Generally speaking, I liked this episode. It reminded me a bit of the "Twilight Zone" episode where the little girl goes through the wall, into another dimension. They hear her crying in the night. If you want to make it so your child never sleeps again, let them watch this. The little boy reaches under the bed to get his Teddy Bear and is grabbed by something down there and taken away. This is the set up. What ensues is some very strange activity on the part of the authorities. Given the supernatural elements, the conclusions reached by the power that be are pretty hard to fathom. The use of databases to narrow down things really pushes the envelope. Timothy Busfield (Thirty Something/Field of Dreams/The West Wing) is a child psychologist who pairs with his girlfriend, a police detective to solve the case. Busfield lost his older brother who "just disappeared" in the woods when he was six and has a father who has never been able to deal with that loss. While the conclusion is acceptable, the road to the discovery is a bit bumpy. Also, if the little girl is stupidly put in danger time and time again. Still, a decent episode.
6 Reviews
There are creatures that lurk in the dark... and under the bed
Bored_Dragon25 December 2018
One child disappears and the search is led by a local psychologist with an open mind and a skeptical policewoman, who quite resembles Mulder and Scully. In fact, by the story, characters, realization and the overall atmosphere, this could easily be an average "The X Files" episode.
6/10
6/10
Not credible
habren2 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This episode started out alright, with the children acting convincing. The scene where the brother and sister talked to each other was good. I could follow the scene where the female detective first suspected the divorced father as well.
But it took a wrong turn when the detective took the child away from her mother and left her at her own mother after the boy was kidnapped.
From that point on, I thought she behaved in a very unprofessional matter and the story lost all credibility to me. It is one thing to have a psychiatrist throw all kinds of unlikely fairy tales into the investigation, but a police investigator should not be convinced so easily.
As in most TV shows the computer search for patterns in weather, tides and moon cycles was unlikely. If they had just shown an internet search engine (e.g. Altavista or Webcrawler), that did exist in 95, it would have been much more convincing.
The final moment of disbelief was in the end in the mine, where after shattering the solidified badly rendered cgi creature, they were about to leave without looking for the girl. If she didn't cry, they would have left without her. After finding her, they didn't bother looking for the boy or other kids.
There were too many flaws in logic for me.
But it took a wrong turn when the detective took the child away from her mother and left her at her own mother after the boy was kidnapped.
From that point on, I thought she behaved in a very unprofessional matter and the story lost all credibility to me. It is one thing to have a psychiatrist throw all kinds of unlikely fairy tales into the investigation, but a police investigator should not be convinced so easily.
As in most TV shows the computer search for patterns in weather, tides and moon cycles was unlikely. If they had just shown an internet search engine (e.g. Altavista or Webcrawler), that did exist in 95, it would have been much more convincing.
The final moment of disbelief was in the end in the mine, where after shattering the solidified badly rendered cgi creature, they were about to leave without looking for the girl. If she didn't cry, they would have left without her. After finding her, they didn't bother looking for the boy or other kids.
There were too many flaws in logic for me.
"...while grown-ups are hard to sell, children are believers."
classicsoncall21 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The Outer Limits delved into 'boogeyman' territory with this episode. There's something to be said about childhood monsters; for me it was the gorilla in the attic, and I would tempt fate every time I went up there alone. I couldn't relate to the shape-shifting monster that emerged in this one, but then again, this was the Outer Limits so I guess all bets are on the table. The resolution of the story went the vampire route when the creature that grabbed young Jillian (Colleen Rennison) was turned into stone upon the appearance of daylight. A slight twist there instead of burning up but same idea. The ending wasn't completely satisfying because Jillian's brother was never accounted for. Maybe if Holland (Timothy Busfield) and officer Doyle (Barbara Williams) investigated that mine a bit more they might have found him in there someplace. The kids' mom (Laura Bruneau) and her ex (Henry Beckman) weren't heard from again which seemed unusual, and with a bit of suggestion, the story ended with a similar set-up over in France for authorities over there to try and figure out when the French boogeyman made his appearance.
Imagine a B-grade X-files episode, but really bad
movieman_kev20 May 2007
At the behest of the police, child shrink Dr. Jon Holland (Timothy Busfield from "Studio B on the Sunset Strip") starts to help a little girl who witness her brother get pulled under the bed by someone or something. First suspecting the absentee father and treating it as a kidnapping case, when that doesn't pan out. They try hypnosis with consequences that Jon isn't ready for. He must re-examine his past to solve this mystery. The chemistry of the believing in the strange Dr. Jon and the highly skeptical female college along with the subject matter, it suddenly hit me that I felt like I was watching a B-grade copy of an X-files episode rather than a true Outer Limits episode. And not a very good one at that. Definitely not one of the better shows of the series (or even just the first season)
My Grade: D+
My Grade: D+
:"Here Be Monsters!":
Foreverisacastironmess12321 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A, "B-grade X-Files episode"? I don't think so! The fact is, if you care to observe enough you'd see that it was in fact the X-Files that actually ripped-off elements of this story on more than one occasion! OK, I just love this one. I think it does a most excellent job of delving into the deep dark lore and pathos of primordial childhood terrors of the night, and that of monster fantasies and legends and for me at least, really creates a story that successfully combines the two themes into a very engaging episode that commands a pretty distinctive niche among the many and varied offerings of the Outer Limits. For this tale boasts a fascinating premise that brilliantly plays upon the basic childhood fears of potential horrors lurking in unseen places - like under the bed for one! I can feel the inner kid in me getting creeped-out whenever I watch the awesome and eerie prologue with the talking teddy bear which sets up the theme and story perfectly. Something seemingly so small and harmless and innocent, luring the trusting child into a trap like a spider to a fly in its web. And then, the way the soft voice of the chameleon-like mysterious being suddenly turns to guttural snarls as the boy is snatched and dragged away into the murky depths of never-to-be-seen-again... It's all such utterly classic dark fable stuff! ::: I found the main characters likable and engaging enough that the plot moves at a fast pace and is fun and very easy to get into. Also the intriguing monster itself with its sinister ability to project itself as anything and be near invisible in the light was really cool. Although I must admit when it finally got to the point where the monster was fully revealed, the design of it was a little lame and disappointing. ::: I also thought it was interesting how it pointed out the similarities between the various tales of fantastic creatures that originate from from completely different parts of the world, and the way that things and uncanny events and can become so distorted and mythological over time and subsequent re-tellings that most people just automatically assume that they have never been anything but creations of the human imagination. But yet there remains still in the minds of the young an instinctive fear of the dark and of the things that may or may not lurk within it, and there is a very strong element in the human makeup that positively revels in the strange and scary. Anyway, I believe certain themes of this episode are ones which most can relate to and feel something about one way or another - which is why I personally find the story to be such an eerily effective and foreboding one, and one of the series' very best. Welcome to the night...
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
