This episode creeped me out especially the scenes where that strange electrical mass would move around making this scary sort of noise or sound. The opening scene where the nighttime cleaning woman is trying to get this unusual large dust ball into the vacuum cleaner always made me afraid of using a vacuum cleaner for awhile after viewing it. Once again the tremendous special effects for that time period especially with the low budget this series had to work with was quite impressive and certainly set the atmosphere for this unusual and frightening story. This episode featured Scott Marlowe who appeared in several of the Outer Limits episodes as a man who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his scientist brother who was electrocuted in a bathtub but brought back to life to work for this strange organization led by the fine character actor Kent Smith who also appeared in the Outer Limits episode entitled "The Children of Spider County". Also in this episode was a young Ed Asner who played the detective investigating this strange power plant. Of course Asner wasn't well known at this time but would go on to great fame as the character Lou Grant in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Another strong entry from the amazing first season of this unique science fiction series!
23 Reviews
An early performance from a future Emmy-winning legend
garrard16 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
From a show known for its unique "monsters," breathtaking cinematography, superb writing, and talented actors comes a tale of a "malevolent" and highly energized ball of dust, given "life" from a cleaning woman's vacuum cleaner. Though it's never explained how it happened, the show is one of the best of the first season.
Michael Forrest plays Stuart Peters, a scientist hired at Norco, a company that experiments with energy and its forces. Traveling with him is his younger brother Jory, the doctor unfortunately is killed then "resurrected" to do the bidding of the company's head, Dr. Block, played with sinister relish by Kent Smith.
Ed Asner plays "Detective Siroleo" who goes to Norco to investigate the untimely death of Dr. Peters. While there, Siroleo converses with with Professor Linden (Joan Camden), another of Block's minion.
The exchange of dialog between the detective and the female scientist is priceless and both actors delve into their respective roles with much skill.
It's no wonder that Asner appeared in almost every major television of the 60's, leading to his triumphs as "Lou Grant" on both "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and his own spin off.
The beautiful and exotic Barbara Luna is also on hand as the new girl in Jory's life.
Michael Forrest plays Stuart Peters, a scientist hired at Norco, a company that experiments with energy and its forces. Traveling with him is his younger brother Jory, the doctor unfortunately is killed then "resurrected" to do the bidding of the company's head, Dr. Block, played with sinister relish by Kent Smith.
Ed Asner plays "Detective Siroleo" who goes to Norco to investigate the untimely death of Dr. Peters. While there, Siroleo converses with with Professor Linden (Joan Camden), another of Block's minion.
The exchange of dialog between the detective and the female scientist is priceless and both actors delve into their respective roles with much skill.
It's no wonder that Asner appeared in almost every major television of the 60's, leading to his triumphs as "Lou Grant" on both "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and his own spin off.
The beautiful and exotic Barbara Luna is also on hand as the new girl in Jory's life.
It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
Scarecrow-8823 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The plot for "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" is quite a doozy: what seems like an ordinary pile of dust particles is vacuumed up (not without a fight) by a maid, but this seemingly ordinary act produces an extraordinary result when a superpowerful energy force is given birth. Explained in this plot is that the conservation of energy law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but perhaps controlled. What if the energy that "crawled out of the woodwork" could be used as a weapon? The energy life form was discovered at an energy research center and those who work under the employ of physicist Professor Dr. Bloch (Kent Smith, quite malevolent here) seem to be harboring a secret, with the wear of this mystery wearing dutifully on their faces, in their demeanor. When a young physicist, Professor Stuart Peters (Michael Forest), answers a job offer from the energy research center, his twenty-year old brother, Jory (Scott Marlowe) tags along. For some reason all the employees at the research center wear these odd little electrical boxes on their chest and when a horrifying experience happens to Stuart, Jory will be looking for answers, as will be a detective, Sgt Thomas Siroleo (Ed Asner), investigating a mysterious death. When it turns out the box keeps the heart beating, Siroleo will be looking at the research center and Bloch for answers. One employee, a physicist named Professor Stephanie Linden (Joan Camden), who supposedly worked in concert with Stuart over a "missing week" (Jory was looking for his brother and the center gave him bogus information about Stu "working up north"), might just be the one Siroleo needs in order to explain the death he's investigating. The storyline also has a minor subplot involving Jory and an actress he dates named Gaby (the curvy Barbara Luna), but it seems to be more or less a way to pad out the running time that never quite produces any interesting developments that adds substance to "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", other than a tortured brother wanting to know what happened to his brother (and that Jory has never been totally alone, Stu his "babysitter" through life since the loss of their parents). The energy creature of this tale is quite a menace, a mass of cloudy energy that terrifies its victims: this fiend absorbs energy and is quite the killing machine. The scenes where people are trapped in a long hall that leads to the room that stores the energy creature are quite unsettling. One victim, frozen in a state of total fright, is also quite a disturbing image. Good work by Asner and especially Smith here. The episode leaves a rather creepy thought: maybe you can keep this thing locked up now, but how long before another curious scientist decides to study it and perhaps use it for nefarious purposes? Or, even more disconcerting, what if it is released by accident on a public not prepared for it?
