Rod Serling: Good evening. If you seem to sense an aura of cold dampness that permeates this room, attributed not to either defective air conditioning or intimate indoor weather, it's simply because this is rather a special place, with special statuary and special paintings, and they carry with them a coldness that seems to go past in a crypt, or in a place like this, called: the Night Gallery.
I'll Never Leave You – Ever
Original story by: Rene Morris
Teleplay by: Jack Larid
Directed by: Daniel Haller
Rod Serling: Our opening kickoff is deep into the endzone of the Moors, where hounds bay and witches fly brooms, and the belief in the supernatural is as natural as breathing... or not breathing. We call this item: I'll Never Leave You – Ever.
In 19th century Ireland, Moragh (Lois Nettleton) has an affair with the dashing Ianto (John Saxon) while married to the heavily-diseased Owen (Royal Dano), who she eagerly wishes to die so she and Ianto can be together in public. Desperate to be rid of Owen and his horrifically viral affection for her, Moragh seeks the help of an elderly witch (Peggy Weber), asking her to create a voodoo doll of Owen so she can hasten his death. After trying and failing to burn the doll, Moragh throws it into a deep quarry, but even though she manages to rid herself of Owen, Ianto warns her that she must destroy the doll completely, or the primordial forces at work won't be stopped.
Tropes
- Abhorrent Admirer: Owen, Moragh's disease-ridden husband who aches to smother her with physical affection. Kissing him on the lips is enough to send her running out the door, nearly vomiting and washing her mouth out.
- Awful Wedded Life: Moragh is married to the walking disease that is Owen, who insists that she remain by his side and accept his physical affection constantly. It's plain to see why she can't wait for him to die, even if she feels guilty about it.
- Clingy Macguffin: The voodoo doll Moragh uses to kill Owen leaps out of the fireplace when she tries burning it, prompting her to throw it into the quarry.
- Creepy Crows: Their caws are heard as Moragh treks to the voodoo witch's hut.
- Creepy Doll: The voodoo doll is able to move on its own accord, which it demonstrates by following Moragh's movements, squirming in the bag she puts it in, and leaping out of the fireplace when she uses it to kill Owen.
- Downer Ending: Owen's ghost tricks Moragh into falling to her death, leaving her stuck with him for all eternity.
- Everyone Has Standards: Ianto is all for wanting Owen to die so he and Moragh can be together, but he's appalled when he learns that Moragh turned to witchcraft to kill him, warning her that the voodoo doll has to be completely destroyed to eradicate any lingering black magic.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Moragh learns that voodoo and black magic aren't meant to be taken lightly, as Ianto warns her that the forces of darkness won't stop until they kill her for tampering with their power.
- Faint in Shock: Moragh does this when she encounters Owen's body, reduced to a featureless lump of smoldering flesh after she tossed the voodoo doll into the fireplace.
- Inner Monologue: Moragh mentally tells herself to get rid of the voodoo doll before she goes out of her mind listening to Owen screaming, then to enter his room and prepare his body for burial, pleading that she can be with Ianto as soon as all is said and done.
- Ironic Echo: Owen's ghostly voice repeats his earlier declaration of how he could never leave Moragh after she falls to her death.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The episode is set on one to highlight the tense air of supernatural activity at work. Moragh even notes a lightning bolt appeared to hover over the barn where she and Ianto are having their tryst, almost as if the Devil is teasing her for what she'll eventually do.
- Kill It with Fire: Moragh tries to destroy Owen by throwing the voodoo doll in the fireplace. While this kills Owen, the doll (made from unseasoned wood and thus fireproof) is able to jump out, prompting her to throw it into the quarry.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Moragh has this reaction after throwing the doll into the fire, hearing Owen's agonizing dying screams.
- Oh, Crap!: Moragh has one when she notices that the voodoo doll is staring at her, and another when she discovers the charred lump that was once her husband on the bedroom floor.
- P.O.V. Cam: There's a brief shot of Moragh tumbling to her death in the quarry as seen from her point of view.
- Power Echoes: Owen's ghostly voice echoes as he lures Moragh to her doom.
- Roll in the Hay: Moragh and Ianto are introduced having a passionate affair in Owen's barn.
