu is a compelling one, and director John Astin admirably doesn't rush things along (the careful pace fits the mood of the piece) but, like so many "Night Gallery" segments, the brief running-time leaves the finale feeling undernourished. A second segment, "Certain Shadows on the Wall", again written by Serling, from a story by Mary Eleanor Freeman, is slowly-paced as well, but in this instance the hesitancy is unfortunate. Agnes Moorehead has the thankless central role of a dying woman whose shadow refuses to depart from this world after she has. Directed by Jeff Corey, the staging is wooden and the photography is murky.

I still remember this segment 37 years later

[alsatian5 · 10/10 · 3 February 2007]

I was only eleven years old when I first saw this 1970 episode, "The House"...and have remembered it all these years as it was quite haunting to me. I am actually in the process of downloading it right now (yes I am paying for it) to see if it really stands the test of time within my memory. I have often mentioned this particular episode to my daughter, and cannot wait to share it with her, and see how she reacts to it. It left a big impression on me, and frankly gave me a huge case of the willies. Not from fear, but by an ending I totally did not anticipate at my young age. I have often measured other "shock" endings to films against this one, and only did the movie "The Sixth Sense" come close. What was particularly notable was how pleasant and dreamy this episode was; there was nothing nefarious about how it played out. In fact it was almost subtle. The ending tied everything up into a lovely little package...at least it did for an eleven year old girl watching it with her grandparents.

Ghost houses and Gothic shadows.

[b_kite · 7/10 · 9 December 2018]

The third episode of the series gives us two segments.

The first "The House" stars the beautiful Joanna Pettet as a woman just released from a sanitarium. We don't really know what she did to get there, maybe dealing with a breakdown or something. We learn she keeps having dreams of a strange house were she drives up and knocks on the door. It eventually becomes an obsession and soon enough she discovers her dream house. She buys it and is informed that every previous owner hasn't been unable to stay there due to the fact they believe it to be haunted. As usual twist and turns follow. It's a bit of the confusing side, there's a lot of mystical slow motion and I do mean a lot. Not bad but far from my favorites.

The second "Certain Shadows On the Wall" has Angus Moorehead as a sick woman who is being tended to by her siblings her brother a doctor (who we later learn is helping her along) and her two sisters, there all dark miserable people. The brother we learn is broke and is just waiting for his inheritance. She finally dies and surprise to all her shadow is imprinted on the living room wall and can not be removed. There's a lot of twists and turns that lead to an enjoyable conclusion. There's a dark Gothic approach to the whole thing, and co-stars Hayward and Hall both do fine jobs.

All together an enjoyable episode. Worth the watch for "Certain Shadows On the Wall".

The House Left Me Confused

[margaretdu · 4/10 · 31 December 2015]

The first segment of this episode, called "The House," seemed like it was put together without much effort and missing lots of information. Did Elaine haunt the previous residents? As if you didn't know, they all moved away because they claimed the house was haunted, has she even haunted the first residents from long ago? BUT WHY HER??? Elaine has a consecutive dream that she is driving on a countryside's main road, turns to a different road and finds this beautiful house, she turns the door knocker and then the dream suddenly ends. She tells this story to her psychiatrist as she is leaving the sanitarium she has been staying at for who knows how long. She finds the actual house coincidentally and buys it, claiming it is haunted, one day the door is knocked on and she runs outside to see who it is, oh my! She finds her own ghost driving away in her red convertible, too late to confront herself.

The second segment of this episode, called Certain Shadows on the Wall, was better. But there are more questions, why was Emma always bedridden? Why did she want Stephen to read her the dreaded Charles Dickens book over and over again? After Stephen kills Emma by making her take a pill, her shadow appears on the wall, he tries to paint over the shadow, but to his dismay, it remains. Stephen tries to give his sister Ann a pill too, but his other sister, Rebecca, tells her not to and to refuse anything Stephen gives her. Ann tells Rebecca that she put a sleeping pill in Stephen's tea, and Rebecca is glad she did. He was killed almost instantly. As the episode ends, Ann is singing and playing the piano, and the screen turns to a new shadow on the wall, Stephen, who is rocking in his chair, reading to the shadow of Emma, forever...