Dust Bunnies Unite
Hitchcoc6 January 2015
A creature of sheer energy is released by a poor cleaning lady at a facility called Norco. The people who run the place have a kind of pacemaker attached to their chests, allowing them to continue living. A young scientist goes to work and is soon dispatched because he has become privy to the evil doings of the people there. A guard tries to warn him off and he makes the mistake of telling the head of research. Meanwhile, his brother, who is supposedly twenty years old (he looks thirty-five) becomes embroiled in the mystery of his brother's death (there's even more I won't tell you). Ed Asner (looking younger than I've ever seen him) is a police detective who, after the brother's death, begins snooping around. An attractive young female scientist is mixed up in all this, but we don't know why. Asner confronts her and that leads to the ultimate resolution. As is the case with this series, they were very good at producing cloudy monstrosities that overwhelm their victims. This is a decent episode and worth a look.
Bull's Eye
telegonus28 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Contrary to most who've reviewed It Crawled Out the Woodwork I find this Outer Limits episode not so much creepy as sad. The theme, something to do with the indestructibility of energy, how it needs to he controlled, the consequences of our inability to cope with energy (one may as well call it power), which are as often as not tragic. There are a lot of deaths in this one, and each one is memorable, painful, often horrifying. A character who, fairly early on, seems like he's going to be the hero of the show, is killed off, and it's up to his much younger, wet behind the ears brother to cope with the consequences, carry on without a role model, help solve the mystery of his big brother's death.
Joseph Stefano's writing, as was generally the case when he wrote for this series, emphasizes the psychological over the scientific aspects of his story. There are strong feelings of isolation throughout the episode, as not only are the two brothers somewhat isolated, having just driven west to California from New York, they were orphaned at a young age. The guards at Norco, the research institute the older brother was hired to work for, seem lonely and isolated from their employer, and from other human beings as well, while those who work inside Norco are not a happy bunch, and at least one of them is forced to become a murderer by her diabolical boss, who also happens to be the top man at the institute.
Gerd Oswald's direction is, as usual when he worked on this show, excellent, often suggestive of European art films of the period. He, or Conrad Hall, his director of photography, use a wide angle camera lens most impressively, as it's nearly impossible for the viewer to not in some crucial scenes, feel drawn into the episode, visually and emotionally. As to the it of the title, this is the pure energy that a cleaning woman inadvertently draws into her vacuum cleaner one night, which, when released, cannot be controlled, at least not by conventional means. The closing narration struck a sour note with me, as is stated what was obvious in the episode itself, which was otherwise outstanding, and for this viewer more provocative emotionally than intellectually. Otherwise, the show was yet another bull's eye for Owald, Stefano and Hall and the entire The Outer Limits team who worked on it.
Joseph Stefano's writing, as was generally the case when he wrote for this series, emphasizes the psychological over the scientific aspects of his story. There are strong feelings of isolation throughout the episode, as not only are the two brothers somewhat isolated, having just driven west to California from New York, they were orphaned at a young age. The guards at Norco, the research institute the older brother was hired to work for, seem lonely and isolated from their employer, and from other human beings as well, while those who work inside Norco are not a happy bunch, and at least one of them is forced to become a murderer by her diabolical boss, who also happens to be the top man at the institute.
Gerd Oswald's direction is, as usual when he worked on this show, excellent, often suggestive of European art films of the period. He, or Conrad Hall, his director of photography, use a wide angle camera lens most impressively, as it's nearly impossible for the viewer to not in some crucial scenes, feel drawn into the episode, visually and emotionally. As to the it of the title, this is the pure energy that a cleaning woman inadvertently draws into her vacuum cleaner one night, which, when released, cannot be controlled, at least not by conventional means. The closing narration struck a sour note with me, as is stated what was obvious in the episode itself, which was otherwise outstanding, and for this viewer more provocative emotionally than intellectually. Otherwise, the show was yet another bull's eye for Owald, Stefano and Hall and the entire The Outer Limits team who worked on it.
The Law of Conservation of Energy
claudio_carvalho24 February 2018
Prof. Stuart Peters is hired by NORCO physics research center and his younger brother Jory Peters drives him to California in his car. They receive a strange note from the security guard warning them that the place is doomed. On the next morning, Stuart has a short interview with Dr. Bloch that takes him to Prof. Stephanie Linden´s laboratory since they will work together. Stephanie closes Stuart in a corridor and releases an energy-being; Stuart has a heart attack and dies. Meanwhile Jory lodges in a nearby hotel and feels worried with the disappearance of Stuart. Out of the blue, Stuart returns with a pacemaker but he accidentally slips and fall into a bathtub being electrocuted by the device. Detective Sgt. Thomas Siroleo is in charge of the investigation but in accordance with the autopsy, there is something strange in the death of Stuart. Now he will investigate the mystery.
