From The Grave
MIRROR IMAGE
Finally I get to review something by Martin Scorsese in the horror genre. Oh, you didn’t know Scorsese directed a horror film? He did, albeit for television.
In 1985, Steven Spielberg debuted his anthology series Amazing Stories. It got off to a great start with the Mission. Had a few episodes that was not so good, some extremely terrible, but for the most part the series was true to Spielberg’s vision of what films should be, full of whimsy, fantastic ideas, characters, and loaded with talented actors and of course, writers and directors. The thing is, to me, and I may be wrong. It didn’t seem like a lot of “unhappy endings”. For any body of work, again, this is me, it makes no sense that a happy ending can finish out a story every time. That’s not a dig at Spielberg. He’s a great storyteller and knows how to rally the audience and champion all of his projects. But, once in a while, you want bad things to happen to characters to make a person not feel like real life is a sham filled with candy-coated truths/lies and rainbow-carpeted events. As a matter of fact, sometimes, you want a character to get their comeuppance.
“Mirror, mirror” begins with horror author Jordan Manmoth (Sam Watterson---Serial Mom, Law and Order, Glass Menagerie.) interviewed by Dick Cavett. They watch a clip of a new film based on Manmoth’s book Scream Dream. They engage in a very short discussion on whether or not horror genre goes too far. Remember that argument? Wow, it seems no one even is worried about that anymore. For good reason: Ninety percent of most new horror movies don’t even try to cause alarm.
Manmoth cracks a joke that he thought the makers of the film went too far on the love scenes but there was a wonderful decapitation scene that he liked. Coming home in his limo, Manmoth shuts off the interview. His driver strokes his ego even more by telling him what a great interview. The driver asks the question: “Don’t you ever get creeped out by those stories?” Manmoth replies: “no. The dead ones you don’t have to worry about. It’s the live ones; agents and Ex-wives.”
Manmoth gets home and sees a young man camped out in front of his apartment door. Manmoth is not happy. He thinks the young man is a stalker. But the man just sidesteps, or doesn’t hear Manmoth’s point about personal space. Instead he asks him to sign a Manmoth book he purchased and nervously spills papers from a folder. Manmoth looks at the young man and says, “Let me guess. You’re a writer and you want me to read your stuff? I don’t do business out of my home! I have one piece of advice: learn to type!”
While taking a bath, Manmoth hears a noise. There’s nothing there. He ready’s himself to brush his teeth, looking in the mirror, he catches a brief glimpse of a man in black lumbering about. He turns around - there’s no one. So Manmoth goes back to brushing his teeth and he sees in the mirror that the man in black is outside his apartment window. Manmoth checks the window. No one is there. He automatically thinks it’s his fan, informing the young man he would call the police. He goes back to the mirror and the man in black is there. Manmoth runs off to his room, obviously shaken up.
Manmoth calls his friend Karen (Helen Shaver---The Color of Money, The Believers.) but she isn’t home. Manmoth needs a drink. Fixing it, he sees the man in black reflected in the glass bar set. He turns, gripping the bottle, he swings at no one. Realizing this, Manmoth questions his sanity. He looks back at the bar and there the man in black is. Manmoth tosses the bottle into the bar, shattering it. Several pieces fall, showing several men in black, and Manmoth runs out of the den, locking all the doors. He calls the police, where is put on hold.
“Oh, you didn’t know Scorsese directed a horror film? He did, albeit for television.”
Several hours pass. Manmoth falls asleep with the phone still in his hand. Morning has come. Manmoth dresses, drives off. At a parking lot, paying the toll, he happens to look into his rearview mirror and sees the man in black in the backseat, reaching out to do him harm. Manmoth crawls out his Mercedes and tries run out of the parking lot, when a security guard catches him. “He tried to kill me! He wanted to strangle me!” Manmoth exclaims. The security guard tells him to calm down and he’s blocking traffic. Manmoth tries explain again when he sees the man in black reflected in the guard’s sunglasses. Manmoth knocks the guard to the ground. The security guard calls out for someone to get the cops.
In county lockup, a fellow prisoner tries to start a fight. In an animalistic way, Manmoth accepts the challenge. His friend Karen arrives, and the fight never transpires. The police releases Manmoth to Karen. During the ride home, they discuss the situation and Karen tries make sense of it, quipping; “I liked the plot of your second book better where the girl keeps seeing the rotting corpse of her Uncle every time she makes love to her husband.” Manmoth retorts: “This is not a book, Karen.” When they get to Manmoth’s house, Karen tries to convince him there is no man in black. He knows better.
The script was written by Joseph Minion (After hours, Vampire’s kiss.), from a story by Spielberg himself, and a shooting script by then Script Editor Mick Garris (The Stand, The Shining, Masters of Horror) because the original script proved to too problematic for the producers and the network. Masterfully directed by Scorsese, a side note that the man in black was played by Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption, Bull Durham.), who had lobbied hard to get the part, just have a chance to work with Scorsese.
There is no denying attention to detail is one of Scorsese’s traits, and it shows in this episode. Character development is definitely key to a story like this. The episode shows an egotistical writer, and most likely overworked, going off his head; shows a gentle caring relationship between Manmoth and his friend Karen in a sparse few minutes. You could not have cast a better actor to show vulnerability than Sam Watterson. All in all, this is definitely one of the best episodes of the series.
Special thanks to the very talented and extremely nice guy, Mick Garris for the inside info on this episode.
To watch the whole series go here.
Mark Slade, HMS
Read the previous installment.