User Reviews

By pure chance, I followed DARK OF THE MOON (1957; TV) with this similar effort about dark forces threatening the life of a tradition-bound community, in this case Scotland. The hero is a prime bagpipe player (Richard Carlson) but an impoverished one, who cannot afford to pay the rent due his unforgiving laird. An impish diabolical presence turns up to help him but, when he reappears before the master with his bag of money, the latter expires before having signed a receipt...so that, as soon as his successor arrives, he demands double the amount owed his estate! The devil persuades Carlson to go to Hell and retrieve an acknowledgment of his past payment from the former landowner – which, if not accepted by his heir, Carlson is to forfeit his soul! Of course, things go exactly the way we expect them under the circumstances, and soon the netherworld minion resurfaces to collect...but Carlson picks up his bagpipes and takes to playing the Lord's Hymn, which naturally drives away the evil influence (which disappears in the proverbial puff of smoke)! The film, inspired by a Sir Walter Scott original, is an entertaining little item – making "Lights Out" another series to watch from the early days of TV, along with the likes of "Climax!", "Suspense" and "Tales Of Tomorrow" that I had already sampled over the years...

This story was apparently based on a story by Sir Walter Scott and it's very ironic I chose now to download and watch the show. That's because I am visiting Edinburgh--and am staying in a hotel only about 100 yards from the Scott Memorial on Princes Street! How weird that I timed now of all times to begin watching episodes of "Lights Out". As for the show, it's one of the earliest (if not the earliest) horror anthology programs on television--and many of the later episodes are available for free download at archive.org.

As for the VERY Scottish story, it's rather funny to watch all the actors laying on THICK Scottish accents. It's also funny that the only one with an English accent is the Devil (Jonathan Harris)! Perhaps this says something about the feelings about the English here in Scotland! As far as trying to explain the story, I don't think I can--you need to see it for yourself though I can say that it's about a cheated man who makes a bargain with the Devil--and in the end, there's literally Hell to pay! The story is pretty cheesy and I wish I had shown this to one of the locals to see what they would think. All I know is that the low production values and silliness of the tale make it one of the lesser episodes in this series. Worth a peek but don't expect a lot.