In a world that often feels inhospitable or unfair, humor is how so many of us get through our days. A good laugh helps relieve stress, tension can be cut with a great joke, and serious topics can be easily contextualized through comedy.
Then, there are those who ruin the fun by taking things too far. They can certainly be a nuisance in real life, but they are nothing compared to the jokers in this set of anthology episodes.
From class clowns to prank callers, and from callous teens to sadistic tricksters, these stories will make you reconsider your next April Fools’ joke…
The Hitchhiker (1983): Joker
Not to be confused with the movie The Hitcher, this 1983 anthology follows the series’ namesake, an anonymous, denim-clad nomad who provides an assortment of gripping tales. “Joker” concerns a woman (Kelly Lynch) who is being stalked by an unhinged prankster. She suspects her co-worker is behind everything, but the culprit is really someone from her past.
While the story seems straightforward enough, there’s more going on here than either the victim or stalker are letting on.
Tales of the Unexpected (1979): Where’s Your Sense of Humor?
Created by author Roald Dahl, Tales of the Unexpected frequently dabbled in every genre. This entry from screenwriter Peter Ransley shows a woman fed up with her best friend’s husband. The problem is, he loves playing practical jokes that the protagonist hardly finds amusing. She scolds him, then warns that one day one of his pranks will go “wrong.”
Although that sounds like a threat, this is more a case of just desserts.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990): The Tale of the Crimson Clown
A pair of bickering brothers are at the heart of this classic Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode. Mike is the older of the two, and he is frustrated by how his younger sibling Sam gets away with his bratty behavior. To teach Sam a lesson, Mike jokes that the Crimson Clown will punish him.
This is a considerably edifying episode in a series where the kiddos don’t always survive their ordeals. Here, unconscious guilt manifests in the most peculiar way.
Night Visions (2001): Dead Air
If you were watching FOX in the summer of ’01, you might remember this short-run anthology hosted by musician Henry Rollins. In “Dear Air,” Lou Diamond Phillips plays a late-night shock jock known for his loathsome on-air personality. When he asks his listeners to phone in their creepy stories, one fan gets especially creative with her contribution.
Paranoia soaks this solitary suspenser from the writer of Ghoulies. Also: creepiest use of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” ever?
R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour (2010): Séance
Lasting four seasons, The Haunting Hour is named after the eponymous collection of shorts by famed children’s author R.L. Stine. Earlier stories were largely based on entries from his other omnibus, Nightmare Hour, though. “Séance” is an original episode that shows just how double-edged pranks can be.
With help from her friends, a teenager attempts to summon a murderer’s ghost as part of her plan to scare her younger sister.
The Haunting Hour is known among fans for its unhappy endings and “Séance” is no exception.
The Twilight Zone (2002): How Much Do You Love Your Kid?
People don’t think too fondly of the aughts reboot of Rod Serling’s classic series, but, at the very least, it was full of bold moments. “How Much Do You Love Your Kid?” capitalizes on the decade’s reality television boom. In this episode, a debt-ridden family is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when their young son is abducted. A reality game show intervenes and offers Bonnie Somerville’s character money if she can find her kid. That jackpot grows even larger when she goes after the kidnapper.
The episode goes to extremes to satirize a divisive TV trend. Even so, Somerville’s vocal performance and the detestable ending make “How Much Do You Love Your Kid?” a hard one to forget.
Room 104 (2017): Prank Call
The Duplass brothers dabble with all genres in Room 104, an anthology where every story is contained to the same motel room at different points in time. In “Prank Call,” a troubled teenager randomly dials strangers to distract herself from her problems. Yet, one of her victims is not about to let her hang up without finishing what she started.
This provocative thriller of an episode ends on an explosive note before begging audiences to contemplate the power we have over others.
Lost Tapes (2008): Hellhound
Cryptids and other monsters are the subject matter in this obscure, found-footage style anthology. In the episode “Hellhound,” a group of teenage witches invites a new member into the coven. Their leader first wants to play a prank on her during the cemetery-set ritual, but the sudden appearance of a black dog signals doom for anyone who looked at it three times.
Like all other episodes in this horror mockumentary, “Hellhound” is pieced together with ‘factual’ interviews and trivia about supernatural canines.
Night Gallery (1970): Big Surprise
Night Gallery was Rod Serling’s follow-up to The Twilight Zone. It was comparatively more subtle and low on thought experimentation. Still, there were some terrifying episodes, including one where John Carradine plays an unnerving old man. In this short episode based on a Richard Matheson story, the elderly character invites three young school boys to dig up a “big surprise” in a nearby field. What appears to be a joke ends up being far from funny for the boys or viewers at home.
It should be noted that there are two versions of this episode. The first was ten-minutes long, but the syndicated version is double that. Looping scenes creates a whole new theory that explains the daunting, if not vague, conclusion of the original.
