Random Creepy Scene # 338: The After Hours
Mannequins have frequently been used to supremely creepy effect in horror cinema. From Mario Bava’s early giallo Blood & Black Lace , with its lavish fashion house peppered with dress makers dummies, to 1979’s eerie Tourist Trap with its bizarre roadside museum chock-full of the uncanny things, it is fair to say that mannequins are officially creepy. An early episode of the Twilight Zone called The After Hours also utilises the spooky plastic people to shuddering effect, and then it manages to do something genuinely original with them too… Anne Francis stars as Marsha White, who enjoys shopping and browsing in expensive boutique shops. Mooching around a colossal department store looking for a gold thimble for her mother, Marsha is taken to the 9th floor by the elevator operator: a floor that does not appear on the elevator panel. When she reaches the 9th floor, Marsha is greeted by a slightly awkward saleswomen, who shows her the only item on the floor: a gold thimble! ...