"The Festive Season" is Arthur Hiller's third 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' entry, after "Flight to the East" (rather mixed, leaning towards disappointing) and "Disappearing Trick" (pretty good). Did like the premise for "The Festive Season", which did sound very creepy and very Hitchcockian. Carmen Matthews is no stranger to 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', she was in three previous episodes and made a strong impression in all and went on to star in two more after.
As far as Season 3 goes, "The Festive Season" is not one of the best or one of the worst. Personally put it somewhere in the middle, finding it a decent, above average episode that could have been a lot better considering the premise. It's also in my mind rather misleadingly titled, something that also struck me even reading the synopsis, with there being nothing festive or holiday-ish and instead a melodrama centered around unpleasant people. Not saying that that is a bad thing as such, just that it wasn't what leapt into my head reading the premise.
Did find a lot of good things in "The Festive Season". For one thing, to me it is very well acted. Matthews does controlling truly chillingly, definitely her most chilling 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' performance, and Richard Waring portrays the brooding bitterness of his character more than convincingly and with the broodiness increasing. The chemistry between them scintillates and evokes enough suspense. Hiller does direct with a quite good eye for atmosphere.
It looks pretty good, the setting being simple but not overly so and there is a lot of slickness and moodiness in the photography and lighting that enhance. The audio is suitably ominous and the series' theme music is still a classic. Hitchcock's bookending is amusingly ironic as usual and doesn't jar surprisingly with the more serious tone of the story. The episode starts off quite well and is a very intriguing character study, the characters are very unpleasant but also very interesting and with a strong chemistry.
Having said all of this, "A Festive Season" could have been more. It could have done with a lot more suspense, as the premise is one that cries out for it, as well as more dark mood (there in spurts but not all the way through), a tighter pace (the middle felt too stretched) and surprises.
Did also find it too heavy on the talk, some of it not adding much and being too wordy, and that the ending had a very run out of ideas and anaemic quality, indicative of being unsure how to end.
Overall, decent and above average but not the very good or more episode it could have been. 6/10.
As far as Season 3 goes, "The Festive Season" is not one of the best or one of the worst. Personally put it somewhere in the middle, finding it a decent, above average episode that could have been a lot better considering the premise. It's also in my mind rather misleadingly titled, something that also struck me even reading the synopsis, with there being nothing festive or holiday-ish and instead a melodrama centered around unpleasant people. Not saying that that is a bad thing as such, just that it wasn't what leapt into my head reading the premise.
Did find a lot of good things in "The Festive Season". For one thing, to me it is very well acted. Matthews does controlling truly chillingly, definitely her most chilling 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' performance, and Richard Waring portrays the brooding bitterness of his character more than convincingly and with the broodiness increasing. The chemistry between them scintillates and evokes enough suspense. Hiller does direct with a quite good eye for atmosphere.
It looks pretty good, the setting being simple but not overly so and there is a lot of slickness and moodiness in the photography and lighting that enhance. The audio is suitably ominous and the series' theme music is still a classic. Hitchcock's bookending is amusingly ironic as usual and doesn't jar surprisingly with the more serious tone of the story. The episode starts off quite well and is a very intriguing character study, the characters are very unpleasant but also very interesting and with a strong chemistry.
Having said all of this, "A Festive Season" could have been more. It could have done with a lot more suspense, as the premise is one that cries out for it, as well as more dark mood (there in spurts but not all the way through), a tighter pace (the middle felt too stretched) and surprises.
Did also find it too heavy on the talk, some of it not adding much and being too wordy, and that the ending had a very run out of ideas and anaemic quality, indicative of being unsure how to end.
Overall, decent and above average but not the very good or more episode it could have been. 6/10.