Product Details

• Actors: Vic Perrin, Bob Johnson, Ben Wright, Robert Culp, Robert Duvall
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 26, 1995
• Run Time: 51 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301964004
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,867 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

You'd think that if the writers give away the monster's secret in the first few scenes, you wouldn't be scared--until you watch "The Architects of Fear." This super-creepy, classic Outer Limits episode features Robert Culp as a scientist chosen to undergo extremely avant-garde surgery to irreversibly turn him into a bizarre alien creature who will unite the world against a common, if fraudulent, threat. This series was uniquely able to capture a sense of individual horror in its stars; Culp is eerily compelling as a man giving up his identity to help the world. The black-and-white cinematography is stark and surprisingly indirect; in the best traditions of filmmaking, more is implied than shown directly. Not only one of the best episodes in the series, "The Architects of Fear" is one of the best television shows ever aired. --Rob Lightner

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Outer Limits Episode, May 23, 1999

By 

Steven Eldredge (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Outer Limits: The Architects of Fear [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Architects of Fear is one of the classic episodes which made the first season of The Outer Limits so unique, and might be considered THE definitive example of what this great series could produce. Robert Culp plays an American physicist chosen to be the "scarecrow" used to frighten the world powers away from war between themselves. Through an agonizing series of operations he is gradually transformed into a hideous version of an alien and sent up in orbit to pretend to be arriving from outer space. The combination of script, acting, terrific lighting and direction, and the really wonderful musical score make this episode an unforgetable emotional experience. This is science fiction television at its best.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scarecrow On Stilts, March 24, 2002

By 

Bruce Rux (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Outer Limits: The Architects of Fear [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was the episode used for T.V. advertisements when OL first aired, and it was a good choice. The commercial showed two hunters out with their dog, getting the scare of their life when the reeds part first to reveal an alien hand with a ray-gun that destroys their station wagon, and then the hideous face of the thing that fired it, all accompanied by OL's eeriest music.

Of course, by today's standards, the "alien" is pretty obviously Janos Prohaska in a papier mache monster suit on stilts. It gets seen far too much in the episode to be believable. But, as papier mache monsters on stilts go, it's actually not that bad.

What makes this episode work are the story and the characters. Robert Culp, in the first of his three appearances in the series, draws short straw at the government think-tank on the day they're deciding who gets to play Evil E.T. - for real. Unfortunate, for him. He has a solid marriage, and a baby on the way. (You'd think a bunch of guys trying to make a monster to scare the world into unity might've taken that into account, before deciding who would even draw the straws.) Wife Geraldine Brooks has a strong psychic connection with Culp, and can't believe he's really dead after said government goons fake his death in order to keep Culp out of public view. The best-laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley, however, and rather than make a hostile world a better place, the government goons instead only destroy one of the few beautiful things in it.

Astute viewers will recognize this plot hinted at by Ronald Reagan twenty years later, when he stated in one of his speeches how much easier his and Gorbachev's roles in the world would be if only Earth were threatened by an outer space menace.

Keep telling yourself, "It's only a cheap 1960s T.V. show..."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Overrated"? Hardly!, April 21, 2001

By 

brian akers (Atlanta formerly) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Outer Limits: The Architects of Fear [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Outer Limits may not appeal to "post-modern" tastes, and to each their own--I support dissenting opinions...Geraldine Brooks' puts in an excellent dramatic performance here, and Joan Crawford was a great actress. Apart from idiosyncrasies of personal taste, its hard to see how such a comparison could constitute a criticism, even if one agreed with it. Also, why would her being pregnant make her character's nurturing side "funny"? This well-conceived subplot sets up some of the most dramatically gripping moments in the show, like Culp's discovery of her pregnancy when he sees where she's been shopping, and his desperate effort to phone her at the end of his "schizophrenic episode"--a difficult scene expertly handled by Culp, not at all "over-acted". And please: the fact we're given no clear, whole-suit view of the alienized Culp is an absolute strength, a master stroke, not a weakness. The viewer's imagination runs riot at the brief, partial glimpses we get, a la Ridley Scott's "Alien". Usually, showing the whole get-up too clearly tends to diminish the effect of any monster ("Wolfman" 1941 could have understood that better). Nothing can match the imagination, as Val Lewton realized. This show appeals to a mature imaginative audience, not to jaded boredom. Its like an iced tea spoon that goes way down deep to a core level, and then starts stirring..."Architects" is the original Outer Limits at its bold, brilliant best, and its a lamentable pity we can't have movies like this made anymore. But lets allow the to audience decide, shall we?