Living Doll

When his wife and stepdaughter bring home a talking doll, Erich Streator (Telly Savalas) takes an instant dislike to the toy -- a sentiment reciprocated and expressed by the doll. Although many of the episodes from the series' final season were clunkers, this one easily ranks with the series' best, mixing a chilling Twilight Zone plot, with extremely well-drawn characters and superb acting.

What raises this above the level of many remakes of the same story (Child's Play, in particular) is the depth of the lead character, whose actions are not motivated by simple hatred, but deeply rooted in his own feelings of inadequacy. As the doll becomes more vehement in its dislike, Savalas' character's actions become more understandable and -- strangely, more sympathetic. In conveying this, Savalas makes no effort to soften his character, having real confidence in the character as developed in Jerry Sohl's (who ghostwrote the script for Charles Beaumont) script. Mary LaRoche is equally up to the task as a woman struggling on the one hand to protect her daughter from emotional cruelty, and desperately trying to understand the man she married on the other.

If you want to see how a horror story can be made without gore and cheap shocks, watch this....