Goosebumps (1995): You Can’t Scare Me
Jealousy drives two boys to prank a classmate, a girl they deem to be “Little Miss Perfect.” Each and every time they try to knock her down a peg, she effortlessly outwits them and exposes their immaturity. Things change when the boys use the town’s local myth — the swamp is home to a Mud Monster — in their latest scare tactic.
While Goosebumps lacks timeless frights, “You Can’t Scare Me” is a genuinely amusing episode with quality special effects for the time and budget.
The Ray Bradbury Theater (1988): The Dwarf
The works of renowned author Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451) were brought to life in this tailor-made anthology.
“The Dwarf” has the owner of a mirror maze playing a cruel joke on one of his regulars. A little person visits the attraction every night to escape the image he otherwise sees every day. The maze’s owner toys with the customer, but only receives his own self-reflecting comeuppance later.
Ghost Stories (1997): The New Nanny
Rip Torn narrates this spectral series that first aired on The Family Channel (later ABC Family, now Freeform). As the title suggests, every episode involves a ghost.
“The New Nanny” has a couple hiring Danielle to care for their precocious son Eric. During the whole night, though, Danielle never meets her charge as they only speak by telephone. To make matters worse, Eric continues to play pranks on Danielle. The real question here is, how is he doing all of this if he never leaves his room?
What is essentially a one-woman show, “The New Nanny” puts a clever spin on the imperiled babysitter tale.
Into the Dark (2018): I’m Just F*cking with You
Hayes MacArthur and Keir O’Donnell’s characters butt heads in Adam Mason’s “I’m Just F*cking with You.” This bizarre April Fools’ Day-themed episode of Into the Dark has a seemingly mild-mannered man, who really leads a double life as an online troll, fending off the impish owner of the motel he’s staying at.
The tension between them gradually escalates before erupting into an all-out fight to see who has the literal last laugh.
Bloodride (2020): The Elephant in the Room
In “The Elephant in the Room” from Norwegian anthology Bloodride, an office costume party gets way out of hand when two new employees play water-cooler detectives. Recently, there was a case of office bullying that ended in tragedy, but the evidence doesn’t line up.
This episode is a great example of what happens when you interfere without knowing the facts beforehand.
Beyond Belief — Fact or Fiction (1997): Grave Sitting
“Grave Sitting” is the result of thinking someone’s playing a joke on you. In this interactive anthology that tests your powers of deduction, host Jonathan Frakes leads us into an eerie adaptation of a popular urban legend. Two teens challenge their friend to sit on a murderer’s grave one night. She accepts, but as the evening continues, she suspects the spirit of the killer is with her.
The power of suggestion proves to be more deadly than fact in “Grave Sitting.”
Creeped Out (2017): Kindlesticks
Babysitting isn’t easy, but Esme has found a surefire way to keep her kids in line in “Kindlesticks.” In this British anthology geared towards the youth, children are besieged by forces beyond their control or understanding. Esme quells her clients’ rowdy behavior by threatening them with a monster called Kindlesticks.
This plan always works until she meets her match in the form of a boy named Ash.
Tales from the Crypt (1989): Abra Cadaver
Tony Goldwyn and Beau Bridges play a pair of brothers and doctors in “Abra Cadaver.” Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child) shows the lengths we go to for laughs and revenge. In the episode, Carl’s poor judgment changes his brother Martin’s life forever, but don’t think the fun stops there. In fact, Martin’s just getting started.
As absurd as the story in “Abra Cadaver” is, it’s played straight for the most part. This suspenseful need for retribution ends in the most brutal way possible.
Masters of Horror (2005): We All Scream for Ice Cream
Tom Holland (Fright Night) shows the consequences of a childhood prank gone terribly wrong in the “Masters of Horror” episode “We All Scream for Ice Cream.”
After living with the guilt of what they did all those years ago, the kids, who are now adults with their own children, are stalked by a supernatural entity.
There’s nothing novel about this episode, but Holland makes good use of classic tropes while taking advantage of Showtime’s openness to gooey gore.
Tales from the Darkside (1983): Trick or Treat
Before George A. Romero’s Tales from the Darkside was picked up for its first season, he crafted a stellar pilot. In “Trick or Treat,” a rural area’s farmers are financially exploited by a wealthy, old man. Every Halloween, the curmudgeon gives his debtors a chance to clear their credit: if their kids can make it all the way through his haunted house, their parents’ IOUs are destroyed.
This Halloween, however, will not be like others as the old man is about to get a taste of his own medicine.
The actual series was frequently limited by its sparing budget. In contrast, Bob Balaban’s “Trick or Treat” was an imaginative-looking episode rich in macabre wonder.
Inside No. 9 (2014): Cold Comfort
A crisis hotline is the setting in this deeply disturbed episode. At the call center, a new operator named Andy speaks to Chloe, an at-risk teenager. The incident goes south and Andy is left hanging, pondering the fate of Chloe.
Showrunners Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith made their directorial debuts here. Their first outing is as distinguished as it is dark. The pair experiments by shooting the events of booth nine at Comfort Support Line through a fixed lens. This includes a final shot that will catch everyone off-guard.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 31, 2020.