- Shrunken Head: The voodoo witch Moragh visits has a collection of them to establish her brand of black magic, sticking them onto her dolls to grant them their magic power.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Moragh could be seen as one, given that her husband is a highly-diseased individual who smothers her with unwanted affection and aches to hold onto her for as long as he's able.
- Temporary Blindness: As a test of the black magic she's in possession of, Moragh shoves the voodoo doll into a sack, rendering her sickly husband blind until she takes it out again.
- Together in Death: Owen's ghost disguises his voice as Ianto's and lures Moragh into falling to her death in the quarry, letting them be together forever.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: The young and beautiful Moragh is married to the heavily-diseased Owen, and she can't wait for him to keel over so she can be with Ianto.
- Vengeful Ghost: Owen becomes one after Moragh kills her, as he dupes her into accidentally killing herself in the place where she threw his voodoo doll.
- Voice Changeling: Owen gains the ability when he returns from the grave, able to perfectly mimic Ianto to trick Moragh into killing herself.
- Voodoo Doll: Moragh has the witch make one that looks exactly like Owen to try and rid herself of him, but it's able to kill her as well.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Ianto is last seen storming out of Moragh's house to look for the voodoo doll after learning she dumped it in the quarry. We can only guess as to how he reacts when he learns Moragh was lured to her death by Owen's ghost.
- Wicked Witch: Moragh goes to one who specializes in voodoo for the doll she uses to kill Owen.
There Aren't Anymore MacBanes
Based on the short story "By One, By Two and By Three" by Stephen Hall.
Teleplay by: Alvin Sapinsley
Directed by: John Newland
Rod Serling: Our next painting tells the story of a young man whose major in school is philosophy, but whose extracurricular labors take him into the area of black magic. And for this, you don't get a degree, but the commencement ceremony is a gas. See for yourself as we offer you: There Aren't Anymore MacBanes.
Grad student Andrew MacBane (Joel Grey), an unambitious ne'er-do-well, is content to leech off the fortune of his once prosperous family after leaving college. Arthur Porter (Howard Duff), his uncle and only living relative, is running out of patience with Andrew's slacker attitude and advises him that if he doesn't get a job in six months, he'll be permanently cut off. Unconcerned with his finances, Andrew grows obsessed with searching for the missing pages of a book of black magic owned by his distant relative, Jedediah MacBane, who was able to kill from a distance through the book's powers before he himself was killed, roping his friends Mickey Standish and Elie Green (Barry Higgins and Darrell Larson) into his firm belief in the occult. When the deadline passes, Andrew summons the demonic beast Jedediah once summoned to kill his uncle and inherit his fortune, but soon learns that the creature's appetite for bloodshed remains unfulfilled with just one victim.
Tropes
- The Cameo: A very young Mark Hamill plays Francis, a messenger boy who delivers Elie a telegram sent by Andrew, which regards Mickey's death while he's abroad in Chad.
- Chromosome Casting: The only female characters in the segment are a stewardess on Elie's flight, and perhaps the demon Andrew summons, with its witchy appearance.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: As Mickey and Elie tell him, Andrew could have very likely saved himself all the trouble he goes through if he just got a job like his uncle said, even pointing out how there's an opening at a nearby bookstore.
- Dark Is Evil: The demon Andrew summons is able to snuff out every source of light within its presence, having been lurking in the primordial darkness for 300 years after it killed Jedediah, the last person who was able to summon it.
- Downer Ending: Andrew is killed while killing the demon, ending the MacBane family once and for all. The final seconds also imply that he didn't actually kill the demon after all.
- Eldritch Abomination: The demon Andrew summons is described as an amalgamation of every bit of envy ever conjured by man. It has a pale face, mangled teeth, red eyes, a large hooked nose, and a pair of disproportionately large clawed hands. It's also prominently displayed against a dark background, because it manages to eradicate all the light surrounding it at any given time.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Andrew learns that sorcery isn't meant to be used for one's petty demands, as the demon he summons to kill his uncle kills one of his closest friends and himself because it's a demon.
- Evil Uncle: Andrew's uncle Arthur is declared as one by the man himself, as he rebukes Andrew for his interest in black magic, and demeans him as a sponge who aches to live off the family fortune once he graduates, threatening to cut him off. Given Andrew's villainous and unmotivated personality, he has a means to act this way with him.
