Editorials
Before Annabelle and Chucky, We Met Talky Tina in “The Twilight Zone”
On the surface, nothing should be easier than making a killer doll story. After all, you’re taking something so innocent, so comforting that we give it to children to help them sleep, and making it evil. The juxtaposition alone does most of a horror writer’s work for them.
But when the initial spine shivers stop and the brain’s logic facilities kick in, the concept falls apart. Why would a grown adult be scared of a 30” toy? No matter how angry it gets, it’s still made of plastic or porcelain. How much harm could it do with those teeny-tiny toy hands?
Simply put, a good killer doll story is more than just child’s play. It takes a top-notch storyteller to keep the idea of the monster scary, without letting its physical limitations become apparent.
A number of horror movies have done just that, particularly the Child’s Play and Annabelle franchises, but they all build off the groundwork laid by the 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone, “Living Doll.”
Directed by Richard C. Sarafain, from Jerry Sohl’s adaptation of Charles Beaumont’s short story, “Living Doll” contains none of the philosophical moralizing for which The Twilight Zone is best known (unless you count “don’t be mean to kids” as a moral). Instead, it tells a straightforward scary story about the titular doll, bought by loving mother Annabelle Streator (Mary LaRoche) for her daughter Christie (Tracy Stratford) to help the girl cope with her overbearing new step-dad Erich (Telly Savalas). When Christie and Annabelle are around, Talky Tina waves her arms, shakes her head, and recites her signature phrase, “My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much.” But when the cruel Erich gets alone with her, Tina trades adoration for admonition, warning him “My name is Talky Tina and I’m going to kill you.”
Despite his attempts, Erich cannot convince his family of the doll’s threats, nor can he dispose of her. Every time he thinks he’s destroyed her, Tina appears again in Christie’s bed.
Lacking the special effect budgets enjoyed by modern filmmakers and saddled with the standards & practices restrictions of late-60s network TV, Sarafain cannot overtly show Talky Tina’s menace. Even when she kills Erich by laying on the staircase and tripping him as he walks down, the moment lacks the punch of, say, a babysitter falling through the window in the original Child’s Play.
That scene ends with the camera holding on Erich laying at the bottom of the stairwell, Tina next to him, her empty eyes watching without blinking as his eyes go blank. He knows that she did it on purpose. He always knew she would.
As that moment demonstrates, Sarafain made Talky Tina a credible monster by showing us how much Erich fears her. Much of the credit here goes to Savalas, who stuffs his hulking frame into a casual white shirt and slacks, like a mob heavy masquerading as a suburban dad. He layers every line with a brutal belligerence, so that the audience thinks he’s one glance away from physically assaulting his family, even in his few moments of kindness toward them.
With such an imposing victim, “Living Doll” wisely avoids trying to make Tina look scary, giving her an angry sneer or delivering her lines with a growl. Instead, legendary voice actor June Foray reads Tina’s threats with the same sing-song sweetness as she does her declarations of love. She may turn her head or open her eyes, but her facial expressions never change. When she tells Erich, “You can’t hurt me, but I can hurt you,” she does it with the same bright smile she always wears, because killing Erich is just another part of her playtime.
Of course, Tina doesn’t have to change her appearance because the story makes the doll itself just the focus of larger turmoil. From the gloomy cello episode composer Bernard Herrmann laces under the opening shot, a simple image of Annabelle bringing packages into the suburban Streator home, we know there’s something wrong. Tensions between the resentful Erich, who feels insecure about his inability to conceive a child with Annabelle, and the family he bullies create unease even before Tina begins acting strangely. The mistrust he’s sown makes it easier to understand why Annabelle would doubt him, even as he demands she believe his fear of the doll. Talky Tina doesn’t need to orchestrate fatal accidents or leave creepy notes to bring down Erich; she just needs to make him doubt his own sanity – doubts his family shares.
Tina’s aided in her machinations with powers that make her more than an evil doll. Not only can Tina move her head and open her eyes by herself, her internal gears turning with an otherworldly hum, but she’s also nearly invincible. When Erich tries to set her ablaze, his fire puffs out. Taking a circular saw to Tina’s head produces showers of sparks, but no cuts on her neck. Tina can even call Erich to taunt him on the phone. The big and brutal Erich becomes an impotent weakling when facing the power manifested in Talky Tina.
Later filmmakers like Tom Holland, Don Mancini, and James Wan might have had more effects and gore to work with, but one can see them following this episode’s lead. When Chucky makes troubled little Andy the prime suspect of his crimes, or when Annabelle teleports from a dumpster to two nurses’ apartment, we hear the echo of a voice we’ve heard before.
It all started with Talky Tina.
