The Tale of the Curious Camera

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Midnight Society

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Air Date: Saturday, March 19, 1994
Storyteller: Betty Ann (Raine Pare-Coull)

Frame: In a more relatable intro that most of this show's viewers would be able to relate to, the Midnight Society has brought old photos of themselves, collectively laughing at how they used to look. Betty Ann goes on to tell them all how their pictures reveal their individual personalities and how they'll all turn out. Using this to segway into her story, she questions what if we didn't want to know what our futures had in store? What if our future held something truly terrible that we didn't want to face, and there was no way to avoid it?

Story: When a high school basketball team gets their pictures taken, once they're developed, Matt Dorney (Eddie Kaye Thomas) finds that he's not even in his own photo. When he goes to the photographer, Mr. Calhoun (Richard McMillan), to get a refund, Calhoun refuses but offers him an old-style camera for free. Though Matt's grateful, after bringing it home, he comes to realize that everything he takes a picture of gets ruined seconds later, which he soon comes to realize includes people's lives, upon taking a picture of his bully, Kullback (Christian Tessier), which results in a near-miss when a locker falls on him.

Review: This was one episode I had to think on for a while, but all in all, I rather enjoyed it. I like the concept overall, but there are things I would eliminate, such as the (spoiler alert) "little gremlin" that lives in the camera, causing all the mayhem. It could just be a cursed camera. Aside from that, it's a little predictable, but I don't have a lot of negative to say about it because the whole climactic sequence here actually hits surprisingly well. It's also sort of fascinating to see a pre-'American Pie' Eddie Kaye Thomas, and the frame of the episode is another solid one from Betty Ann. It's not quite a favourite, but it's solid.

Final Review: Scared

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