Two Hauntings

[AaronCapenBanner · 8/10 · 11 November 2014]

'The House' - Joanna Pettet plays a beautiful woman just released from a sanitarium who has a recurring dream about a house she later buys, only to find that it is indeed haunted, but not by any ordinary ghost... The stunning beauty of Miss Pettet is on full display in eerie and haunting tale, well directed by John Astin. Will stay with you after its over.

'Certain Shadows On The Wall' - Four siblings(three sisters and one brother) all wait for one of them(played by Agnes Moorhead) to die, but when she does, it seems her shadow is left behind... Well acted tale with a chilling ending.

haunted and dreamy house/the living shadow

[AvionPrince16 · 7/10 · 1 February 2024]

The House:

really enjoyed that episode and it was really well shot . I like the beginning and how slow the frames look and let us also ourself dive into a dream . I really enjoyed that style of process to show us that woman's dream . And there was other shots well think, and well placed . But the story was a little bit implicit : so who is that woman then ? A ghost ? So who is in the house ? I didnt really understand that part and look a little bit clumsy in the writing i mean because it didnt make sense if that woman was a ghost then who is dreaming ?who is alive ? I didnt really get it but i love also the performance of the young woman and she was so beautiful and played very well her part : Well done ! But the writing let me pretty confused despite the nice shots and camera placements and feeling( because i really dive into that woman's head and we see things like she saw it and we were very intimate with her and confused at the same time : well done !)

Shadows on the Wall:

nice episode with that event about the sister dying but something pretty strange will happen : a living shadow on the wall of the sister . We dont really know what happened and we will slowly discover the truth , also more about the doctor and that he was unable to save her , but more strange are the pills that she took and its revealed that the doctor killed her and to be sure the other sisters put the pills on the tea and revelation : it was the pills who cause the death and of course i like that visual style about the living shadow and how at the end we saw also the doctor join the dead sister . This episode was more coherent and more logic and believable in some ways . And i enjoyed to watch it until that final revelation . Great episode !

One very good one and one terrible one...

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 14 March 2011]

While Rod Serling introduced each segment on Night Gallery and he was a fantastic writer, he actually did not write this series--even though it was often referred to as "Rod Serling's Night Gallery". The show, in general, wasn't nearly as good as "The Twilight Zone" but it did have some excellent horror and suspense stories. Each episode was broken down into two or more stories--with occasional very short comedic horror stories thrown in as well.

This episode of "Night Gallery" is made up of two episodes--"The House" and "Shadows on the Wall".

"The House" stars Joanna Pettet and is an incredibly weak entry. It begins with her being released from a sanitarium. Exactly what she experienced to get her there isn't all that clear--it seems as if she's had some sort of a breakdown. She also has an obsession concerning some seemingly mythical house. However, after her release, she is able to find that exact house. What it all means was a big letdown. In addition, I must say 'enough with the slow-motion dream sequences!'--they really were overused and annoying. I'd rate this one a 3--and that's being generous.

"Shadows on the Wall" stars Agnes Moorehead as a sickly old woman who had inherited a home many years ago. Her relatives all remain there at her sufferance--and their lives are pretty grim. They take care of her and put up with her--simply because they are poor and have decided to put up with this invalid--even though they really don't like her. One of them, Steven (Louis Hayward), is a lousy and uncaring doctor, and is actually pretty excited when she finally dies. Naturally, being "Night Gallery" there is far more creepiness to come and he and the other vultures get more than they bargained for at her death. I don't want to divulge more about this plot--but it's full of betrayals and surprises!! I'd rate this one a 7.

