The bottom line..mannequins are creepy. In one of the all-time great TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, THE AFTER HOURS concerns the impossibly beautiful Anne Francis(THE FORBIDDEN PLANET)finding herself trapped on the darkened floors of a department store hearing voices and supposedly being spooked by mannequins. Through the thrilling direction of Douglas Heyes, THE AFTER HOURS chills the bones with spine-tingling ease as the camera follows poor Francis as she wonders why no one knows who it was that sold her a thimble on the "ninth floor" where the boss of the store claims there isn't such. Boy revisiting this episode late tonight, my nerves were on end as Heyes gleefully zooms the camera in on the faces of mannequins as Francis' Marsha's name is being called. The way she scurries about, the floor so ominous and dark, no escape, it reminded me of how well THE TWILIGHT ZONE could grip and compel me. I felt genuinely eerie and didn't envy Francis all alone on that floor, trapped with those lifeless painted wooden bodies, the eyes of mannequins alone cause the hairs on my arms to stand up. This is as good as it gets. Maybe the ending is a bit silly, but for the most part I consider this one of the very best episodes the show had to offer.
Review of The After Hours
