Think Chucky’s bad? That thing’s a Cabbage Patch Kid compared to the possessed doll that engages the put-upon Karen Black in a fight to the death in the famously chilling TV movie Trilogy of Terror (1975). What’s the near fatal error on Black’s part that sets the spooky story in motion?
A. She gets the doll wet
B. She breaks a chain around the doll’s waist
C. She exposes the doll to sunlight
D. She feeds the doll crackers after midnight
The X-Files is creepy–agreed? But it wasn’t until an infamous 1996 episode that the show was slapped with a parental advisory by the usually unflappable Fox. The touchy subject matter?
A. A Hasidic Jew who’s victimized by a hate crime
B. A murderous Siamese twin disconnecting from his other half
C. An incestuous family
D. A brain-eating monster eating brains
In the influential horror series The Night Stalker (1974-75), Darren McGavin starred as Carl Kolchak, a newspaper reporter with a nose for the undead. (Sort of a middle-aged Buffy.) The series was spawned from one of the highest-rated TV movies of all time, in which the intrepid Kolchak famously squared off against a:
On December 14, 1999, Buffy the Vampire Slayer presented “Hush,” perhaps its ultimate Very Special Episode, in which a mysterious fog steals the voices of the good residents of Sunnydale. Not a single line of dialogue is spoken for 29 minutes, making the fact that the writers managed to work in a reference to this Euro breakfast staple all the more notable:
Dark Shadows (1966-71) was unlike any other daytime soap, before or since. Instead of philandering doctors and lawyers, the action focused on the gothic delights of haunted houses, werewolves and, of course, vampires. Who was the biggest bloodsucker of them all?
A. Barnabas Collins
B. Count Chocula
C. Udo Kier
D. Louis de Pointe du Lac
In a stomach churning 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-64), an alien race lands on Earth and does a bang-up job of curing all humanity’s ills (war, poverty, etc.). Then the eager E.T.s invite us grateful earth-types for a ride on their saucer to visit the Old Planet. Everything looks just peachy. But there’s a catch–a big one. Name it.
The Outer Limits (1963-65), a Twilight Zone-esque anthology series with a sci-fi twist, began each episode with the image of a fuzzy, snowy TV screen and the following line:
A. “There is something wrong with your television set.”
B. “There is nothing wrong with your television set.”
C. “There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man.”
D. “For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear and think.”
Salem’s Lot (1979), Stephen King’s tale of a New England town lousy with vampires, starred David “Hutch” Soul and was originally intended to be a feature film. Which legendary horror helmer was supposed to direct it?
A. John Carpenter
B. Tobe Hooper
C. William Castle
D. George A. Romero
Night Gallery was Rod Serling’s follow-up to The Twilight Zone. Every week, he stood in front of two (sometimes three) paintings and told the bone-chilling stories behind them. The show proved a training ground for the likes of Steven Spielberg and which future Star Wars sci-fier?
A. Jessica Biel
B. Stephen Collins
C. Catherine Hicks
D. Barry Watson
The 1973 TV movie Satan’s School for Girls, about a coven of private school witches bent on world domination (you know, typical sorority stuff), featured which two future halo-wearing Charlie’s Angels?
A. Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith
B. Jaclyn Smith and Shelley Hack
C. Shelley Hack and Cheryl Ladd
D. Cheryl Ladd and Kate Jackson
The Mystery Machine gang began chasing ghouls and goblins all the way back in 1969, in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Since then, the Great Dane and his friends have foiled the plots of scraggly old men in an ungodly number of series. Which of the following was not an actual Scooby TV incarnation?
