Writer: Al Friedman and David Chase
Director: Gordon Hessler
Actors:
Keenan Wynn as Captain Joe "Mad Dog" Siska / Severn Darden as Dr. Aaron Pollack / Richard Kiel as the Pelemafait / Johnny Silver as Pepe LaRue aka Morris Shapiro / Ned Glass as Joe the apt manager / Randy Boone as Jean the fiddler / Virgina Gregg as Dr. Hollenbeck / Bill Diets as first reporter / Frieda Rentie as second reporter / Brian Avery as the record producer / Rudy Diaz as Sgt. Villaverde / James LaSane as Officer Johnson / Maurice Marsac as Henri Villon / Roberta Dean as Michelle Kelly / Donald Mantooth as Paul Langois / Elisabeth Brooks as the Lab Assistant
Memorable Line:
Carl shows Tony a fuzzy picture he took of the Bogey Man...
Vincenzo: "What is that, Salvador Dali's bar mitzvah?"
Story:
A test subject in a sleep experiment dreams up a Cajun bogey man.
Now, this is the show at its best! An intriguing story idea that doesn't trip over itself with those plot holes or unanswered questions which plagued this series.
The acting is solid. Kennan Wynn plays the Police Captain this time out, and he's perfect. It's too bad that he wasn't a series regular because Siska had a nice, if sometimes explosive, rapport with Kolchak. He'd roar and get annoyed but also seemed to reasonably listen at times (Until Carl pushed it)
Also wonderful as always are the exchanges between Oakland and McGavin. Again, Kolchak gets under his boss's skin, but it seems like Tony seriously cares, and deep down likes his rumpled reporter. Their banter about a "disappearing little man" had me roaring with laughter.
The idea of a nightmare coming to life is scary enough. That it controls the dreamer (who we find out is not allowed to dream) and later, exists independently, is even more frightening. Richard Kiel was the perfect choice to play the Bogey Man. His towering size lends authenticity to a bone-chilling legend (Hey, if you build it up, you better be able to deliver. And Kiel delivers). I'm not sure why the woman at the start only looks at the Pelemafait strangely, without an exclamation of concern (perhaps a case of really bad acting?), but this was one of the episode's few hitches.
The moody end scenes in the sewer were very suspenseful. The tension was so thick even Kolchak tried to back out (and was comically prevented from doing so). Yes, Carl poking Kiel with a stick looked silly, and the cheap monster costume doesn't inspire fear when viewed with our modern high def, big-screen TVs. But those are minor quibbles. The good stuff -the smart, intense story and performances- far, far outweighs any weaknesses.
Grade: A+
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