Customer Reviews

Thriller: Incredible Doktor Markesan [VHS]

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

 

 

I first saw this in the early 70s when a local station was thoughtfully running the series every night of the week right at bedtime. This episode is on my short list of the best of the best of this series. (Others that spring to mind: Guillotine; Kill My Love; The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk; Masquerade)

The other reviewers here mention the predictability of the ending, and for certain, the producers do all they can to annihilate the surprise factor. They show the last few seconds of this particular episode in a 2 minute teaser that precedes the feature on this video, just throwing away the one hour buildup that is to follow for the sake of a glitzy montage. (Idiots!) Beware!! --Fast forward without looking, if you can, to the beginning proper of the tape.

I think the ending is predictable the way the ending of a trailblazing movie like, say, Psycho is now. It doesn't take a prophet to see the past with 20-20 vision. In it's day, however, the convention that a protagonist must make it to the closing credits of a popular entertainment was only beginning to be challenged by movies like Psycho, and on TV, by The Twilight Zone, and Thriller. Just those two. I recall clearly my dismay, indeed my horror, the first time I saw this episode, with no hint of what was to come. So maybe the failure here is the failure of the other writers to adequately "work with" the episode, as they would have to the original Nosferatu, Frankenstein or Metropolis.

I give it a very solid 5 stars.

I recently ordered three of these tapes from Amazon.com and I'm not disappointed. This one has great atmosphere, Boris steals the show of course. Dick York is great too. Nice shock ending. The subject matter was very uncommon for early 60s television, a rare living dead story. Ooops, don't want to give away the ending! Classic TV horror, one of the best. Pleasant screams!

Others may give this episode a "so~so" review,but I liken it to being trapped in a nightmare while wanting to run for help!The atmosphere is dank & musty,the acting is sharp,Karloff is simply magnificent & the black & white photography only enhances the story.DON'T MISS THIS ONE!

The Incredible Dr. Markesan is one of the finest episodes of a remarkable TV series (Thriller), and stylistically harks back to the days of classic horror movies of the thirties. Indeed, it was directed by Robert Florey, who was slated to direct the original Frankenstein (1931), till replaced by James Whale, who was ultimately responsible for casting Boris Karloff as the monster. Ironically, thirty years afterwards, Karloff and Florey at last got a chance to work together, and the result is a small masterpiece of horror.

The story concerns a couple who take refuge in the house of an elderly scientist who is related to the husband (an uncle maybe,--can't recall), who permits them to stay in his house, which is in fact a creepy, cobwebbed old mansion, provided that they never leave! As things develop, the couple does leave, and worse, they discover the diabolical nature of Dr. Markesan's experiments, which have to do with literally raising the dead. It's a strange, simple story, brilliantly told, featuring a small cast, with fine performances all-round, especially Karloff's as the eponymous doctor.

Technically it's on a par with most feature films, as it feels more like a movie than a TV show. The atmosphere is palpably oppressive, and the "undead" the doctor gathers in his library each night are gruesome to behold. This is a grand, almost painfully suspenseful old-fashioned blood-and-thunder horror yarn, gothic in the extreme, and filmed in glorious black and white. For fans of such things it's a must-see. In my opinion it's an as yet unheralded classic that deserves wider recognition.

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, is obviously no stranger to the horror genre, and he co-stars in this particular episode, "The Incredible Doktor Markesan." The story is somewhat cliche--it basically revolves around a mysterious, defrocked professor of the medical arts and his vindictive postmortem experiments--and modern horror fans will probably be disappointed in the predictable and anticlimactic ending. Nonetheless, the episode is notable and worth watching because of the wonderfully moody and eerie performance by Karloff (as the professor) and a pre-BEWITCHED performance by Dick York (as the professor's visiting nephew).

ATTENTION: Spoiler Alert!!

I was 9 years old in 1960 and prone to nightmares so this show was off limits and actually past my bedtime. But I was fascinated by spooky shows and snuck down to the bottom of the stairs and peeked around the wall to watch this episode. My parents were rapt by the show and that helped me make it to the very end before they caught me. I remember every little bit of the program with the exception of Molly closing her coffin lid while Fred screamed. That was left to my interrupted imagination all these years.

Thank you Monster4josh (YouTube) for letting me see the entire episode. It was fun and you know, I don't remember any nightmares. I probably stared at the dark ceiling all night.

I recall seeing part of the "Well Of Doom" episode way back then as well but I think I was caught watching very early on. I recall thinking that the older gentleman (Henry Daniell) looked like George Washington. I didn't know who Richard Kiel (the murderous giant) was until a few years later when he played Jaws in a couple of James Bond movies.

There was one episode I saw part of that I would still like to see, though. I think it was called Pigeons From Hell or something like that. I got far enough in that episode to see one of the guys who were staying in the spooky old mansion come tripping back down the staircase with an axe in his head and gave myself away early on in the show by yelping out loud in fright.

I don't recall ever seeing any of these shows in reruns then or in all of the years since. Thank you for helping a 58 year old "kid" put some of his old demons to rest.

A newlywed couple stays in a mansion in which the owner has come back from the dead and has brought back several enemies to life as well. He has brought back these people who were on the staff of the University at which Dr. Markesan was employed. He is angry because he was thrown off the board of this school and wishes to hold his own private courtcase with the people that were responsable for his being thrown out. The story is interesting and spooky but is predictable as to outcome.