Cheap Thriller: Incredible Doktor Markesan (Video) (Ida Lupino, Maxwell Shane, William F. Claxton, Ray Milland, Gerald Mayer, László Benedek, John Brahm, Stuart Jerome, Jules Bricken, Douglas Heyes) Price

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Customer Reviews of Thriller: Incredible Doktor Markesan

The first horror story I ever saw; it scarred me for life
I cannot believe I found this, because "The Incredible Doktor Markesan" was the first horror story I can remember seeing. More to the point, I remember the ending, which freaked me out so much that I could not stand to watch "Bewitched" because all I could think of is what happened to Dick York and Carolyn Kearney at the end of this story. This was an episode of "Thriller," the suspense anthology that aired on NBC from 1960-1962 and was hosted by Boris Karloff, who also plays the title character in this 1962 story directed by Robert Florey ("Murders in the Rue Morgue").

My memory of the end of this show was so intense that all I remembered about the rest of the episode was that the young married couple were told not to go exploring in the house and they did not listen (my parents could not have possibly known their five year old was watching "Thriller"; watching Karloff would have meant nothing to me). It turns out the good Doktor has invented a serum that wakes the dead by turning them into zombies. When his nephew and his bride come to live with Markesan, their curiosity gets the better of them with horrible results.

I do not claim to be objective about this story because it literally scarred me for life. Watching the ending again, for the second time ever, totally creeped me out and it has been forty years. Eventually I got up enough nerve to actually watch the parts of "The Wizard of Oz" with the wicked witch, but I have needed the intervening decades to screw up enough courage to watch "The Incredible Doktor Markesan" again. This is probably the only episode of "Thriller" I ever watched, which makes perfect sense to me. I just cannot believe I found this (shiver).

Classic Episode From A Classic TV Show.
I was overjoyed when Universal issued this along with 5 other episodes of THRILLER a few years ago as this was one of my favorite shows from the early days of TV. It lasted only 2 years on NBC but not before many fine segments were aired featuring a number of well known actors, writers and directors. I had taped several episodes when a local station ran them late night many years ago. It's always a pleasant surprise when something is as good as you remember it. Unfortunately the copies I taped were not in the best of shape so it was especially disappointing when Universal chose not to release any more in the series. Many fine stories were not included such as THE HUNGRY GLASS with William Shatner, PIGEONS FROM HELL based on a story by Robert E. Howard of CONAN fame, and LA STREGA a tale of witchcraft with a young Ursula Andress. The ones that were chosen seem to be based on contemporary recognition factors of the stories and performers which is understandable but unfortunate. Perhaps someday TV LAND or one of the cable channels will make the series available. It's too good to waste. Of the ones released this episode is, in my opinion, the best of the lot and one of the best from the entire series. It is based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft disciple August Derleth and directed by veteran Robert Florey (MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE BEAST WITH 5 FINGERS). Boris Karloff is unforgettable as the title character while Dick York is fun to see outside of BEWITCHED. It's the details such as camera angles, lighting and acting that add up in this old-fashioned approach to horror and while the story may be predictable the results are highly effective. For those of you who want to be chilled as opposed to grossed out then check this out along with the other 5 in the series. Perhaps someone could persuade Stephen King (who loved this show as a kid) to use his considerable clout to persuade Universal to release more episodes. I'm sure they would listen to him.