"It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" is a reasonable episode of "The Outer Limits", with the storyline of an energy monster accidentally created in a power plant and the insanity of its creator. Unfortunately the intriguing storyline is wasted by a confused screenplay. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Ele Veio das Profundezas do Inferno" ("It Has Come from the Depth of Hell")
"It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" is a reasonable episode of "The Outer Limits", with the storyline of an energy monster accidentally created in a power plant and the insanity of its creator. Unfortunately the intriguing storyline is wasted by a confused screenplay. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Ele Veio das Profundezas do Inferno" ("It Has Come from the Depth of Hell")
Another Masterpiece from Gerd Oswald and Conrad Hall
sheenarocks20 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
One of the penultimate Outer Limits episodes. Frightening as a child but even more frightening as an adult, when one truly understands the underlying theme of this episode: Energy can never be created or destroyed; the consequences of one's actions live on forever. As with most, if not all, of the Outer Limits' episodes, there is the "monster" for the 10-year-olds with a story that they can follow but also with the real, adult story line that everyone involved with the show is trying to convey.
Basically, some sort of entity crawls out of the woodwork and is sucked up by a custodian in a rather black comedic moment (in light of what follows), as the frustrated lady attempts to vacuum up the reluctant apparent dust mouse in the corner which, of course, is not your ordinary dust mouse but some malevolent force which is then unleashed upon the Norco testing facility via the cleaning lady's vacuum cleaner. A funny intro indeed and much better than the Outer Limits' habit of introducing their shows with a teaser shot of the upcoming monster, thus destroying much of the tension of the episode.
Gerd Oswald (Director) and Conrad Hall (Cinematographer) provide an incredible film noir atmosphere with the unusual tilted camera angles and the scenes which are most often half dark with everyone but the main character in silhouette only, except for an occasional effective whiff of cigarette smoke. The episodes that these 2 gentlemen guided were indeed the best of the Outer Limits, one of the best shows ever made for television.
Basically, some sort of entity crawls out of the woodwork and is sucked up by a custodian in a rather black comedic moment (in light of what follows), as the frustrated lady attempts to vacuum up the reluctant apparent dust mouse in the corner which, of course, is not your ordinary dust mouse but some malevolent force which is then unleashed upon the Norco testing facility via the cleaning lady's vacuum cleaner. A funny intro indeed and much better than the Outer Limits' habit of introducing their shows with a teaser shot of the upcoming monster, thus destroying much of the tension of the episode.
Gerd Oswald (Director) and Conrad Hall (Cinematographer) provide an incredible film noir atmosphere with the unusual tilted camera angles and the scenes which are most often half dark with everyone but the main character in silhouette only, except for an occasional effective whiff of cigarette smoke. The episodes that these 2 gentlemen guided were indeed the best of the Outer Limits, one of the best shows ever made for television.
Best quote from Outer Limits series
terrymsweeney24 June 2022
Brilliant, and absolutely terrifying to a two year old!
johnkmohan16 February 2017
I was two years old when this episode originally aired in 1963 - and I was allowed to watch it. To this day, when I exit our basement I leave the light down there on until after shutting and locking the upstairs basement door (the switch for the light is upstairs) so that the "Energy Monster" is attracted to the light bulb and doesn't come upstairs with me. LOL This fact demonstrates both the power (pardon the pun) of this particular episode, and also, how much a two year old can understand (admittedly a very smart two year old). And yes, this also demonstrates how strongly a scary program can effect a little kid.
Note that I fully realize that the Energy Monster is not real (I sure hope it can't read!).
Note that I fully realize that the Energy Monster is not real (I sure hope it can't read!).
An unknown creature of utter energy of a dust shape !!!
elo-equipamentos29 October 2019
Weird episode over two brothers who goes to California to works at Norco, a center of studies and research of experimental physics, the old brother Dr. Stuart was hire, however he was induced to enter in a narrow passageway that ends up in a pit, two doors control the access, suddenly the last door opens and release an unknown creature of utter energy of a dust shape, he died of fear, it was appeared on the lab out from nowhere, therefore the director Dr. Bloch got to rise again with a special cardiac peacemaker, but no longer as a usual human being, the young brother Jory Peters received a sudden visit of the disappeared, after a little chat on the bathroom he feels that his brother is too shallow and odd, Dr. Stuart fell down in bathtub, in contact with water he receives an electric discharge from the peacemaker and going to die, aftermath on the lab the Seargent Siroleo has been making his regular inquire, then Jory appears later, together they can solve the murders and what's really was the unrestrained creature!!!
