User Reviews

After watching Boris Karloff host the first nine episodes of 'Thriller', it was cool to see him finally take a leading role in this tale of a phony mentalist who suddenly acquires the power to see the future and a series of violent deaths. Citing the seer Nostradamus and uttering mumbo-jumbo about the vibrations of the cosmos, Clay Mace entertains his customers by tapping that psychic plane of the eternal now. I know a lot of folks go for this kind of stuff, and listening to Karloff's delivery, you almost believe it yourself.

Eventually, the premonitions involve lovely assistant Norine Burton (Audrey Dalton) and her fiancé Grant Dudley (Alex Davion), but ever the gallant gentleman, Mace has no intention of standing in the way of their happiness. However his vision of a twisted sign on the road to Edinburgh causes alarm, and the race is on to prevent a tragedy.

Depending on one's point of view, one could explain the ending as a tragic accident or the sacrifice of a man who accepted fate for the hand it dealt him. Either way, you could make the case that Karloff's character accurately predicted that this would be a Thriller.

****SPOILERS*** Boris Karloff doesn't only host this "Thriller" episode but also stars in it as Clyton Mace known professionally as "Mace the Mentalist" the man who can see into the future.

Knowing that it's all an act one evening Mace suddenly does see into the future in that a boxer in a match scheduled that evening is to be killed in the ring. Trying to prevent that from happening Mace sends his good friend Roscoe Burton, Adam Caillou,to the armory where the match is to be held to get it stopped. Burton interested in making money off Mace's prediction bets against the doomed boxer and end up winning 100 pounds when he's killed! Depressed at what happened and in being accused of profiting in the boxers death Mace is ready to quite his act when he sees that Burton who's been drinking himself blind with his winnings will be murdered that evening. Sure enough that happens exactly as Mace predicted it with him getting both rolled and murdered outside the bar!

It's later while doing his act of predicting the future Mace sees that not only his daughter and assistant in the act Norine, Audery Dalton,is going to elope with her lover Grant Dudley, Alexander Davion, but she'll end up getting killed together with him in a flaming car crash! Trying to keep Norine and Grant from making their fatal ride Mace together with his manager Gus, Abraham Sofaer, drives out on the highway that both Norine & Grant are traveling on to prevent that from happening.

****SPOILERS**** Mace knew that there's nothing he can do to change his prediction of the future. Soemone has to die that evening on the rain slick highway but by putting his life on the line in order to stop it Mace in fact did somehow prevent that from happening. Not by him preventing anyone from being killed but changing the identities of those that did! Boris Karloff as "Mace the Mentalist" showed what a pro he was in making the more or less average "Thriller" episode an effective eye opener. And it was Karloff's great performance that even inspired the members of the cast to put more believability into their performances just by sharing the same stage with him.

The popular "Thriller" series hosted by horror legend Boris Karloff ran from Fall 1960 to Spring 1962 on NBC and made an impact on lots of kids during its day, including a young Stephen King, who has called it "the best horror series ever put on TV." Unfortunately, of the 60+ episodes that were made, only six of them were officially released. This, along with "The Grim Reaper," "The Incredible Doktor Markesan," "Masquerade," "The Premature Burial" and "The Terror in Teakwood" were all issued (separatly) on VHS in 1996 by MCA/Universal. And sadly, that was it. Even though some (bootleg) sites offer the entire series on DVD-R, this has yet to see the legitimate box set release it deserves. "The Prediction" (episode 10 of the first season) was directed by John Brahm, who previously made the very good Jack the Ripper-inspired THE LODGER in 1944 and the hard-to-find Vincent Price vehicle THE MAD MAGICIAN ten years later, and would go on to direct 12 entries of the "Thriller" series. This particular episode is also noteworthy for being the first and only time in Season 1 where Karloff got to host AND play a major acting role in the story.

"The Prediction" opens with a comic stage act from Clay Mace aka "Mace the Mentalist" (Karloff in a fake beard, turban and cape), from all indications a phony psychic for entertainment purposes only, who ends up seeing something horrifying about to occur at a boxing match. His premonition comes true and a fighter is accidentally killed. Karloff's pretty young stage assistant Maureen (Audrey Dalton) is in love with handsome Grant (Alexander Davion), but her no-good, alcoholic father/manager Roscoe (Alan Caillou) - who's riding off his daughter's coattails - disapproves of the union. Mace has another cryptic vision about the father being murdered after collecting money from the boxing-match-gone-awry and it also comes true. Now free to do as she decides, Maureen decides it's time to move on and start her life with Grant, who has just gotten a lucrative job offer in Italy. Unfortunately for them, Mace has yet another premonition about someone getting killed on their trip there. Soon after Maureen and Grant leave, Mace convinces his manager Gus (Abraham Sofaer) to try to catch up to the couple before it's too late.

Though watchable for the most part, with a little suspense at the end and a (rather predictable) twist ending, this episode wasn't nearly as good as the other "Thriller" episode ("The Incredible Doktor Markesan") I watched this evening. On the plus side, the performances are decent. Karloff and Dalton's relationship is done in a rather touching father-daughter sort of way, and the two actors play off one another well, but the supernatural aspects are half-baked and not so satisfying. No explanation is given as to why Karloff's character suddenly develops strong ESP abilities, while there's also no explanation why the deaths and accidents are suddenly happening with such regularity (there's also a bit where Karloff saves Sofaer's live from a falling sandbag).

Only once during the first season did "Thriller" host Boris Karloff actually play a dramatic role. He's a professional mind reader who is probably too gifted for his own good, involved in something deeply dark that will have a sinister impact on his life and those around him. Audrey Dalton, his assistant and surrogate daughter, is engaged to Alexander Davion, and Karloff has bad vibes to which they attribute to being overly possessive. But he all of a sudden has visions of doom ahead for them and the vision of a sign that indicates "Manchester, 50 Miles". But Dalton and Davion aren't heading in that direction, or so they think, and another vision has Karloff rushing to find them before it's too late.

Reminiscent of the type of B film Karloff had been making since the mid 1930's, this "Thriller" episode is similar to many other spooky psychological thrillers that showed off the evils of "the gift" that might as well been referred to as "a curse". It's a convoluted script that goes in too many directions in a short period of time and ends up a troublesome episode. Karloff adds his usual vulnerability to a character trying to escape from a dark soul, but unfortunately, he can't escape from the poor structure.