Today we are looking at another anthology from the 1980s, such as “Tales from the Darkside” and “Twilight Zone.” Monsters was a three-season, 72-episode series that spanned three seasons. The first episode of “Monsters” aired in 1988. It was one of many anthology series that took advantage of the decade’s anthology boom by putting its own peculiar spin on the concept.
Every episode of “Tales from the Darkside” had its own horror, science fiction, or fantasy story, just as every episode of “Twilight Zone,” and “Monster” In every episode, there was a monster of some kind. There was only one rule: there had to be a monster in every episode.
The episode features Ray Bright, a late-night talk show host, and a gorgeous woman who arrives at his studio claiming to be carrying an alien from another planet.
Humane Killing? Well, if you insist…
We start off the night in the atmosphere of a late-night hate talk radio show where Ray Bright takes digs at people who believe in the supernatural in his studio. The first person that we see is Cassandra Lefkowitz, a clairvoyant who can predict the future. Ray doesn’t believe her claims to predict the future. He refutes this claim because she refuses to give out the scores of the football game scheduled for the next day. She says that the reason for not predicting these kinds of immediate events is that it is a misuse of her talents.
She cannot do anything for monetary gain. Although, ironically enough, she has a book about her predictions which sells for 26 dollars. He goes on to belittle her when she cautions him that she had a vision of him. She says that she sees him writhing in pain in a dark room, but he dismisses her warning. He tells her to leave, calling her entire act a hocus-pocus cry for attention.
The following person who shows up for the interview is the lovely Amanda Smith-Jones. Now this lady, she is gorgeous. She is wearing a tight-fit short dress that is clearly making Ray slow down a little with his quick remarks. She starts off with an elaborate story of how she was on a beach in San Tropez, which Ray immediately interrupts to ask what she was wearing. She was naked, she informs him, which clearly aggravates the sexual tension that Ray was already feeling.
She then goes on to tell him that she felt a quivering sensation, and then the alien was suddenly on top of her, and the next thing she knew, she was transcending beyond the universe across space and time. When she finally stopped traveling, it got very quiet. She found herself in a cylindrical room where two aliens held her hands, and two were holding her feet. They then took turns examining her and ‘probed’ her, as she called it. Ray seems to be very interested in everything.
She said that once the aliens were done with their “examination,” they told her that they were from a different planet where they had eliminated hatred, evil, and hypocrisy. She tells him that the solution to this problem, the evil, was the creature in the box she got with her. Ray, however, does not believe her. He tries to seduce her instead. He tells her that instead of telling this absurd story at 3:30 in the morning, they could go to The Ritz hotel and check into the honeymoon suite. She doesn’t respond to his advances, though.
She tells him that she is very hurt, leading him to concede and take a look inside the box. Inside the cage, Bright finds a hideous-looking creature. It looks like a skinned monkey that is nothing but gunky flesh. It speaks out to him and tells him that she is evil and she did that to it. The creature begs for help. He is perplexed by the tiny creature and cuts to a commercial break.
After the break, his producer asks to talk to him in private. She, it turns out, is dating Ray. He doesn’t seem to realize that his actions are hurtful. She tells him that she feels embarrassed because he is trying to pick her up. He calls her the producer, which upsets her even more, understandably so. He tries to tell her that it is all just show business inside the studio while actively hitting on Amanda. He gets back to the studio and starts off with a quick recap of the story so far. he finally starts insulting her like the other interviewees.
He calls the alien a fake puppet and asks her if she went to a ventriloquism school. She gets somewhat offended and claims to be innocent. To which Raymond replies with a monologue about his influence. He tells her that people like her hate him because he has the power to change minds, and he doesn’t need crystals or any kind of cosmic nonsense to prove it. He says that the people he ‘destroys’ deserve what they get, and he has no regrets.
Amanda agrees with him and says, “You’re right; people should get what they deserve,” which seems rather ominous at this point. She then goes on to say that she was drawn to this power of his and couldn’t stay away from him. He asks her to prove it which he does by making her kiss him. The little creature calls him a fool in the background, while Debbie considers this the last straw and leaves.
She tells him about the planet where they have eliminated evil and hypocrisy with the help of these creatures. They kill people in a humane manner. It is called humane death as the ones who die always volunteer. Raymond decides to reply to this as well by being rather lewd about it. He tells her that they could be having sex at the Ritz right now, but she is telling her story, which he doesn’t believe at all.
He asks her if he can ask the creature directly for the benefit of the audience. However, that isn’t possible as the creature doesn’t have a mind of its own. It just absorbs the personality of its last meal. He still believes her story to be fake, so he decides to take a chance. He tells her that he will let the creature eat him. if the creature eats him, then he is dead, and if not, then they spend the night at the Ritz.
Amanda seems to have a conscious and tells him to not do it. But Ray, of course, only has the Ritz on his mind. He does not heed any warnings and tells her that he insists. He volunteers for it. Since he insists, Amanda gives him another ominous smile and grabs the creature. There is tension in the background that is rather noticeable and creates an atmosphere of discomfort and dread. The creature continues to call him a fool as its teeth sink into Ray.
The next thing you know, we hear the same intro piece that Ray used to use for his talk show being spoken by another radio host, this time in Dallas. The host, Benjamin, asks to meet the creature. It rises up and immediately starts speaking in Raymond’s voice. It tells Benjamin to not listen to her. He tells him that she is the alien, she is the monster, and she is the one who is killing humanely and tricking people into volunteering to die. The episode ends at that, leaving you feeling not just the gruesomeness of the predicted plot but also the horrifying features of the creature.
For an 80s anthology, Monster is rather nicely made. It has great sound and visual effects, especially for those times, that play into the story very well. The character design is simply marvelous. The way the creature is created is horrifying and beautiful both at the same time. The entire episode focuses on men who don’t seem to care about consequences and find themselves in the wrong places, while an alien woman uses their advances as a way to advance towards her kill. It is a great way to find a fix for late-night creature feature horror cravings.