The Insane Monsters and Historical Horrors of ‘Frankenstein’s Army’

The summer of 2001 was a rather dry season for the horror genre, at least on the big screen. So, insatiable fans such as myself had to look elsewhere to satisfy their cravings; the straight-to-video sector was always a fun gamble, and the growing ubiquity of DVDs had led to the re-release of many classic and cult horrors. Yet during the summer in question, it was on television where I felt the most indulged. Hiding in plain sight on Fox’s schedule was the all but forgotten Night Visions, which has since become one of my favorite ever anthology series.

Night Visions was a fortuitous find that I never would have discovered had I not been channel-surfing. Usually my summers at home entailed catching up with favorite shows via reruns, or less often, giving one of these seasonal slot fillers a chance. Choosing the second option came with the certain risk of not seeing a summertime series again once the fall lineup commenced. Nevertheless, there was no resisting the immediate sting of George S. Clinton’s score when draped over Night Visions’ opening. That hypnotic sequence had me journeying toward my worst nightmare yet.

Fox’s mishandling of Night Visions is no secret; it was first reported that the premiere had been moved from the fall of 2000 to the following January, only for it to then be delayed again, this time until mid-summer. The network, which was going through internal changes, was now sitting on Night Visions after previously expressing hope. Once the show did come up for air, critics had mixed thoughts; Variety led the more favorable side by deeming the anthology “too good to get lost in the land of summer reruns.” Regardless, Fox buried the show with no chance of rescue.

Image: A preview of “The Occupant” at the start of Night Visions.

At the time, this callow viewer had no idea that Fox was burning off Night Visions. And come that September, it was gone, leaving several episodes unseen until Syfy (née the Sci-Fi Channel) acquired the series a year later. No more new episodes were produced, but at least the unaired ones had a chance to finally be seen. Anyone who missed that run of repeats would get another chance with Chiller, the now-defunct and horror-centric cable channel that resurrected both Night Visions and fellow Fox casualty FreakyLinks.

Joe Dante’s “The Occupant” is one of several Night Visions episodes that have stayed with me over the years; another must-see, I must mention, is the vengeful folk-horror offering “Bitter Harvest.” As for this one, it and the psychological haunter “Renovation” were both written by Night Visions creators and showrunners Dan Angel and Billy Brown. Together this pair explores dissociation as a way of self-preservation. In “Renovation,” Angel and Brown force Gil Bellows’ character to relive his childhood trauma in the most brutal way possible. To forget was his best means of survival. Meanwhile, “The Occupant” would appear to be a gentler approach to the same overarching theme, on the fact that its protagonist’s situation never amounts to violence, yet Angel and Brown, along with director Dante, still do lasting harm with this entry. Dare I say, more than the former episode.

Bridget Fonda’s character Mary Hughes is, as Night Visions host Henry Rollins says with chillingly terse delivery, “afraid to be alone” after her divorce. The following half of Rollins’ two-sentence horror story — “now she’s terrified that she isn’t” — has the sound of a classic setup. And for a good while, “The Occupant” follows the footsteps of similar tales about imperiled women. It fast approaches ordinary and meandering, then all of a sudden, the episode is flipped on its head, causing Mary’s initial panic to be reimagined. How the writers and director handle the aftermath of that twist in the tail, however, is why this episode sits so high in my ranking.

Image: Bridget Fonda’s “The Occupant” character shows a police officer the used plate sitting on her countertop.

In what was intended to be the pilot’s second story, before Fox requested a switch, “The Occupant” starts off on a familiar note; Mary is home alone at night when she suspects someone broke into her house. Her only proof, though, is the used plate sitting on her kitchen counter. Mary swears to the responding police officers that this plate was not there before she dozed off, but as to be expected, the two men are incredulous. You the viewer, on the other hand, are inclined to side with Mary, seeing as you saw what she saw — a small but explicit disturbance in her environment.

Before the episode shows its hand, Mary’s paranoia seems valid. She comes home from her brief night out, a lonely dinner consisting only of wine that she cannot even pay for, and realizes two items in her room have been moved or bothered. A dress originally hung up in the closet is now laid across a chair, and a tube of lipstick is uncapped. The episode was quick to show these items in their prior states so as to confirm Mary’s story and maintain your trust, yet when she overhears someone downstairs — the boiling of a tea kettle in the kitchen, and the TV is on — the episode presents an easily overlooked clue. Mary’s unwelcome guest is watching, of all things, House on Haunted Hill. The characters in that 1959 horror film are deceived and manipulated to the extent where they can no longer trust what they see or hear. The only question now is, are you or Mary the one being misled?

