Friday the 13th: The Series (TV Series) The Quilt of Hathor (1988) User Reviews

The Cursed Quilt

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 30 March 2024]

The religious sect Penitite is led by Reverend Josiah Grange, and he is in love with Jane Spring and soon they will marry each other. They are kissing each other in a carriage, when Effie Stokes says that Jane would be too young to marry the Reverend. However, he contests her words, saying that she is of legal age to marry. Effie takes a quilt hidden in a box and dreams on Jane, killing her in the dream. Jane also dies in real life. The elder Sarah Good visits Curious Goods and tells Jack, Ryan and Micki that she bought the Quilt of Hathor from Lewis, but someone in her community has stolen the quilt. Ryan and Micki go with Sarah to the community to look for the cursed quilt. Ryan falls in love with Josiah's daughter, Laura Grange. Josiah needs to marry a woman due to his position of leader of the community, and he chooses Rebecca Lamb to be his wife. During the night, Effie uses the quilt again to get rid of Rebecca. Sarah confronts Effie and is killed by the quilt. Meanwhile, Ryan is having trouble in the community since he wants to be with Laura, who is promised to marry a man, Matthew, in a loveless arrangement.

"The Quilt of Hathor" is the beginning of the story of a cursed patchwork quilt that kills the victim in a nightmare. Effie Stokes is an evil villain, killing the competitors that will marry Reverend Josiah Grange. Ryan is in love with the daughter of Josiah and having problems in the conservative community. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Colcha de Retalhos" ("Patchwork Quilt")

Now I lay me down to sleep...

[allexand · 9/10 · 16 July 2009]

Ryan, Micki, and Jack must infiltrate an Amish sect to retrieve a cursed quilt which has the power to draw others into a person's dreams, leaving them at their mercy to do whatever they want to them. A bitter spinster is using the quilt to murder her rivals for the town leader's hand in marriage. Micki naturally searches for the quilt but Ryan falls in love with the leader's daughter and seems interested in retirement instead...

"The Quilt of Hathor" is probably F13's most ambitious episode to date. They really went all out here: the episode prominently features several dream sequences in a Victorian era setting with matching period costumes, the Amish town is well done, there are a plethora of guest stars, it airs in two parts, the plot has tons of twists of turns, and Ryan even threatens to leave Curious Goods.

The episode has probably the best villain of the series. Effie Stokes is played excellently by Kate Trotter. Kate would play another villain in Season 2's "And Now the News," and while she was good there too, this is her best performance. The makeup job on her (or possibly lack thereof) is terrific and hatred and bitterness ooze from her every pore. She has all the motive in the world as the man of her dreams ignores her and repeatedly passes her over for his next bride.

Carolyn Dunn is back and this time she gets upgraded to love interest. Her scenes with Ryan are pretty good and they do make a cute couple. Her performance and delivery come off as a bit wooden. Scott Paulin, who plays her father, is much better.

The plot is great. All the major players have something to keep them busy: Micki, of course, tries to find the quilt, Ryan falls in love and has to fight her disapproving father, Effie bides her time by using the quilt to rack up a rather impressive body count while Reverend Josiah rejects her again and again, Laura must choose between Ryan and her current fiancée, Reverend Josiah has mounting financial woes and faces constant pressure to get remarried, and Sarah educates the outsiders about Amish life and helps Micki locate the quilt. There's hardly a dull moment here, and most of what occurs seems pretty logical.

The antique, like many others, has a very simple concept but tons of possibilities. They really make good use of it throughout the episode. The elaborate dream sequences and the creative deaths are not to be missed. Sarah Good's death dream was the only one that came off rather lame. You can clearly see that their intent was to set her on fire but all you really see is her standing behind a wall of flame shrieking. They used stunt men in fireproof suits for other episode, why not here?

There are a few things that detract from this episode and keep it from being perfect. The previously mentioned death sequence of Sarah Good is certainly one of them. Before her death, she accuses Effie of stealing the quilt then she goes off her room. My point is this: if Sarah knows Effie has the quilt, then why wouldn't she try harder to get it back? Since Sarah was the original owner, she knows what it's capable of. So why would she leave an angry Effie alone with a prime opportunity to use it? By far, the most foolish scene of the whole episode is when Ryan is hiding in the barn. Matthew throws the rake down into the hay where Ryan is hiding. We know Ryan is OK, but this seemed really unnecessary. Not only that, tons of blood come gushing out from under the hay; far too much blood for Ryan to still be alive.

Negatives aside, this is still one of the best episodes of the series. The first time I saw "The Quilt of Hathor," it scared me so much that I couldn't look at the TV and eventually had to leave the room. Of course, I was only 10.

I'm an Atheist and I'm Offended by the Staff's Approach to Religion

[Gislef · 5/10 · 13 September 2020]

Offended by the sloppy writing, that is. Can't the staff crack a book or check the Internet, and read up on religions. They had that problem with "The Poison Pen", too, which had monks of such a vague religion that it made no sense.

The "Penitites" here are the same. The act like Amish, but have trials by combat. What? And Ryan's characterization goes way out on a limb: the romance between him and Laura isn't at all convincing enough to make us think Ryan would abandon all the worldly pleasures we've seen him embrace, all because he's fallen head-over-heels with some cutie.

And what is up with Louise Robey's cheerleading routine while Ryan is fighting Matthew in the Cleansing? She's supposed to be surprised and shocked when Ryan's life is threatened, but she jumps, throws her arms up in the air, and clutches her head like a silent movie heroine. It's not one of Robey's finest moments.

The Quilt isn't bad but is seriously underused. The dream sequences are trite and make no sense: why does Effie dream of a Colonial ballroom? I get her obsession with Josiah, and his appearance in her dreams (even killing the first victim) are well done. But there's no basis for the dream setting. Plus, it's a pretty standard "If you die in your dreams, you die in real life" trope that has been done in the various 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movies. Granted, there's not much else you can do with killer dreams. But sometimes if you can't do anything with what you've chosen, move on to something else.

The guest performances aren't bad, particularly Helen Carscallen as Sarah. She brings a matter-of-fact wholeness to the proceedings. It's dumb that she confronts Effie and then... goes to bed. But IITS (It's In the Script), so off Sarah goes.

Kate Trotter isn't bad as the woman unwittingly scorned, and Carolyn Dunn as Laura is okay. She just isn't given much to work with. She does have more than she did as Laurie in "Cupid's Quiver" so there's that. It's just that Laura is more of a target for men's love, then a self-realized character in her own right. Ah, the 80s.

Scott Paulin as Josiah sports an outrageously bogus "Penitite" beard, and it's fun looking out for the spirit gum lines. There are hints of Josiah's shady financial dealings, which will pay off in part 2. Paulin was a relatively big star in '88. He was okay in the 80s 'Twilight Zone', and went on to other stuff like 'Jag' and 'Castle'. He's okay here, although Josiah spends a lot of time beseeching God.

And there's not much of Chris Wiggins. Ugh.

Overall, "Quilt" is a pretty cheesy episode. It sets the stage for part 2, but it has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Ryan has to fall in love with Laura, and decide to become a Penitite. Effie has to be set up as the villain, but there has to be a lot also set up for the "real" villain to step up in part 2. Writer Janet MacLean, in her first TV writing gig, moves all the pieces around. Barely but awkwardly.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?