Review:
Jason's finally convinved Liz to cough up the dough to get Willie out of town. Jason tells Willie he has the money, but Willie still splits before he gets his hands on it. Sure, he thought he was going to be rolling in jewels before the night was over, but why didn't he stick around to take the extra cash? It would have taken what, 5 minutes to wait for Jason to wander back out into the foyer and hand him the money? Then he could have left with the jewels and the cash and no one would have been the wiser.
You have to love the outdoor sets, they look that much more creepy in the black and white episodes. They look real enough, but are off by just a slight margin which lends a surreal quality to the surroundings. I love how old horror movies would create outdoor sets inside a studio. Now if only DS had the budget to throw in some painted backdrops the look would be complete.
They sure are taking the time to talk about the portrait lately. I know it's a new addition to the set and they need to establish the fact that Barnabas lived 200 years ago... but it's pretty much all anyone talks about lately, like they just noticed it was there. Nice shot framing Vicki and Liz in the mirror beside the portrait. You miss shots like this later on, before the camera work just went for the EXTREME CLOSE UP 90% of the time.
Is it just me, or does the portrait of Barnabas look a LOT smaller than it does in later episodes? Was there more than one?
Willie enters the mausoleum and takes a look around. If I were him I'd be surprised at A. How clean it is in there, and B. That the local kids haven't vandalized the place with grafitti and beer bottles. I mean come on, you just have to open the door to get inside, it's in a secluded spot, it'd be party central for the high school crowd. Other than that there should be tons of dead leaves, cobwebs, and weather damage to the place. It's pretty open to the elements.
Jason and Liz argue about Willie's disappearance in the foyer. It must be close to midnight by now, what the hell is everyone still doing up?
If it wasn't the opening to a secret passage, that Lion's head probably would have come right off the wall when Willie used it as a brace for the pulley. It's just a decoration. And wouldn't the ring have long since rusted, not to mention the chains? Maybe not, I don't know much about metal working in colonial times.
I wonder how many kids threw their hands over their eyes when the hand came up out of the coffin?
Favorite line of the episode: A bible you can swear on will never be written, Willie.