Darkroom (1981) – Who’s There?

A few years ago, I first came across an American anthology I had never heard of before: Darkroom. NBC’s website streamed this early-’80s and short-lived series for a brief period before erasing it altogether. The show has since been dismissed as a pale imitation of Night Gallery; host James Coburn used photographs to set up the stories as opposed to paintings in the Rod Serling series. And while I can understand that opinion — a dismissive one, at that — I still found a few notable segments in the collection. One standout is Who’s There?, a short tale wedged between two longer offerings (Exit Line and The Rarest of Wines).

Eight is Enough alums Grant Goodeve and Dianne Kay star alongside Michael Lembeck (The Krofft Supershow) in Who’s There? This story begins with Goodeve’s character, Steve, overhearing yet another dispute between his upstairs neighbors, Claire (Kay) and Barry (Lembeck). And unlike most folks, Steve doesn’t ignore the matter; he brings it up, albeit in jest, as he bumps into the couple that same morning. Claire is off to her mother’s house for the next few days, and Barry is on his way to an important job interview out of town. Any anticipated awkwardness is quickly defused by Barry’s dry attempt at a joke (“thin walls,” he says) and the prospect of him landing a job, which would, presumably, alleviate some of the stress in his and Claire’s relationship. At last, Steve volunteers to watch over their place in the meantime.

I expected Who’s There? to go in a different direction based on what happened next. Later that night, a noticeably dewy Steve, who is bare-chested for good reason rather than just plain eye candy, hears strange noises coming from Barry and Claire’s place above his. The two of them are both gone, so who could it be? At first, I suspected a home invasion or maybe even a haunting manifested by the couple’s bad vibes. It’s nothing that high-concept, at it turned out. However, the actual scenario is no less disturbing.

Writer Brian Clemens (Thriller) was well adept at building tension, even when characters are only sitting and talking at a table for a large portion of the runtime. And while the story isn’t overtly horror, director Paul Lynch (Prom Night) sets an eerie tone not too far off from that of his slasher fare. Stretches of this dark, psychological drama go unscored, allowing the stillness to punctuate diegetic sounds, not to mention the worrying exchanges between characters toward the end.

What might have simply ripened into a case of dramatic dissuasion between friends curves into a startling demonstration of self-interest. Who’s There? drops enough hints along the way that undermine the ultimate surprise, yet seeing is believing once the story follows through with its ominous setup. Would it be odd to call this segment’s twist in the tail “delicious?” Maybe, but often the most toothsome of meals also come with a tinge of guilt.

It’s easy to see why Darkroom was developed at the time, and it’s even easier to disregard it as unremarkable and unoriginal. Yet, hidden gems like Who’s There? are why I love this era of anthology-making in the first place. Minimalistic, character driven, and capped off with a mad turn of events. Brilliant stuff.

Watch Who’s There?:

So the Story Goes spotlights notable anthology tales from both television and film, with an emphasis on the horror genre.