User Reviews

I find something truly unsettling about "Slippage", regarding a commercial artist, Richard Hall (David Patrick Kelly) who seems to be "losing" his identity, his person, everything that consists of his very essence. His paycheck goes missing at work. His portfolio and duplicate birth certificate are never found at a new Commercial artist company. He never received an invitation to his own high school reunion; his best friend was on the reunion committee. It just gets worse. He visits his mother and she doesn't recognize him. Soon his photograph in the old high school yearbook vanishes. Hall believes, at first, that his co-worker/friend, Scott, and wife, Elaine are in cahoots, ruining his life, but soon reflects after the visit with his mother (God, is this scene heartbreaking; Kelly, more of an actor known for his villains, really proves he's capable of portraying a sympathetic character).

Richard Hall. This is a person. Imagine if you are in his shoes and everyone that once knew you forget about you. Before long there's nothing left. Richard Hall, this person, slowly, but surely, ceases to exist. Scary thought, isn't it?

**Major Spoiler** I truly find the ending a bit disturbing. It's the reason "Slippage" hasn't slipped from my own memory. The idea that you slowly vanish, no reflection in the mirror any longer, the past, present, and future disappear, horrifies me. I can't stand the thought that I would leave this earth completely and no one would remember who I was. Richard theorizes to his Scott (Philip Casnoff) that it is because he failed to connect to the world around him and as he separated himself, the more he lost his connection, the person ceased to exist. Yet, fascinatingly, there is an essence that remains as a door opens and closes on its own even after Scott and Richard's former wife, Elaine (Kerry Armstrong), have forgotten who he is. Richard may no longer exist to the world in a mortal sense, but he still exists.

Richard is slipping from existence. They misplace his paycheck, his portfolio, he can not find his birth certificate, his car is mysteriously registered on his wife's maiden name, friends forget to invite him to high-school reunion, even his mother doesn't recognize him. It goes like that until he finally disappears. Premise that could have been used for great movie. 90+ minutes would give opportunity for story to develops slowly, to show some background and give some characterization to lead role. They could build atmosphere gradually and let the story culminate once we connected with Richard. But this way, put in just 20 minutes episode, story ended before it even began properly, so it left me completely indifferent. Shame, it had real potential for greatness.

5/10

Michael Gornick, who directed this episode, ran camera on The Amusement Park and Knightriders, is the voice of Barry the talk show host in Martin, was the DP of that movie as well as Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow and Day of the Dead and went on to direct episodes of this show, Monsters and took over from George Romero for Creepshow 2.

In this installment, he's working from a script by Mark Durand and Michael Kube-McDowell to tell the story of Rich Hall (David Patrick Kelly, Jerry Horne from Twin Peaks), is a commercial artist who begins to fade away. The company he just interviewed with doesn't remember him, his wife Elaine (Kerry Armstrong) doesn't even have his name on their car and even his mother no longer knows who he is.

These things could all happen at once and it'd be fine, but the succession by which they're happening means that something supernatural is behind this.

The idea that you could disappear - not physically, but literally go away - is one of the most frightening things ever considered on this show. Some of the episodes get silly, some just have a rubber suit monster, but this one understands how to terrify you with a nearly real concept.

Tales from the Darkside: Slippage starts like any other normal day for graphic designer Richard Hall (David Patrick Kelly) but certainly won't end that way, to begin with his pay-cheque doesn't arrive, when asking about a recent job interview no-one there can find any information on him, he seems to have been left out of a recent school reunion, the car he brought is solely registered in his wife's (Kerry Armstrong) name & most worryingly his own mother (Harriet Rogers) doesn't even recognise him. Richard believes that he is slowly ceasing to exist as every record or memory of him seems to be erased...

Episode 6 from season 1 this Tales from the Darkside originally aired in the US during Novenmber 1984, the first of three Tales from the Darkside episodes to be directed by Michael Gornick this is another odd story that almost works. The script by Mark Durand has an intriguing & fascinating central idea although there's little reason behind it & the ending is a bit of a let down as Richard eventually disappears & that's it, it ends. Some of the dialogue is good here with a little bit of philosophy from Richard as he slowly disappears & his perceived reasons behind it. I liked this one to a certain point & that point is probably the end where it just literally finishes rather abruptly leaving slightly to many unanswered questions for my liking, had this a more attention grabbing & imaginative ending Slippage could have been an oddball classic, as it is it's an OK way to pass 20 odd minutes.

