Customer Reviews

Outer Limits: Guests [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An old man escapes from a Psycho-like house and dies near a road. A car stops suddenly and a young man get out from it to save him. He goes to the house, which is a huge brain, to get some help. Post-"The big heat" Gloria Grahame plays a vamp actress from the twenties, like a soft version of Myriam Hopkins from "Don't open till doomsday". She and the old and odd couple ("Shut-up Randall or I'll be nice to you !") tries to corrupt Geoffrey Horne as Wade Norton ("I feel as if I'm having a bad dream !") in vain. Rebel Wade Norton ("Never interrogate the wind !") meets Luane Anders as shy Tess in the most sensitive love affair of the series. The brain monster is fascinating. It has the same voice as the Senator from "Fun and games" and it is a recycled part from "The mice". It explores human condition like a mathematician when it compares the positive (procreation, work, faith, art) and the negative factor (destruction, fear, hopelessness, hate [symbolized by an Atom bomb]). You have a magnificient optical effects when the giant brain is seen with a fast-moving clouds background just like in the work of cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. The music is interesting too because it is a blend of scores from "Nightmare" and the haunting sound from "O.B.I.T.". Only the scene of Wade Norton saying : "No , Tess, come back !" and Tess leaving the house is a new and touching music. But the details I like the most is the maze of dark empty rooms which leads to nowhere. A landmark episode with a subtle story, existentialist characters ("Close your eyes to illusion. Love is out there !") and a gothic approach not shot by Conrad Hall about the theme of dream.

A man enters a house - only its not really a house, for starters it bigger on the inside than outside and doors don't always lead you anywhere. The man meets a telepathic alien who wants to understand the human equation. Story & special effects still hold up today, great story about people, the limited effects are carefully used. Unexpected and very imaginitive ending finishes the story.

At their worst, OL aliens talk too much and superiorly sneer. They usually do so with perfect pronunciation and urbane style, and love crowing about their plans. The alien in The Guests is one of these. It's still a good episode, though.

The alien's origins are never disclosed, but what he's about is obvious on the face of it: he's constructed a human mousetrap in the outward guise of a house, with which to catch subjects for study. Most of his subjects are petty and venal. Until a drifter happens on in, and stirs things up a bit.

The less said about this episode the better, for those wanting to see it. Suffice it to say it has great surrealistic sets, dark Gothic atmosphere, and good performances by the entire cast.

Overall, this is a great deal more like a Twilight Zone episode than an OL. It has no opening or closing narration, and no real through story-line. But it is fascinating, and pretty creepy.

This episode starts fascinatingly. Before it is said out loud by the hero, it is obvious that this is very much like a bad dream, where you try to find help and find only strange places and people. The endless corridors of the mysterious house are shown with an interesting use of black masks shaping the pictures in weird ways. I wish they had used bold effects like that even more in the series.
However, like many dreams, this episode soon becomes extremely sentimental. I found the romantic moments quite annoying because the actors playing the young couple aren't particularly good. And the final conclusion, the missing piece of the equation found by the alien is something we have heard SO many times before...
Well, once again we have a flawed Outer Limits episode with some elements so exciting that it is worth checking out. I only give it two stars because some episodes of the series are so much better. People allergic to heavy doses of sentimentality should, however, beware.