- Faint in Shock: Elie faints after screaming his heart out as the demon tries tearing its way through the basement window of his building. When he awakens sometime later, he finds that it's gone.
- Haunted House: MacBane Lodge, the huge pesthouse in Salem, Massachusetts where Jedediah MacBane once lived. Though the place has no electricity or running water, Andrew moves into it even after he inherits enough money for a yacht to hone his newly developed skills of sorcery. It lives up to the trope when the demon follows him there.
- History Repeats: Much like his ancestor Jedediah, Andrew kills his worst enemy, one of his best friends, and himself through the demon he summons.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Andrew is brutally murdered by the demon he summons to kill Arthur, learning the hard way that demons are vicious and uncontrollable creatures who have no need for a mortal master.
- Kill It with Fire: Andrew vanquishes the demon by commanding it to burn. It combusts as per his demand, but the explosion kills him, too. And then it's hinted that the demon went back to lurking in the darkness.
- Last of His Kind: Andrew is the only remaining member of the once prosperous MacBane clan, especially once he kills his uncle Arthur. The end of the segment has the demon he tasks to kill Arthur kill him, eradicating the family once and for all.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Andrew summons the MacBane demon to get his rich uncle out of the way, but he quickly regrets what he's unleashed when it murders Mickey and damns his soul.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Andrew uses Jedediah's old spell book to summon the demon that the old wizard used to summon, but he finds that he can't send it away because he's not skilled enough in magic. The segment ends with the creature killing him, but not before he manages to fatally wound it.
- Not Quite Dead: The demon's red eyes are seen peering from the pile of ash it became when Andrew battled it, revealing that it's still around and waiting to be summoned again.
- No Sympathy: Once his friends tell him that his uncle Arthur was brutally killed by what appears to be a wild animal, Andrew's first thought is that he's filthy rich instead of taking their advice to call the police.
- Redemption Equals Death: Andrew grows to regret summoning a murderous demon for a rather petty reason, and is convinced that he's unleashed something unspeakable and doomed himself to damnation. When the demon breaks into his parlor, he fights it off to give Elie time to escape, managing to kill the creature at the cost of his own life. That sacrifice becomes meaningless when it's hinted that the demon is actually still alive.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The demon is only fully revealed at the end. Before that, we only see clawed hands and a pair of freakish red eyes glowing in the darkness.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As the demon attempts to go after Elie, he's stepping out of his apartment to visit Andrew. When the lights in the hall go out, he instantly makes a break for the stairs.
- Shout-Out: The sound effects used during the demonic showdown at the climax are the bionic sounds from The Six Million Dollar Man.
- Slashed Throat: The demon kills people primarily in this way, as Mickey and Elie note that Arthur's throat was torn clean out.
- Sole Survivor: Elie is the only character directly involved in the plot who ends up staying alive.
- Spell Book: Andrew owns, studies, and dotes upon one owned by his distant ancestor Jedediah MacBane, and aches to recover the 10 missing pages meant for summoning the family demon to kill his uncle and inherit his fortune. When the demon proves to be too much for him to control, he reveals to Elie that he tried burning the missing pages to break the spell that summoned it, only to render it unable to be banished again.
- Super-Strength: The MacBane demon possesses it, using it to bend the bars of Elie's basement window to try and get in.
- Tempting Fate: As Elie discusses Andrew's layabout nature and how he's acting like he's stuck in the "dead days", he starts to mention that nothing could be more dead than Andrew's ambitions before he and Mickey spot Arthur's mutilated corpse, his throat torn out.
- Those Two Guys: Mickey and Elie, Andrew's closest friends, act as this throughout the first half of the segment.
- Time Skip: After Andrew, Mickey, and Elie make a toast to Andrew's formal disinheritance and their futures, the segment skips ahead six months after the end of Arthur's deadline, where the MacBane family demon ultimately and brutally kills him.
- Title Drop: Andrew quotes the title late in the segment, as he tells Elie that "there aren't anymore MacBanes" after him. Elie also says it at the very end, when Andrew's butler investigates the disturbance.
- Villain Protagonist: Andrew is a self-centered lout who uses black magic to kill his uncle and inherit his fortune.
- Wicked Witch: The demon Andrew summons has a witch-like appearance, with large clawed hands and red eyes for good measure.
