Customer Reviews

Thriller: Grim Reaper [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I fisrt rented this video, I thought it would be hum-drum and boring. But I found it to be suspenseful, interesting, entertaining and definitely worth seeing. It's about a young man(William Shatner) who goes to visit his aunt who just recently married a man much younger than herself, he comes to warn her of an 'evil' painting that brings certain death to all who posses it. But the painting does not strike without warning, before the unlucky party is to die, the scythe in the painting bears blood, and its meaning is certain death. The ending was the best. Just when you think you've figured the plot, a surprise twist occurs. Starring William Shatner and hosted by the great Boris Karloff, and written by Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho, this is a thriller worth dying for.

When I fisrt rented this video, I thought it would be hum-drum and boring. But I found it to be suspenseful, interesting, entertaining and definitely worth seeing. It's about a young man(William Shatner) who goes to visit his aunt who just recently married a man much younger than herself, he comes to warn her of an 'evil' painting that brings certain death to all who posses it. But the painting does not strike without warning, before the unlucky party is to die, the scythe in the painting bears blood, and its meaning is certain death. The ending was the best. Just when you think you've figured the plot, a surprise twist occurs. Starring William Shatner and hosted by the great Boris Karloff, and written by Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho, this is a thriller worth dying for.

True fans of Horror who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s love this show. Even Stephen King, in his book DANSE MACABRE (p. 216 of the oversized paperback), calls this "the best horror series ever put on TV." The show's host, Boris Karloff, was obviously no stranger to the genre, and he even starred in several notable episodes.

This particular episode, "The Grim Reaper," is a pretty good one. The story centers a wealthy writer of horror fiction and her visiting nephew. The nephew's plan is to "bump off" his old aunt, using the legend of a cursed painting of the Grim Reaper--a painting the aunt has recently purchased--as his cover. But, of course, there is more to the "legend" behind the painting than the nephew realizes....

As with all the good and great episodes of THRILLER, this one does chill the bones. Also notable are a pre-STAR TREK performance by William Shatner, as the nephew, and a pre-GILLIGAN'S ISLAND performance by Natalie Schafer as the wealthy aunt. Definitely one of the THRILLER episodes that fans of the genre, especially fans of classic horror, won't want to miss.

I saw this movie once in my life....in 1965. I had nightmares about it for twenty years. Absolutely the most spine-tingling movie of all time. Not bloody type of scary, DEMON kind of scary.

The thriller series hosted by Karloff
is an overlooked classic series. Why
isn't this on DVD? This episode is
the best & very scary. Shatner who
appears in this and other episodes
is terrific! The ending is awesome!
I bought entire series from other
collector & it was well worth the
price. The quality was 8 of 10 so
I recommend to anyone out there to
buy this series! If you liked the
twilight zone or Hitchcock you'll
love these. Most are like the old
40's horror mystery movies. GREAT!

This is my favourite episode of Boris Karloff's THRILLER. The script was written by Robert Bloch, based on the short story of another writer. In the original story, I believe, there is a painting of a woman who weeps real tears. Bloch changed this into a weird tale concerning a diabolic painting that carries a curse, and brings death to they who own it. A premonition of Death appears on the scythe held by the painted Reaper -- the blade of which is said to become stained with stigmata as a forewarning of impending doom. The cast is brilliant, and the ending is one of the most frightening moments of pure terror even caught on film. As with most episodes of THRILLER that were in the Gothic mode, this episode has extremely effective music and photography. Bob's script is laced with his sardonic humor. Happily, an official DVD box set of THRILLER is set for release in early 2010!!!

This was a very cool episode of "Thriller" with Boris Karloff as the narrator. All of the actors were great including a very young William Shatner who was fabulous. This show is spooky, creepy, and revenge is it's own best reward!

If you loved Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and other spooky series, you will love this movie.

Get out the popcorn and turn off all the lights and prepare to be enchanted by Boris Karloff and his tale of "The Grim Reaper."

I was very young in the 1960's, and "Thriller" was truly frightening. As someone else said, not in a bloody, gory way, but in a way that grabbed your imagination and wouldn't let go. Maybe it was partly the atomic bomb scare that we had during the Cold War, and maybe it was my mom scolding that I had to go to bed, saying "don't watch that show! It will give you nightmares!". No kidding. It did all of that. I'd love to see these episodes now that I'm all grown up (I think!).

I watched the Thriller series religiously as a young boy, and several of the episodes scared the hell out of me. This particular one with William Shatner was one of the most clever and holds up even today. Like the original "The Haunting" movie of the same time period, terror is created through what you don't see, sounds, shadows, etc. rather than overwrought F/X. This episode is one of my favorites, and other than the VHS version, I don't think I have seen any Thriller episodes since the 1960's.

Unfortunately, there must not be an audience for a DVD collection, but hopefully whomever owns the rights to the series is planning a compilation. It took many years for the similarly well-regarded "Night Gallery" to have a year 1 DVD product. If anyone knows what studio/entity owns "Thriller", I'd be glad to write them.

There also used to be a website that sold individual VHS epsisodes for those who are really interested in acquiring copies if anyone out there is aware of it. We are left with few resources for seeing this terrific gothic horror show of the early 1960's, but it's worth pursuing for the dedicated and persistent fans of the series. The "Grim Reaper" episode is one of the best.

a cursed painting of the grim reaper comes to life