Resume:
First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7
Resume:
First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7
Still Another Terrific Episode From A Landmark Series
ferbs5426 April 2017
Well, we had a pouring night here in NYC yesterday...the perfect weather for taking in yet another ubercreepy episode of "The Outer Limits." The episode for me last night was No. 11 in the series, "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork." I had not seen this episode in a good many years and only recalled a few spotty scenes from it; never a good sign, going forward. And now, for the life of me, I don't know why I had such a poor recollection of it, as this turns out to be still another dynamite episode from this landmark series. This ep was created by perhaps my favorite triumvirate of "OL" talent: It was scripted by series producer Joseph Stefano, directed by Gerd Oswald, and featured ever-impressive, moody, noirish cinematography by the great Conrad Hall. These three would go on to work together on three more excellent "OL" outings, namely "The Mice," "The Invisibles" and "The Forms of Things Unknown," those latter two being in my personal Top 5 "OL" episodes. Anyway, this episode concerns the strange happenings that have been transpiring at the NORCO research lab in California. After a night-shift cleaning lady vacuums up a strange dust ball, the darn thing is somehow transformed into a ravening energy monster, similar in appearance but swifter- and jerkier-moving than the one that had appeared in episode No. 4, "The Man With the Power." It is a tremendous special effect, actually. Later, when a rising physicist, Stuart Peters (played by future "Star Trek" alumnus Michael Forest), starts his new job at NORCO, he is trapped in a corridor with the energy monster and is scared to death. The head of the facility (Kent Smith, who had starred in one of my favorite films of the '40s, "The Spiral Staircase," here sporting a superthick European accent) brings him back to life by dint of some revolutionary pacemaker device (as he has apparently done with numerous other NORCO employees), although Peters later dies again when his brother accidentally propels him into a water-filled bathtub. That brother, Jory, played by Scott Marlowe, becomes suspicious, and with his new galpal Gaby (another future "Star Trek" alumnus, the yummy Barbara Luna, who now, pretentiously, spells her name BarBara), starts to snoop around. A police officer, Sergeant Siroleo (very well portrayed by Ed Asner...it really IS a top-notch cast in this one!) goes to NORCO also to do some investigating, leading to all sorts of mishegas, as the energy monster is released from its confining Pit. This episode showcases some very impressive acting by all concerned and another highly literate Stefano script, although the Luna character is a bit undeveloped (scriptwise, not physiquewise, of course). The scene between the two brothers in the bathroom is particularly well played, and the actors who come up against the energy monster (including film noir character actor Ted De Corsia) all manage to look convincingly scared out of their wits. The episode features one tremendous moment guaranteed to make anyone jump; the one in which Jory speaks of his brother's "nice smile," and we jump cut to a close-up of Stuart's death grimace, as he lies on the floor at NORCO. Asner is given my favorite line of this particular episode, when he discusses Stuart's autopsy, and remarks "If he'd been in any better health they'd have given him a morning show on television." Funny! Unusual for Season 1, this episode features no teaser going in; we cut straight to that cleaning woman in the NORCO lab. I've always liked the mini teaser that "TOL" gave us at the outset, as when the actual scene crops up later in the show, it usually feels like the return of a recurring nightmare; like a bad deja vu. Anyway, the bottom line is that this is still another terrific episode, as Season 1 continued to blow the minds of its 1963 audience.
"I think something malevolent is going on here."
classicsoncall28 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Looking back on these early shows from the Sixties like "The Twilight Zone", "Star Trek" and "The Outer Limits", one gets an idea how primitive the sets and special effects were. The energy creature appearing here, if that's what you can call it, is nothing more than a luminous type of cloud hovering around just long enough to attack its victims and render them incapacitated with a heart attack. Sort of the same idea was used in the series first episode, 'The Galaxy Being'. Although the concept behind this story was that matter couldn't be created or destroyed, the writers came up with the premise that in this one particular case, a form of energy WAS created miraculously somehow, and that a mad scientist would go to any lengths to protect it so that it could be studied and controlled. Watching this episode, one might question the use of an external pacemaker outside the body, but lo and behold, that's what the very first ones were all about! Reading their history is pretty fascinating. The one in this story looked a lot like the first transistor radio I ever owned back in the mid-Fifties, and the early pacemakers did indeed use transistorized technology. Pretty wild! In any event, the out of control energy being that crawled out of the woodwork is finally contained by shutting down all electrical power in the immediate area and lured back into its only source of energy in the lab of the Norco Research Commission. On its face, I don't think the writers were able to convince anyone that the energy creature came out of nowhere, but just positing the idea made for an interesting story.
Dust Energy
AaronCapenBanner11 March 2016
Michael Forest and Scott Marlowe stars as two brothers named Stuart and Jory Peters who have traveled to a mysterious experimental power station named Norco that Stuart has a new job at. Unfortunately, the station, which is run by a sinister man named Dr. Bloch(played by Kent Smith), has been taken over by a mysterious energy being created out of dust(!) When Stuart first goes missing, then later returns home with a new pacemaker found in his body, a police detective(played by Edward Asner) investigates the case where it seems the Norco staff are not what they claim... Strange episode is far too vague and talky to succeed, with some quite silly elements, though some atmosphere. A real curio.