Certain Shadows on the Wall

[paulbehrer22173 · 10 March 2009]

In this segment, which Serling adapted from the Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman short story, Dr. Stephen Brigham (Louis Hayward, best known for his roles in several swashbuckler films several decades prior to playing this role) is reading to his invalided elder sister Emma (Agnes Moorehead) from a Dickens novel, something he's been doing for a course of decades while attending to her medical care for the same amount of time after leaving his medical practice due to his gambling problems and the fact that his patients were going to other doctors, and Stephen of course cares for Emma rather begrudgingly, as Ann (Grayson Hall, renowned for playing Dr. Julia Hoffman in the 1960s Gothic soap Dark Shadows, produced by Dan Curtis), one of his younger sisters, observes. Ann and Rebecca (Rachel Roberts) maintain the orderly condition of Emma's house, which is bequeathed to Emma's 3 siblings, along with the contents inside the house, to be split equally between them as her will stipulates, and Stephen has been giving Emma gradually larger doses of sedatives to kill her slowly, out of greed as much as out of resentment that their father bequeathed the bulk of his estate to Emma and next to nothing for Stephen, Ann, and Rebecca in his will. Emma's death devastates her 2 sisters, but Stephen immediately begins listing the house and all of its contents with the express intent of selling everything and splitting the proceeds between them, which both Ann and Rebecca both oppose. Stephen's plans are brought to a screeching halt, though, when he and his 2 sisters see what appears to be Emma's shadow on the living room wall, as though she were laying in profile in bed. Stephen, of course, attempts to find a logical explanation for this phenomenon, but despite repositioning the furniture and the lighting, painting and wallpapering where the shadow is, it remains there as if to accuse Stephen of responsibility for Emma's death. All of Stephen's frantic actions arouse Ann's suspicions, and even Rebecca sees her brother in a different light, asking about the sedatives that Stephen was treating Emma with. Stephen states to Rebecca that he was simply giving Emma the sedatives to relieve her pain and to help her sleep, and that he would, if asked, give some of the sedatives to Rebecca for the same purpose. Rebecca, though, puts a large amount of the sedatives in Stephen's tea, which results in a rather fatal dose of poetic justice dealt out to Stephen for his murderous greed. Rebecca comments to Ann that they're finally a family again, looking at both Emma's and Stephen's shadows on the living room wall. Stephen is seated next to Ann's bed, reading the Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities to Emma, which along with other Dickens novels he will read to Emma for all eternity. I found this segment to be one of many examples of pointed commentary concerning greed and its consequences. Spoiler alert: the off-key tune used in the segment by Jeff Corey, its director, and Robert Prince, the provider of scores for many of the segments of Night Gallery's first season, was titled Sing Me to Sleep, which was also sang and played on the piano by Rachel Roberts.

Two haunted house stories

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 25 February 2023]

First up is "The House". It has the lovely Joanna Pettet as a woman who has a dream again and again of driving to a beautiful house but never going in. Then one day she discovers the house and its up for sale. However it's haunted. She buys it anyway and it all leads up to a somewhat confusing ending. Well-directed but too confusing.

Next was "Certain Shadows on the Wall". It's about a dying woman (Agnes Moorehead) watched over by her siblings (Louis Hayward, Rachel Roberts, Grayson Hall). Hayward seems to want her dead. It all builds up to a haunting ending with a neat twist. The acting is great and its very spooky.

Memorable early season episode for the shadows segment!

[blanbrn · 7/10 · 15 May 2021]

This "Night Gallery" episode from season 1 featuring "Certain Shadows on the Wall" is one that was very memorable as it twist with a turn of a greed like guy getting what was meant for him! Certainly this 1970 entry was really creepy with Agnes Moorehead as a rich widow named Emma who all of a sudden dies in her bed. And it's like the doctor and man who oversaw her with the family wants money! The mansion wall soon has a strange image a dark shadow and eye that oversees and look at things only soon another image shadow will appear on the wall! Overall retro classic vintage tale that twist with revenge as it's like the memories of fright and fear will not go away with this episode.

