DEAD OF NIGHT {SECOND CHANCE; NO SUCH THING AS A VAMPIRE; BOBBY} (TV)
Summary
This suspenseful anthology is comprised of three different horror tales.
In the first tale, "Second Chance," Illinois college student Frank Cantrell buys a dilapidated vintage Jordan Playboy automobile – in which a reckless young couple was once killed by a train – and lovingly restores it to its original 1926 state "just for the fun of it." He goes for a drive on an old country road, feeling that it would be anachronistic to ride on a four-lane highway; when he spots several other "old" cars on the road alongside him, he is stunned to realize that he has somehow traveled back to 1926. As Frank explores the past, a man jumps into "his" car and drives off; though a young couple, the Dorsets, offer to assist him in reporting the theft to the police, Frank realizes that he cannot possibly offer proof of ownership with his 1970s driver's license. He also realizes that he will meet the much older Dorsets in several decades' time. He briefly considers going to meet his father as a child but decides not to "interfere" in the past. When he awakens in the morning, he find that he has been sent back to his own time.
Later, he begins dating a fellow student, Helen McCauley, and when he tells her grandfather about the "recent" theft of his beloved Jordan Playboy, Mr. McCauley reveals that he owns the very same kind of car. He offers to give it to Frank if Frank will restore it; when Mr. McCauley describes how he and his wife narrowly escaped death while driving dangerously one evening many years ago, Frank is stunned to realize that it is indeed the very same car and that he himself delayed the McCauleys by mere seconds when they "stole" the car from him, thus saving them from the train. The McCauleys, naturally, do not recall their momentary encounter with Frank, but Frank concludes that his actions gave the car, and the McCauleys themselves, a "second chance" at life and eventually ensured the birth of Helen, who later becomes his wife.
In the second story, "No Such Thing as a Vampire," a wealthy man, Dr. Gheria, tries to comfort his distraught wife Alexis, who seems to have been tormented by a vampire for many successive nights. The servants and local villagers are terrified by the rumors of the specter, and Dr. Gheria, determined to solve the mystery, summons his friend Michael, who agrees to help him keep watch and catch the creature in the act. As they stay up late into the night, Dr. Gheria admits that he, too, has been bitten in his sleep. Michael asks if Karel, the only remaining servant, could be the culprit, but Dr. Gheria explains that Karel is deeply frightened of vampires and killed one in the past. Michael soon passes out, apparently drugged, and Dr. Gheria drains some of Alexis' blood with a syringe and daubs it onto Michael's face, then drags him into a coffin in the attic. In the morning, Dr. Gheria frantically summons Karel, who soon finds the "vampire's" hidden lair. Dr. Gheria then goes to Alexis' bedside, revealing that he is aware of her secret affair with Michael; he smiles as he hears Karel fatally staking the "vampire" in the attic.
In the final story, "Bobby," a grief-stricken mother assures her husband John, who is away on a business trip, that she has finally made peace with their son's accidental drowning and will no longer be visiting "phony psychics." Later, however, Helen performs an elaborate magic ritual and calls upon Eurynomos, the spirit of the underworld, to return her son to her. Moments later, she is overjoyed when Bobby appears at the door, drenched and claiming that he has "remembered who he was" after being found on the beach by an unknown family. The mother is delighted by his apparently miraculous survival or resurrection, but Bobby soon turns sinister, asking odd questions about the house and wondering how he ended up in the water in the first place. He demands that his mother play hide-and-seek with him and begins tormenting her as he darts around the house, nearly killing her with a falling potted plant. Now frightened, Helen tries to tell John what has happened when he telephones her again, but she quickly realizes that it is another of Bobby's tricks. Bobby chases her around the house and into the garage with a variety of weapons; a desperate Helen finally shoots him, sending him falling out of a high window into the sea below. He soon reappears at the door, however, apparently unharmed; he claims that Bobby, having intentionally drowned himself to escape his mother, "sent him" – a demonic creature – in his place. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:12:59
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 133581
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, fantasy/science fiction; Time travel; Vampires; Infidelity; Magic powers
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 1977
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Robert Singer … Producer
- Dan Curtis … Director
- Richard Matheson … Writer
- Robert Cobert … Music by
- For "Second Chance":
- Jack Finney … Based on the story by
- Ed Begley Jr. … Cast, Frank Cantrell
- E.J. Andre … Cast, Mr. McCauley
- Ann Doran … Cast, Mrs. McCauley
- Christine Hart … Cast, Helen McCauley
- Jean LeVouvier … Cast, Mrs. Cantrell
- Dick McGarvin … Cast, Mr. Dorset
- Karen Hurley … Cast, Mrs. Dorset
- Orin Cannon … Cast, Old Farmer
- For "No Such Thing as a Vampire":
- Patrick MacNee … Cast, Dr. Gheria
- Anjanette Comer … Cast, Alexis
- Elisha Cook … Cast, Karel
- Horst Bucholz … Cast, Michael
- For "Bobby":
- Joan Hackett … Cast, Helen
- Lee H. Montgomery … Cast, Bobby