Yet Another Energy Being
StuOz27 June 2014
Yet another energy being creates death and terror.
This series was beginning to repeat itself in plots and the lead actor (Scott Marlowe) is now way too associated with another Limits episode (The Forms Of Things Unknown) where he played a much more memorable/colourful character: "Andre".
I am so glad that shows like The Outer Limits and QM's The Invaders had a massive parade of guest stars each week, it gave the shows variety in faces on the screen, the only negative side to that is that both shows often demanded each guest star come back for a second or third episode playing a totally different character in the same series. Not a big issue but in the case of "Woodwork" this got on my nerves.
"Woodwork" might not be a favourite but it is still good entertainment.
This series was beginning to repeat itself in plots and the lead actor (Scott Marlowe) is now way too associated with another Limits episode (The Forms Of Things Unknown) where he played a much more memorable/colourful character: "Andre".
I am so glad that shows like The Outer Limits and QM's The Invaders had a massive parade of guest stars each week, it gave the shows variety in faces on the screen, the only negative side to that is that both shows often demanded each guest star come back for a second or third episode playing a totally different character in the same series. Not a big issue but in the case of "Woodwork" this got on my nerves.
"Woodwork" might not be a favourite but it is still good entertainment.
Decent value in three parts. Also, Star Trek connections
skinnybert16 December 2023
Ed Asner is right; it is a terrible script, not helped by Scott Marlowe chewing scenery in a role he was far too old to do. All of the "scientists" are deadly dull, the monster is poorly animated, and the first half is plagued by the slow-pacing-and-overly-dramatic-music so typical of Outer Limits. Joan Camden must have been bored out of her mind.
But now for the good news: the director makes interesting use of shadows and lighting, and the pacing picks up as the story progresses. While Michael Forrest's naturalism warms the first third, the mid-show picks up with Barbara Luna's energy -- sadly wasted, as the script basically runs out of things for her to do. But the final third is enlivened by Ed Asner, who holds our attention despite the so-so scripting. Acknowledgement must also be made for Ted de Corsia's security guard, who is equally convincing in his small role.
Star Trek connections aplenty, with Michael Forrest and Barbara Luna on screen, Vic Perrin as voice-over Fred Phillips doing make-up, and Gerd Oswald directing (noticeably similar to his work on TOS "The Conscience of the King")
But now for the good news: the director makes interesting use of shadows and lighting, and the pacing picks up as the story progresses. While Michael Forrest's naturalism warms the first third, the mid-show picks up with Barbara Luna's energy -- sadly wasted, as the script basically runs out of things for her to do. But the final third is enlivened by Ed Asner, who holds our attention despite the so-so scripting. Acknowledgement must also be made for Ted de Corsia's security guard, who is equally convincing in his small role.
Star Trek connections aplenty, with Michael Forrest and Barbara Luna on screen, Vic Perrin as voice-over Fred Phillips doing make-up, and Gerd Oswald directing (noticeably similar to his work on TOS "The Conscience of the King")
Its weird and paranoid plot make this more watchable.
planktonrules6 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
One of the biggest shortcomings of "The Outer Limits" was that too many episodes they made were about energy--very high energy that is threatening mankind. This is a topic that MIGHT have worked in a couple episodes, but I've already seen four! Among the better is "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork"--mostly because I loved the very paranoid aspects of the show.
Professor Peters (Michael Forrest) has moved across the country with his brother to begin working for a project having to do with power. However, the Professor does not know that the man who runs the place (Kent Smith) is certifiably insane and has managed to turn his employees into zombie-like beings to further his research into a form of life that is pure energy!! When he is killed, his brother (Scott Marlow) decides to investigate along with a policeman (Ed Asner). It turns out to be far darker and weirder than they'd ever imagined!! As I said, the writing of this one manages to make it very watchable and cool. Worth seeing and very original.
Professor Peters (Michael Forrest) has moved across the country with his brother to begin working for a project having to do with power. However, the Professor does not know that the man who runs the place (Kent Smith) is certifiably insane and has managed to turn his employees into zombie-like beings to further his research into a form of life that is pure energy!! When he is killed, his brother (Scott Marlow) decides to investigate along with a policeman (Ed Asner). It turns out to be far darker and weirder than they'd ever imagined!! As I said, the writing of this one manages to make it very watchable and cool. Worth seeing and very original.
What the fluff.
Sleepin_Dragon19 April 2023
A cleaner at a research Centre hoovers up a piece of dust, which for no fathomable reason transforms into a mindless, shapeless killing machine, rather than destroy it, The Director at The Centre uses it for his own purposes.
Some episodes are bizarre, this one is downright zany, but you have got to hand it to writer Joseph Stefano, he absolutely nailed it, to take something so inconsequential as a dust ball and turns it into such a destructive force, that took some doing.
This is definitely one of my favourites, I loved the many thoughts about energy, some very interesting ideas about how destructive a force it can be, and one that must be endured.
