The Creeper

The Creeper is a solid episode from the first season of the half-hour Alfted Hitchcock Presents series. I've heard it done as a radio show and it worked well in that format. It also works nicely on television.

A killer is on the loose in a low rent neighborhood of Manhattan during a heat wave. His victims are blonde women and no one knows what he looks like. He could be anyone. The story focuses on a squabbling couple, a laborer husband, and shows the stress that his blonde wife is under when he leaves for work one day.

An older woman in the building is of little help. She offers to stay with the younger woman but her basic obnoxiousness if off putting. The young wife passes. Then a friend of her husband turns up and starts giving the housewife a hard time (they'd apparently dated prior to the woman's marriage to her current husband). The friend, a journalist with some inside knowledge about the case, is too weird and aggressive to be good company, and besides, his presence is unsettling. Off he goes.

What transpires afterward, while I wouldn't go so far as to say it was telegraphed early on, certainly comes as no surprise. This kind of suspense tale is as a type as old as the hills. One doesn't watch such things to learn about human nature or expand one's horizons intellectually and emotionally. The central conceit is far from brilliant. It's appeal, it's considerable charm, is watching how it's done,--well or badly, stylishly or ponderously. I'd say that The Creeper is far more stylish than ponderous. It's helped by its director, the capable Herschel Daugherty, and by its small cast. The Creeper isn't one of the sharpest or best written Hithcock half-hours but it's competent and satisfying for those who liked a good chill but who don't want to want to catch pneumonia.

Who cannot resist anything with a title such as that? On paper, "The Creeper" definitely did sound like it would be a creepy episode. And 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' had proven in some previous episodes that it could do creepy and even chilling very well, especially in "Breakdown". This is Herschel Daugherty's second episode after "The Belfry", which was very good and one of the better episodes of Season 1 despite its too low rating.

"The Creeper" manages to be even better than that episode, and is one of the best episodes that Daugherty directed for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. Along with "Breakdown", "The Case of Mr Pelham" and "And So Died Riabouchinska", "The Creeper" is one of the best episodes of Season 1 and also one of the creepiest. Definitely living up to the episode title. A truly wonderful penultimate episode to the season and would have been just as fitting as a final one.

So much is done right and brilliantly so. It is one of the best looking episodes of the season, with some genuinely eerie lighting in particular standing out and the photography has a noir-ish quality. The main theme is still wonderfully devillish and Hitchcock's bookending goes down a treat, proving that the man of suspense was as good at ironic droll humour as he was at suspense.

Daugherty ensures that the suspense does not slip. The dialogue is lean and thoughtful, without rambling or being melodramatic. The story is very suspenseful and full of truly creepy atmosphere, the ending is chilling. Personally did not see it coming, due to it doing so well at diverting suspicion at more than one character.

Constance Ford gives a most persuasive performance, with her breakdown being harrowing and moving. Personally didn't think it was overdone, even if the performance is not a subtle one which fitted her character. Harry Towne manages to make something nuanced and complex out of a character that doesn't sound easy to like and even easy to downright hate. His facial expressions are very telling.

Overall, brilliant. 10/10.

We have three main characters for this story. Ellen is our lead. Ellen's married to Steve. She used to go out with Ed.

Ellen's been having a rough go of it lately. She's been having problems with her nerves and this Creeper business isn't helping matters any. The Creeper is going around killing blonde women. Ellen's a blonde and she's really on edge. I don't think she had much of a support system around her. I can see it from both points of view. My guess is it must be exhausting married to somebody like Ellen. But I also say it must be exhausting to be married to somebody like Steve as well.

Steve didn't get the raise he wanted and took his anger out on Ellen. Although I'll admit Steve did admit he took his anger out on Ellen when he was talking to Ed and Steve thought he was doing Ellen a favor when he sent Ed over to the apartment to stay with Ellen while he was at work.

Let's get back to the anger. Steve also tells Ellen to pick up a pair of shoes for him. Ellen does try and get the shoes but they're not ready yet. You just have to feel for the lady because she's afraid to go out and just seems to be afraid and paranoid of people. It's not clear if her feelings stem from her past illness, if she's that paranoid of possibly any man she meets being the Creeper or if it's a mixture of both. The man she's talking to about the shoes asks for her address and he'd drop them off when they're ready. Ellen is suspicious about giving out her address.

Ellen also shares the apartment building with a mean, judgmental lady. You'll definitely see her in action in a couple of scenes. One almost wishes the Creeper had went after this lady, considering her nasty attitude. She's not afraid of this Creeper business. She puts the blame on the victims. These women that got themselves killed must've been doing something to ask for getting killed. Decent women don't go and get themselves killed.

Another scene with this neighbor involves when Steve sent Ed to the apartment to keep Ellen company. Ellen and Ed rehash the past on why she left him. She saw the cruelty in Ed. Even the games he came up with as a child were cruel. Well, Ed's got an axe to grind against Ellen and he torments her while he turns the radio up to a very loud volume to drown out Ellen's frightened screaming. Thankfully Ellen can get rid of Ed because the janitor came to the door because people were complaining about the noise. Ellen clearly wasn't having fun times with Ed but that didn't stop Ellen's judgmental neighbor from making snide remarks.

I should mention that the theme running through this episode involves Ellen wanting to get another lock put on the door. Ellen ended up calling a locksmith because nobody else would do it for her. Ellen's phone is ringing and it's Steve. The two chat for a bit when there's a knock at the door. It's the locksmith. Steve frantically tells Ellen the police suspect a locksmith is the one doing all these murders. And it's true because Ellen manages to cry out Steve's name before the Creeper kills her.

Again, this is a very interesting story and would recommend you give it a try.

"The Creeper" lacks subtlety and the director seemed to want a somewhat overwrought performance out of Constance Ford. Dialing it back might have made for a better episode, though a truly disturbing ending make this one worth seeing.

When the story begins, it's a hot summer day and everyone seems on edge...and it's made worse by a serial killer who's been murdering women nearby. In each case, the women were blondes and they were alone...and Ellen (Constance Ford) is blonde and her husband works nights....and naturally she is on edge. To make things worse, her apartment's lock stinks and she really needs a deadbolt or chain. And, when she tries to have one installed, getting this done is tough because LOTS of women are nervous and are getting them. What's next? See the show.

As I mentioned above, the part played by Ms. Ford should have been dialed back a bit. But apart from that, it was a dandy episode...a truly frightening one that is worth seeing....but remember...it is very disturbing.

By the way, the camera often focuses on the door to Ellen's apartment. Pay attention to it carefully. In some shots, the door opens inward....and in others it clearly opens outward. I am not sure why they didn't catch this.

A number of episodes were set in working class environments, and this was one of them. Hot day, hanging out on the door stoop. No screens of the windows. A killer is on the loose.

An older woman is a moralist ("They probably asked for it. Decent women don't get themselves killed."). The new janitor looks familiar, but I can't place him. Our protagonist is frazzled younger lady. Women were apparently so emotional in the '50s.

What I like best is the episode throws legitimate suspicion on 3-4 characters. What I like next best is that the husband has a beer at the bar before going in to work the night shift.

I think I saw the ending coming, but it is very good nonetheless.