Two Very Classic Ghost Stories

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 4 June 2014]

This is what this series was designed to do. Here we draw on the literature of the ghost story to produce a couple of nice examples. The first, "The House," features a troubled young woman who has been in a sanitarium for a time. It begins with a recurring dream of her driving in her red convertible to a beautiful country house. Each time she knocks on the door, but no one answers. She has been released with the good graces of her psychiatrist who seems a bit uncertain. She is positive, but pretty edgy. As she drives she finds herself on that familiar road, heading for that familiar house. As she approaches the door, she is met by Mr. Peugot, the real estate agent who takes her on a tour. Interestingly, she knows everything about the house. She knows where the bathrooms are, what the art is on the walls, what color the bedrooms are and where they are located, etc. Mr. Peugot makes it obvious that others have left the house under sever circumstances. She finally gets him to admit that these people were convinced the house was haunted. The asking price is so low that it is practically a give away and she agrees immediately to buy it. Of course, interesting things are to follow.

The second, "Certain Shadows on the Wall," is the story of a bitter woman who is on her death bed. She is tended to by a man she has known her whole life. He has left his medical practice in disgrace and devoted his time to her. She forces him to read Dickens to her. It's easy to see his annoyance, but not hard to figure out. When she dies, he will split the inheritance, including the house, with her two sisters. He is also helping the dying process along with some drugs he insists are sedatives. She finally succumbs, there is a funeral, and at that point he begins to size up his new found fortune, caring little for the two sisters (both of whom have their own issues). As they settle down after returning from the cemetery, they see what appears to be a shadow on the wall. It is in the shape of the dead sister, sitting up, hair disheveled. No manner of effort can get rid of it. This is a really good effort at storytelling.

Creepy and Unsettling for the Real Life Story Behind It

[kgehebe · 9/10 · 20 June 2018]

This is one of the creepiest and unsettling of all the Night Gallery episodes not because of the episode itself but because of the backstory behind it. The minute I saw the exterior shot of the house I thought of the Sharon Tate residence where the infamous murders took place in 1969. The house is almost identical to the Tate residence and Joanna Pettet not only resembles Sharon Tate but was AT THAT HOUSE visiting Sharon Tate just a FEW HOURS before the horrific murders! Talk about art imitating life...that must have been in mind when this episode was filmed just one year after the murders. It sent CHILLS down my spine!

A Chrysler commercial in very little disguise.

[f-ascaso · 3/10 · 8 May 2009]

Wow, the spookiest thing about this episode was the price of houses 40 years ago. I'll preface by saying I'm not a fan of narrated episodes. If the story/actors/etc. are worth their salt, they should be able to convey the bulk of the narrative without having to read it out, reminded me of personages who can't think off the cuff but rely on teleprompters. The psychobabble was tedious and boring, but some enjoy that kind of thing, it's just not my cup O tea. They could have kept the narrative but at least made it much more believable and interesting if it was coming from a psychiatrist or maybe a newspaper reporter or something. Niggling little things like Peugeot being at the house, which has a singular half circle driveway, yet he seems to have parked his car in the tree he was standing under, because it's nowhere to be seen on the road or on the property. Sloppy editing, as she pulls into the driveway (for what seems the 100th time) exactly who are those 2 guys you see at 24m30s walking towards the car as she pulls into the driveway of the deserted house? The dolly close-ups were also overdone, like some Jr. High drama student discovering the zoom function on his camera for the first time. I could keep picking apart, but that might get almost as boring as this episode was. It kept dragging on and the true purpose seemed to be to use absolutely all the stock footage they had shot of Elaine driving the Newport convertible. I fully expected to see the Chrysler logo and a nice jingle play while a voice over told us all about the 8 track player, automatic top etc. The only good thing I have to say about his one is that it just ends, abruptly. No loose ends tied up, nothing explained or terminated. Not that many would notice, I suspect most had already changed the channel or dozed off by the end.

Scary and Beautiful

[JasonsPrivateLibraryEst2016 · 9/10 · 15 September 2020]

The House is one of my favorite episodes. It is scary and beautiful at the same time. There is this dead ghost thinking that she's alive. She keeps on dreaming this spooky new house, then after awhile asks the man why is it haunted. Then she buys the house and after awhile, she sees herself ringing the bell and the end. This episode is beautiful because of that woman, scary because she doesn't realize that she is dead

Better

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 16 December 2022]

Originally airing on December 30, 1970, this episode of Night Gallery starts to get darker than the season has been up to now.