Expect lots of pyrotechnics and the appropriate special effects for the time, with a limited budget they made it look pretty good.
I thought Ed Asner was terrific as Sergeant Siroleo, a prolific, talented, much missed actor, someone I always picture as a villain, but he played the part of the straight talking cop very well.
One of the best, 9/10.
Some episodes are bizarre, this one is downright zany, but you have got to hand it to writer Joseph Stefano, he absolutely nailed it, to take something so inconsequential as a dust ball and turns it into such a destructive force, that took some doing.
This is definitely one of my favourites, I loved the many thoughts about energy, some very interesting ideas about how destructive a force it can be, and one that must be endured.
Expect lots of pyrotechnics and the appropriate special effects for the time, with a limited budget they made it look pretty good.
I thought Ed Asner was terrific as Sergeant Siroleo, a prolific, talented, much missed actor, someone I always picture as a villain, but he played the part of the straight talking cop very well.
One of the best, 9/10.
Clueless Maid's Vacuum Cleaner Transforms Dust Bunny to Electrical Monster
barry-woods21 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This is actually one of my favorite outer Limits. It's monster is more cerebral in nature, and scarier, than the molded rubber monsters of some of the other episodes. It scared the bejeebers out of me when I was a small child.
Well acted with a lot of character development. A young Ed Asner does a great portrayal of a detective who almost loses his life to the energy absorbing menace.
The mood of this episode is somber and dark from beginning to end. Very well done. Some holes in the plot. For example, a scientist at the Government Lab is able to surgically bring the dead back to life. This is treated as if's no big deal. Instead of working at the lab he should have patented his life restoring prodedure and become a multi-millionaire.
Well acted with a lot of character development. A young Ed Asner does a great portrayal of a detective who almost loses his life to the energy absorbing menace.
The mood of this episode is somber and dark from beginning to end. Very well done. Some holes in the plot. For example, a scientist at the Government Lab is able to surgically bring the dead back to life. This is treated as if's no big deal. Instead of working at the lab he should have patented his life restoring prodedure and become a multi-millionaire.
The Scariest One Of All
joesoundman18 January 2021
I was 8 when this show aired. All of us kids in the neighborhood were nearly traumatized by it every week yet couldn't not watch it. Yet nothing but nothing terrorized me more than the truly alien "life form" of this episode. As frightening as the Zanti Misfits were, this is the only thing from my entire childhood besides Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West that actually gave me nightmares. Superbly imaginative rendering of a thing as truly alien and terrorizing as could be. The film noir and desolate presentation is reminiscent of Carpenter's "The Thing".
It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
Prismark1029 April 2023
It emerged from a vacuum cleaner, a story you cannot hoover up quickly enough.
A mindless energy being is loose in a physics research centre. Professor Stuart Peters is hired to work here by Dr Block. Stuart arrived with his brother Jory Peters.
However they know something is amiss when they receive a note from the security guard. It warns them that the place is doomed. The next day Stuart is killed by the grotesque energy being but it looks like a heart attack.
His brother Jory is worried when Stuart does not show up, but later he reappears with a pacemaker. Only to be later electrocuted as Stuart fell into a bathtub.
Jory finds that Dr Block can somehow control this energy being and wants to find out what it is capable of.
A unfocussed story which resonates with the dawn of the nuclear age. A staple story of The Outer Limits, the energy being might as well be a metaphor for nuclear energy.
A mindless energy being is loose in a physics research centre. Professor Stuart Peters is hired to work here by Dr Block. Stuart arrived with his brother Jory Peters.
However they know something is amiss when they receive a note from the security guard. It warns them that the place is doomed. The next day Stuart is killed by the grotesque energy being but it looks like a heart attack.
His brother Jory is worried when Stuart does not show up, but later he reappears with a pacemaker. Only to be later electrocuted as Stuart fell into a bathtub.
Jory finds that Dr Block can somehow control this energy being and wants to find out what it is capable of.
A unfocussed story which resonates with the dawn of the nuclear age. A staple story of The Outer Limits, the energy being might as well be a metaphor for nuclear energy.
The MOST TERRIFYING Monster in TV History?
profh-130 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Just watched IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK. I first saw this in the 70's, and it was one of those that just scared the hell out of me!
"What IS that thing???"
This was the first time in awhile that they had a pre-credit sequence that led into the story, instead of a "preview". There wasn't really much mystery here... just mounting suspense. With the current economy, can you imagine people worrying that their next job might be something like the one the scientist took in this story? Where one of his fellow workers just cold-bloodedly stands by and watches him get KILLED?
Watching this as a rerun many years later, the whole story really picked up for me when Edward Asner arrived on the scene, playing a character much more likable and admirable than "Lou Grant". After seeing several people die of fright or get disintegrated by the monster, the tension just builds and builds when he visits the NORDCO center. And when he walks into the corridor... I swear, for years after this story, anytime I found myself walking down a long, skinny hallway, I'd think of this and start to worry.
