Positively absurd, wholly original, and wonderfully grotesque tale from the Darkside contains priceless warped humor certain to tickle the funnybone of us who enjoy such bonkers subject matter. It concerns a dead grandfather who simply refuses to accept that he is deceased despite the fact that he has no heartbeat, is becoming stiffer as the days go by, continues to fight off flies, with his flesh slowly deteriorating, not to mention, a stink that permeates, as the locals (including the doc who pronounced him dead and the pastor who attempts to convince him he should "fly with the angels") become uneasy about his presence. Eddie Bracken (Preston Sturges' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek) is a hoot as Grandpa Titus Tolliver, too damn stubborn to listen to reason, doesn't want to just lie down and let go despite the fact that he has croaked, the evidence couldn't be any clearer (you'd think the consistently rotting flesh and growing number of flies, as well as, the inability to walk without forcing your stiff legs to obey would be enough), as the persistence of others wants him to (truth is, he's gross to look at in his present condition, and is starting to look more and more like a zombie, all that's missing is his hunger for brains), but demands proof, although I'm not sure what else can be done to tell the old buzzard that he's completely and utterly dead. This episode shows Titus in stages of decay, Eddie still full of life and vibrant as he was when alive, despite his corpse's unwillingness to follow suit. A couple of fresh faces here that would become more well known later on, such as Christian Slater as the grandson, terrible at trying to speak South (he pronounces poison, "paisen"), and Brent Spiner (later to star on Star Trek: The Next Generation as android Data) as the over-the-top pastor, Reverend Peabody. The setting is in the South, with the archetypes exaggerated Hollywood renditions of what they consider Southern characters during the 20s or whatever. Barbara Eda-Young is the disturbed and worn-out daughter of Titus (and Slater's mom) Ma Tolliver. Bill McCutcheon (Santa Claus Conquers the Martians) has a funny cameo as the town doc who tries in every way he knows how to convince Titus is dead, to no success, eventually fleeing the premises in failure. The loss of a nose is used to supreme effect and Tresa Hughes, as a voodoo woman, has a campy part as Slater desperately will go to her when all else has failed to get Titus to end this whole morbid affair. Like the characters themselves, their dialogue is also exaggerated Southern speak, Hollywood's idea of how they talked and acted in the past.
Review of A Case of the Stubborns