At first, “The Occupant” plays out like a transparent thriller where no one — from the disbelieving police to the apathetic ex-husband — believes the woman’s claims until it is all too late. There is even the inclusion of a faux-concerned male admirer and potential stalker (Dion Luther) to help validate that uninspired logline. And as the episode continues to unfold, there are scenes that come across as irrelevant to the story, including Mary trying to pawn a cherished piece of jewelry because, as made evident during her awkward dinner, she is flat broke. The question of how these events all relate to Mary’s more urgent problem is bound to come up. The answer is only revealed in the episode’s last couple of minutes, however, the clarity it provides is startling and well worth your patience.

Image: Bridget Fonda and Johannah Newmarch’s characters in “The Occupant” finally meet.

Given its straightforward and seemingly uncreative execution early on, the ending came as a real shock. In the last act, Mary assumes the position of the many stalked women in suspense stories everywhere; she hides and waits for help. Finally, what looks to be Mary’s assailant trying to get her turns out to be the complete opposite. After being coaxed out by the police, Mary comes face to face with her supposed home invader; there behind the cops stands another woman, Priscilla (Johannah Newmarch), who then says with dark confirmation: “I told you there was someone living in my house.”

“The Occupant” could be considered a more modern companion piece to another anthology story I favor, “The House” (1970) from Night Gallery. Both deal with women who, without their realizing it, are haunting houses or other women. In the case of Night Gallery, Joanna Pettet’s character is really haunting herself. “The House” was loosely adapted from an André Maurois short-short — the same source material may have inspired the so-called factual Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction segment “Dream House” (1997) — and finishes as a surreal mystery. As for this Night Visions episode, the outcome is grounded and conclusive, despite the minimal explanation at the end. You can deduce why and how Mary got to this point without any additional details.

Joe Dante’s previous outings in TV anthology, namely episodes of Amazing Stories and The Twilight Zone (1985), dealt largely in the uncanny (“The Shadow Man” and “Boo!”), whereas “The Occupant” — along with his other Night Visions contribution of “Quiet Please” — toys with reality and perception. The directorial restraint Dante applies here feels out of character for him yet totally appropriate for this type of story. He does, however, show signs of poetic flair as Fonda’s character retreats not only into her bedroom closet but also her delusion. As the hiding Mary quakes in terror, the light peering through the slits of the louvered closet door hits her face, attempting to chase away darknesses both actual and symbolic. That final plea to wake Mary up from her troubled perspective is, ultimately, ineffective. Dante expresses the dismay of said result by returning Mary to the darkness, this time in the backseat of a police car.

Image: Joanna Pettet’s character in Night Gallery’s “The House.”

Back in an interview from 2000, Dante brought up Night Visions as a recent project of his; he mentioned the inevitable paring down of his work. “It’s hard to tell a story in 20 minutes, a decent story that has characters and suspense and room for all those moments you want,” he said with a note of concern. What Dante submitted was condensed for time, but as an observation from someone who enjoys their scares in segments, the average anthology tale tends to perform better as a nebulous, get-in-get-out experience.

This episode’s longevity stems from the coda, although not because it is astonishingly clever or unique. No, the revelation of Mary inhabiting her former home, out of a subconscious desire to deny her unfortunate reality, is upsetting. That alarm resonates more as Priscilla, the current occupant of the house, watches the sad and delusional Mary being taken away; there is a look on her face that does not quite register as one of fright or even disgust. On the contrary, there is an unsettling sense of recognition in the women’s eye contact. Reinforcing that reflectiveness is how the police treated Priscilla — a comparatively more put-together woman — no differently than the less reliable Mary. Without a doubt, there is also the fear that, one day, Priscilla could find herself in a similar position as Mary. Yes, indeed, “The Occupant” takes the social cautionary tale to a whole other level by demonstrating how anyone is just a few wrong turns away from their snapping point.

The beauty of anthologies like Night Visions is the variety to the stories. Everything shown in these 26 episodes falls under the umbrella of horror, albeit some more than others. From a whole town scared into submission by a music-hating entity, to a ship’s cargo being chock full of cannibals, the series was typically straightforward with its depictions of horror. Then there were those other times where the show’s psychological assortment felt the most ruinous. Such is the case with “The Occupant,” one particular tale I have been dwelling on more and more in my adult years.

Night Visions is now streaming on Plex.