During the "big reveal" when Kent Smith (I'd seen him in a bit part in the movie THE NIGHT STALKER) talks about the thing, I realized I was looking at PURE EVIL. To think he DELIBERATELY caused the deaths of all his fellow workers, so he could control them, just so he could control IT... AAUUGH! I found myself yelling at the screen, "KILL the son of a bitch!! KILL him!!!" Even getting shot didn't do it... his pet monster did it for him.
The finale of the story felt a bit odd, as the "villain" of the story had effectively been disposed of, but you still had the monster to deal with. It's kind of a surprise that it winds up getting contained, without too much more damage being done, but then you're left with the horror that it CAN'T be destroyed, only controlled-- and it MUST be kept under control, or else (as Vic Perrin states so effectively). I didn't even realize 'til I checked online that Joe Stefano wrote this one... I somehow missed the credits at the beginning, but with the terror over-riding everything, it figures.
I looked up some of the actors in this... Michael Parks, the scientist brother, played "Apollo" in STAR TREK's "Who Mourns For Adonais" (my friend Jim's least-favorite ST ep.), while gorgeous and sexy Barbara Luna played Marlena Moreau in "Mirror Mirror". The younger brother (who looked a LOT older than 20, if you ask me), Scott Marlowe, came back as the villain in the season finale, "The Forms of Things Unknown". According to the IMDb, it looks like Michael Parks focused on a career as a voice artist, dubbing Japanese cartoons, from the 70's up to this day!
Strangely... right after the Vic Perrin's summation, SOMEONE ELSE's voice is heard reading the standard "We now return control of your television set to you" bit. WHAT th'...???
"What IS that thing???"
This was the first time in awhile that they had a pre-credit sequence that led into the story, instead of a "preview". There wasn't really much mystery here... just mounting suspense. With the current economy, can you imagine people worrying that their next job might be something like the one the scientist took in this story? Where one of his fellow workers just cold-bloodedly stands by and watches him get KILLED?
Watching this as a rerun many years later, the whole story really picked up for me when Edward Asner arrived on the scene, playing a character much more likable and admirable than "Lou Grant". After seeing several people die of fright or get disintegrated by the monster, the tension just builds and builds when he visits the NORDCO center. And when he walks into the corridor... I swear, for years after this story, anytime I found myself walking down a long, skinny hallway, I'd think of this and start to worry.
During the "big reveal" when Kent Smith (I'd seen him in a bit part in the movie THE NIGHT STALKER) talks about the thing, I realized I was looking at PURE EVIL. To think he DELIBERATELY caused the deaths of all his fellow workers, so he could control them, just so he could control IT... AAUUGH! I found myself yelling at the screen, "KILL the son of a bitch!! KILL him!!!" Even getting shot didn't do it... his pet monster did it for him.
The finale of the story felt a bit odd, as the "villain" of the story had effectively been disposed of, but you still had the monster to deal with. It's kind of a surprise that it winds up getting contained, without too much more damage being done, but then you're left with the horror that it CAN'T be destroyed, only controlled-- and it MUST be kept under control, or else (as Vic Perrin states so effectively). I didn't even realize 'til I checked online that Joe Stefano wrote this one... I somehow missed the credits at the beginning, but with the terror over-riding everything, it figures.
I looked up some of the actors in this... Michael Parks, the scientist brother, played "Apollo" in STAR TREK's "Who Mourns For Adonais" (my friend Jim's least-favorite ST ep.), while gorgeous and sexy Barbara Luna played Marlena Moreau in "Mirror Mirror". The younger brother (who looked a LOT older than 20, if you ask me), Scott Marlowe, came back as the villain in the season finale, "The Forms of Things Unknown". According to the IMDb, it looks like Michael Parks focused on a career as a voice artist, dubbing Japanese cartoons, from the 70's up to this day!
Strangely... right after the Vic Perrin's summation, SOMEONE ELSE's voice is heard reading the standard "We now return control of your television set to you" bit. WHAT th'...???
Rating based on entire series
billbadford27 April 2019
One of the better episodes from the original Outer Limits, although uneven. The first half is solid with perfect pacing and character development, while the second half drags a bit while leading to the monster finale.
Thick main characters struggle to make sense of a messy script.
fedor810 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Yet another hopeless 50s/60s writer who makes the mistake of allowing the audience to always be a step ahead of the protagonists. Instead of keeping things mysterious, we are immediately informed that NORCO are murderers which makes things far more predictable henceforth, and of course less interesting. The only thing left for us is to wait for the protagonists and the cops to put 2 and 2 together which predictably takes too long, not least of all because the scientists's brother is such a moron. It is blatantly obvious after the guard's warning and NORCO lying to the brother that NORCO must be behind the surgery, yet this cretin can't seem to figure out anything. Waiting for knuckleheads to put 2 and 2 together is indeed a very stupid approach to storytelling.
