A Question of Fear/The Devil Is Not Mocked

"A Question of Fear" has the time-honored premise of a boastfully fearless man dared to spend a night in a haunted house, though there is a lot more to it than that (I won't spoil). It is a long, measured horror/ghost story that is genuinely unsettling, but not for its special effects or gruesome makeups. While some of the effects are indeed startling, the makeup is shockingly amateurish. Fritz Weaver's spraycan white hair (which ostensibly turned white from shock) is downright embarrassing, and the makeup on a recurring apparition wouldn't pass the muster in a community theatre. What makes the story so scary is its implication and the performance of Weaver who describes a series of horrors in so chillingly that it doesn't need jumpcut scares and horrible faces. Leslie Nielsen is good as the ultra-macho "hero," but it is Weaver who really smacks this one out of the park.

"The Devil is Not Mocked" about a group of Nazis arriving at a Balkan castle to take it over during World War II is competently done, but anyone who cannot see the punchline coming a kilometer away should stop watching horror films. Particularly unnecessary is a wraparound sequence about a doting grandpa telling his grandson what he did in the great war.

This episode is worth watching largely for "A Question of Fear."

Hidden behind a Phantom of the Opera mask and make-up for his previous Night Gallery appearance, Leslie Nielsen is more recognisable this time around, although he does sport an eye patch and a bushy moustache, and his hair isn't white. Dr. Mazi (Fritz Weaver) thinks he might be able to change that last detail: he challenges fearless Colonel Dennis Malloy (Nielsen) to spend a night in the haunted house that caused his own hair to go white. If he can survive the night without dying of fright, the colonel will receive $10,000.

A night of eerie events ensues, but Malloy manages to keep his calm, making it through to morning, when Mazi reveals his true colours: he is seeking revenge for his father, who Malloy tortured during World War II. He informs the colonel that, while he was asleep, he was injected with a serum that will slowly turn him into an earthworm. Now that is something I would have loved to have seen... Leslie Neilsen transformed into a writhing worm... but it doesn't happen. The colonel shoots himself instead, after which Mazi reveals that he was bluffing. I wanted an earthworm Leslie Nielsen, goddammit! I feel cheated.

Tale number two is wholly predictable: during WWII, the German army arrives at a castle in the Balkans which they suspect is the HQ of the resistance. No prizes for guessing that the count who owns the castle is Dracula and his servants are werewolves.

I loved Night Gallery when it was first run just as I loved the reruns (was too young for first run) of The Twilight Zone. And while I've seen endless reruns of The Zone on cable, including the SyFy marathon every year I hadn't seen an episode of Night Gallery in years.

Two episodes of the series always stuck with me over the years though, the one in the pilot about the man scaring his father to death with paintings of the graveyard adjacent to their house and this one; A Question of Fear.

Since I couldn't find the series streaming anywhere I bought the first three seasons on DVD and just watched this episode for the first time in decades. A lot of these old shows don't hold up well over time, something we don't realize until we finally watch them again. The Zone is NOT one of those shows, it holds up perfectly. And I have to say that while I haven't watched any others yet this episode of Night Gallery has also held up very well.

Yes, the special effects are rudimentary compared to today but that really doesn't matter because everything else; the acting, and most of all the story, are just as good as I remembered them to be. And even though I already knew the plot twist at the end it didn't matter. It was a joy to finally watch this episode again and I look forward to working my way through all three seasons I have on DVD.

I highly recommend this series. It's aged very well and still provides great entertainment. The likes of Rod Serling will not pass this way again, mores the pity.

"A Question of Fear" is a very good episode. Neilsen and Weaver go hand in glove. The ending is a bit weak and could have been left ambiguous. Watching it first run had me going.

"A Question of Fear" is one of those bets that take place when a group of men have to exhibit their testosterone levels. Leslie Nielsen, normally a comedic actor, plays a soldier of fortune who is appalled by another man's (Fritz Weaver's) description of being utterly beset by fear attempting to stay in a haunted house.. Nielsen claims he has never been afraid and bets Weaver 10,000 dollars that he will not die of fright staying in the same house overnight. The game is afoot and Nielsen bids adieu to his rival. There is a great deal of techno-fear engendered by Nielsen is expecting this kind of stuff, and rejects it. Of course, we know that something more sophisticated and more cerebral is coming, so we wait it out. It's interesting. Throughout the entire episode I was pulling for the "bad" guy. I wanted him to have the wherewithal to succeed. This must have been a relatively expensive episode to produce.

I ran across "The Devil Is Not Mocked" a summer or so ago, so I knew how things would transpire. It tells the tale of a battalion of Nazis approaching a castle where they suspect an underground movement is being initiated. Rather than being repelled, they are met at the door by a gregarious, dignified man in a cape. He invites them in. Even their armor is allowed to enter the courtyard. The servants see to their needs. The host is unflappable. He continues to insist they will not find anything but are welcome to continue to search. The Nazi captain is convinced that there are escape routes but that no one will escape. This one can be figured out easily about a third of the way through. Still, it's a good deal of fun.