Elaine Latimer (Joanna Pettet, The Evil) has spent her time in a mental hospital dreaming of a country road that leads to the house of her dreams. Pettet is a fixture on this show, also appearing in the stories "The Caterpillar," "Keep in Touch - We'll Think of Something" and "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes." Consider this a short F giallo, as we wonder if Elaine has lost her mind or perhaps she has finally learned where she belongs.

Directed by John Astin, this story was based on an original story by Andre Maurois and the script was written by Serling.

"Certain Shadows On a Wall" brings Agnes Moorehead back to working with Serling, as her character Emma is killed by her brother Stephen (Louis Hayward), yet remains a shadow on the wall watching as her sisters Ann (Grayson Hall) and Rebecca (Rachel Roberts) plan Stephen's demise.

Directed by Jeff Corey - who is mostly known for acting; he was Zed in Battle Beyond the Stars and was also in Jennifer and The Premonition - this was also a Serling script, this time based on a story by Mary Eleanor Freeman.

While neither story is fully realized, this episode finds the show heading for the twisted tales that make me adore it so much.

Shadowy episode could've been better; the House

[stones78 · 13 February 2012]

In a lackluster first season of Night Gallery, the episode titled Certain Shadows on the Wall is about a very sick woman(played by a creepy Agnes Moorehead)who's wasting away in her bed as she's being tended to by her brother(Louis Hayward), who also happens to be a doctor. How ethical a doctor? That's debatable. While he's upstairs basically performing the last rites, her 2 quirky sisters(Grayson Hall and Rachel Roberts)are downstairs feeling sad and acting pretentious. Long story short, the sister dies and soon after, her stationary shadow appears on the wall. It turns out her brother was slowly poisoning her, mainly in order to gain control of the house, which was willed to her, and the other goodies of the house. I think he was hurting financially, as one of other sisters points out, so it's easier to have her out of the way, even though the other 2 women don't agree with their devious brother. In a rather humorous twist, the mousy sister is the one who uses Stephen's poison against him, as he dies shortly after. His shadow now appears on the wall next to his once "sick" sister as the other two are happy and get ready for bed.

I always thought more could've been done with the eerie shadows on the wall, as opposed to them just being still. The episode slightly drags without much happening, other than ramblings from 4 weird siblings in a weird house. I suppose it's one of the better segments from a weak opening season.

The second part will be a short review of the House, starring skinny Night Gallery veteran Joanna Pettet, who portrays Elaine, a woman who has several dreams about this particular house, which looks anything but haunted. If a tamer episode is your thing, then perhaps you'll enjoy this one, as there are no scares at all, but still offers atmosphere and some interesting characters, and a cool car. For me, what I enjoyed most is the nifty house, both inside and out, and the conversations Elaine has with the doctor, and her real estate agent, who had to sell the house because past residents were spooked by something, although we unfortunately never get too see any ghosts or anything remotely spooky. Long story short, Elaine buys the house for cheap, and she has the same dreams while napping inside her new house, as it appears she likes sleeping in her clothes while wearing her boots too. It turns out that she's the ghost, because that's what she tells her doctor, and I saw this conclusion coming a mile away.

Excellent Joanna Pettet Half of the ep about a house

[belanger75 · 10/10 · 22 August 2019]

Ultra-beauty Joanna was so well-used in this ep about a lady having strange dreams of a mysterious house and then actually finding the house that I do not understand why when she returned to later NG eps they underused her so very badly. This ep might have been even better as a whole entire long segment. If Night Gallery was better as a half hour show it was better as one overall not every time. Back to Pettet, at least she was used a lot and that is great.

...not sure why, but The House is my favorite NG episode.

[johnchowell · 10/10 · 25 June 2022]

I've read that many fans and critics of The House feel that it is one of the weaker stories in the Night Gallery series but I agree. I feel the simplicity of the story is actually its genius. Joanna Petett is great and to me she was always an under-rated actress. Oh, does anyone else besides me find that the house looks a tiny bit like Sharon Tate's house (maybe just the front)? I find this creepy considering that Miss Petett had lunch with Sharon on Friday afternoon before Sharon was murdered early Saturday morning.