I'm not sure whether to put Slippage in the horror or fantasy category, in truth it's probably somewhere in between the two. It's not scary but it does have a few eerie moments I suppose & the storyline is more fantasy than straight horror. The acting is good & there's a good performance here from Kelly.

Slippage is a bizarre little short, it's worth a watch but the audacious idea doesn't quite come together well enough to make it a classic.

***SPOILERS*** As things were supposed to be looking up for young graphic designer Michael Hall ,David Partick Hall, his world started to fall apart at the seams. His application for a new and higher paying job never reached the firm that he mailed it to as well as his invitation to a high school reunion in his home town never was mailed to him. It seems that slowly but surly he was being erased from his past life as well as his future in life remained uncertain.

Even David's wife Elaine, Kerry Armstrong, was developing memory lapses in just knowing who he is one of them by not registering his name in a car he bought for her as well as forgetting his birth day! Going back home in a very confused David trying to find himself and see if anyone back there still knows him even his mom Mrs. Hall, Harriet Rogers, has absolutely no idea to who he is! In fact she tells a befuddled David that she never even had a son much less him to begin with. It slowly come to the surface that David in fact doesn't wasn't and never existed and his entire past is just a dream that he, or who ever he is, made up in his mind these last 32 years!

So David soon disappeared from sight and the memories of all those who supposedly knew him including both his wife Elaine and his best friend fellow graphic designer Chris Wood (Philip Casnoff} who in fact got the job that David applied for strike up a hot personal relationship with David completely out of the picture as well as their lives. Was this all a dream in David's mind or was he in fact a non person all these years living in a state of limbo until the sad and shocking truth of his non existence finally caught up with him?

Graphic designer Rich Hall (a fine and sympathetic performance by David Patrick Kelly) fails to receive timely news about the outcome of a new job offer as well as a recent high school reunion. Hall discovers soon thereafter that he is slowly ceasing to exist. Director Michael Gornick milks plenty of eerie millage out of Mark Durand's compelling script (Hall's own mother doesn't recognize him anymore in one especially potent and heartbreaking scene), relates the intriguing story at a steady pace, and effectively creates a fascinating aura of perplexing mystery. Moreover, the provocative theme about the potential dangers of neglecting your loved ones culminates in a startling downbeat ending with Hall vanishing into thin air because of his failure to connect with the people around him. Patrick Kelly does well in a welcome and refreshing non-bad guy role (he's usually cast as villains); he receives sturdy support Phillip Casnoff as loyal friend Chris Wood and the beautiful Kerry Armstrong as Hall's spunky'n'sexy wife Elaine. A nifty show.

The diminutive, prolific, and reliable character actor David Patrick Kelly, usually cast as weasels or psychos ("The Warriors", "48 Hrs.", "Commando", etc.), here shines in a change-of-pace sympathetic lead role. Kelly plays Richard Hall, a young graphic designer who begins to fear that his whole existence is at stake. He does not receive news about a possible new job, or a high school reunion, in a timely manner. In the end, it seems to be true: he's ceasing to exist. His worried best friend (Philip Casnoff, 'Strong Medicine') and devoted wife (the lovely Kerry Armstrong, "Key Exchange") become concerned about his erratic behavior.

The intelligent, provocative script (by Mark Durand, based on a story by Michael Kube-McDowell) has Richard reason that his dilemma stems from his taking his loved ones for granted. Indeed, when Richard pays a late-night visit to his elderly mother (Harriet Rogers), she doesn't even recognize him as her son. Richard is so devastated that your heart does go out to him. The three main characters are all thoroughly engaging, and Kelly, Casnoff, and Armstrong do solid work. This is unexpectedly poignant material for the 'Tales from the Darkside' series to tackle, and Michael Gornick (cinematographer of "Creepshow" and director of "Creepshow 2") handles it in style.

The existential episode 'Slippage' may not have anything to do with traditional trappings of "horror", but it is memorably disconcerting just the same.

Eight out of 10.