If there’s one artistic medium that can perfectly recreate the despair of living through a vivid nightmare, it has to be video games. A simulated world can be just as believable as the developers want it to be, and once you add in the added complexity of actually exploring and participating in spaces and events instead of just observing them as you would in a film, it starts to become clear why so many horror titles add mind-bending meta elements that make you fear the act of playing itself.
For instance, years ago, I remember scoffing at Silent Hill: Shattered Memories due to its initial disclaimer promising that “this game plays you as much as you play it,” only to later go through unexpected heartbreak once the developers used the game’s personalization mechanics to make the ending even more impactful. This is just one example of interactive experiences reaching through the screen in order to affect gamers, and in honor of eerie fourth-wall breaks and haunted game folders everywhere, today I’d like to recommend six other meta horror games liable to melt your brain (but in a good way).
For the purposes of this list, I’ll be defining “meta” as any game that incorporates/addresses the fact that you’re playing a game into the overall narrative. That being said, this is far from a definitive guide to the meta horror genre, so don’t forget to comment below with your own favorites if you think I missed a particularly spooky one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Bubbaruka!
I was fascinated by virtual pets as a kid. Pokémon Yellow was always my favorite entry in the franchise because you could look behind you and check in on Pikachu, and you’d never find me on the playground without my trusty blue Tamagotchi. That’s why it felt like Benjamin Schade’s Bubbaruka! was made for me, personally.
A survival horror throwback where you explore an unfinished version of a nostalgic virtual pet game that a friend of yours found hidden inside a used laptop, this surprisingly lengthy title will soon have you questioning the limits of virtual life and death. Just remember not to lower your guard just because of the game’s cutesy retro graphics, as Bubbaruka! has a lot more up its lo-fi sleeves than you may initially realize.
5. Inscryption
Roguelike deck-building may no longer be the novel game mechanic that it once was, but when it works, it really works. If there’s one of these randomized titles that still hasn’t been beaten despite years of competitors attempting to one-up its card-based thrills, it’s Daniel Mullins’ infamous Inscryption.
What starts as a supernatural haunted cabin story soon with folk horror aesthetics soon evolves into a mind-bending exploration of the terrors of programming itself, though I won’t get into details as this is one genre narrative that is best experienced firsthand.
While the latter half of the game isn’t quite as mechanically engaging as that memorable first act, Daniel has since updated the title with an infinite tabletop mode so you can continue battling Leshy to your masochistic heart’s content.
4. SIMULACRA
Despite smartphones being such a crucial part of modern-day life, there isn’t a lot of media that explores this virtual aspect of our online selves in any meaningful capacity. That’s why I was originally compelled to try out Kaigan Games OÜ’s SIMULACRA – a mystery game where you find a lost phone and attempt to unravel the secrets of a missing young woman named Anna.
From fully functional apps to authentic-looking Found Footage videos detailing Anna’s life and social group, SIMULACRA will leave you feeling like a reluctant detective that can’t help but get involved in a missing persons case that only gets stranger the more you learn about it.
If you like this one, don’t forget to check out the mechanically superior sequels.
3. A Dark Place
XerStudios’ A Dark Place may be controversial due to its malware-like approach to messing with your computer systems as you play, but I’d argue that this experimental form of interactive art makes the game that much more fascinating – especially since the story behind the title is interesting enough for it to be worth dealing with what some fans jokingly consider to be legitimately cursed game files.
While this 2018 title is best experienced blind, I’m a big fan of how the game uses extremely simple mechanics to tell a complex story that lingers long after you’ve (hopefully) managed to uninstall the curse.
2. MyHouse.wad
Adding MyHouse.wad to this list is kind of a cheat since it’s technically a Doom II mod instead of a standalone release, but there’s no way that we could discuss fourth-wall-breaking meta horror experiences without bringing up the videogame equivalent to Mark Z. Danielewski’s iconic House of Leaves.
I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoilers, but Steve Nelson’s bizarre creation starts out as an architectural tribute to a deceased friend before quickly evolving into a freaky example of liminal horror and the limits of virtual obsession.
If you’ve ever felt like living through a Creepypasta, this is the game/mod for you!
1. Forbidden Solitaire
The most recent release on this list, Grey Alien games and Night Signal Entertainment’s Forbidden Solitaire, may not be a technically complex title, but it’s certainly one of the most entertaining interactive horror romps of the past few years.
This tongue-in-cheek project presents itself as an eerily authentic piece of screenlife horror where you try out a mysterious card game from the ’90s while your sister attempts to warn you about the title’s allegedly “cursed” history. While poking through the protagonist’s desktop screen and receiving fascinating FMV footage from Emily is entertaining enough, using the power of Solitaire to destroy demonic entities is terrifyingly addictive.
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