Then there's more senseless padding during the cop's mostly boring investigation. We already know who the guilty party is, so half the episode is us impatiently waiting for the cop to finally discover what we already know so that the plot can finally move on beyond being a mere murder investigation mystery - which SHOULD NOT be the point of a series such as TOL.
About this NORCO boss... What the hell was his plan? To keep killing people and/or turning them into his undead slaves until inevitably the jig was up?! Such a dumb strategy, very obviously doomed to fail eventually. The fact that NORCO's boss speaks like Bela Lugosi (the actor playing him is American) only makes things cheesier. He literally does an imitation of Lugosi in the grand finale. This actor was already unconvincing in another TOL episode; he's just bad.
The experiment itself makes no sense either. NORCO discovered some kind of energy monster which they keep locked up in a room and occasionally release so it can... kill people so the mad scientist can implant pacemakers on them, so he can control them... which will achieve... what exactly? The explanation given is totally vague and unsatisfactory. There is a very unclear connection between the monster and why the scientist keeps all his staff as pacemaker slaves. Simply put, it's utter BS: it's there just as an excuse to turn this episode into yet another needless, generic mad scientist story. Somehow in these dumb pulp plots every scientist that makes a huge discovery instantly becomes evil and insane, and this is somehow supposed to serve as a valid excuse for his irrational behaviour, which conveniently allows the writer to put together a daft story.
The female secretary is nothing but a totally irrelevant prop, serving no purpose but to help stretch the story out through a totally useless romantic sub-plot, involving the brother who isn't even a factor in the last 10 minutes. I guess there must have been a concerted effort to get women to watch TOL which I am certain didn't work, because sci-fi has always been a male domain. (Awful Star Trek spin-offs are an exception because they have so many soaper elements.) This must be the reason why the producers so stupidly threw in the occasional "love theme" and romance in many episodes, which only served to dilute the show. Attempts to please too many different demographics usually results in failure: stick to your target audience, because there isn't even a theoretical possibility that for example mindless, low-tier housewives are going to become sci-fans just because you add some bloody romance in a monster story.
We never find out WHY the first guard was killed by having the monster go out into the park. We are later told that it's difficult to bring the monster back once he is outside hence it made zero sense to kill the guard at the gate rather than just destroy his pace-maker, or force him into the room where the monster can kill him with ease, without the hassle of having to bring him back to the room. Damn, these B-movie screenwriters are lazy nitwits... Do they ever even re-read what they'd written? No re-writes?
Then there's more senseless padding during the cop's mostly boring investigation. We already know who the guilty party is, so half the episode is us impatiently waiting for the cop to finally discover what we already know so that the plot can finally move on beyond being a mere murder investigation mystery - which SHOULD NOT be the point of a series such as TOL.
About this NORCO boss... What the hell was his plan? To keep killing people and/or turning them into his undead slaves until inevitably the jig was up?! Such a dumb strategy, very obviously doomed to fail eventually. The fact that NORCO's boss speaks like Bela Lugosi (the actor playing him is American) only makes things cheesier. He literally does an imitation of Lugosi in the grand finale. This actor was already unconvincing in another TOL episode; he's just bad.
The experiment itself makes no sense either. NORCO discovered some kind of energy monster which they keep locked up in a room and occasionally release so it can... kill people so the mad scientist can implant pacemakers on them, so he can control them... which will achieve... what exactly? The explanation given is totally vague and unsatisfactory. There is a very unclear connection between the monster and why the scientist keeps all his staff as pacemaker slaves. Simply put, it's utter BS: it's there just as an excuse to turn this episode into yet another needless, generic mad scientist story. Somehow in these dumb pulp plots every scientist that makes a huge discovery instantly becomes evil and insane, and this is somehow supposed to serve as a valid excuse for his irrational behaviour, which conveniently allows the writer to put together a daft story.
The female secretary is nothing but a totally irrelevant prop, serving no purpose but to help stretch the story out through a totally useless romantic sub-plot, involving the brother who isn't even a factor in the last 10 minutes. I guess there must have been a concerted effort to get women to watch TOL which I am certain didn't work, because sci-fi has always been a male domain. (Awful Star Trek spin-offs are an exception because they have so many soaper elements.) This must be the reason why the producers so stupidly threw in the occasional "love theme" and romance in many episodes, which only served to dilute the show. Attempts to please too many different demographics usually results in failure: stick to your target audience, because there isn't even a theoretical possibility that for example mindless, low-tier housewives are going to become sci-fans just because you add some bloody romance in a monster story.
We never find out WHY the first guard was killed by having the monster go out into the park. We are later told that it's difficult to bring the monster back once he is outside hence it made zero sense to kill the guard at the gate rather than just destroy his pace-maker, or force him into the room where the monster can kill him with ease, without the hassle of having to bring him back to the room. Damn, these B-movie screenwriters are lazy nitwits... Do they ever even re-read what they'd written? No re-writes?
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