User Reviews

I can understand why others reacted rather unpleasantly towards the climax yielding a twist that really is hard to take seriously. I think, though, that the build-up to it works rather well. The music, quite menacing and spine-tingling, really provides a spooky aura matching the unforgiving sound of a constant ringing telephone that is driving struggling English actress, Joan Matlin(Jean Marsh)bonkers. She's borrowing a pal's nice apartment while attempting to jump-start her career in New York City(..the city buildings outside the window look about as realistic as David Letterman's)and is unceremoniously welcome by a noisy telephone which rings quite a bit, followed by loud slams against the wall. Searching for answers regarding the one responsible for such disregard towards her sanity, Joan discovers that no one rents that room, and that a former tenant had in fact strangled herself. Without help from the manager, Joan will decide to find out for herself who is causing her such anguish. Joan discovers the room empty and the phone with a particular female voice which will haunt her.

The episode, I think, is a tour-de-force for Jean Marsh who is a one woman show. She's the only actress visible and we follow her through the crisis which slowly erodes her, the phone and the banging from that other room causing her much distress which grows into fear. Instead of leaving, Joan remains, so shaken by the noise and to the breaking point where she just wishes for the phone(..or whoever is ringing)to stop. The episode provides a possible answer as to who is plaguing Joan and why. A character named Beth comes into the story rather late as Joan struggles to find out whose female voice it was across the other line who knew her name on that dreaded phone she discovers in the room across from hers. The fate of Beth might just tell the viewer why Joan is being traumatized. I think this episode is an exercise in spooks instead of credibility;some didn't particularly like it, but I certainly did. I will admit that the phone, as a physical menace "crawling" towards Joan is hard to take seriously, not to mention it's attack on her, but I thought the intense opening twenty minutes before this were suitably chilling enough to make up for it.

Tales from the Darkside: Answer Me starts at just gone 3 O'Clock early one New York morning as aspiring actress Joan Matlin (Jean Marsh) is woken up by the sound of a ringing telephone coming from the apartment next door, whenever Joan is in her apartment the telephone next door constantly rings throughout the day & night, she phones the apartment manager to complain but he claims no-one lives there & the last person who did was found dead after having committed suicide by strangling herself. Joan can't take the constant ringing & decides to go round there & check out just what is going on...

Episode 15 from season 1 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during February 1985, the first of four Tales from the Darkside episodes to be directed by Richard Friedman this was doing alright until the absolutely ridiculous twist ending which reveals a living killer telephone! The script by Michael McDowell starts off well enough with a constantly ringing telephone driving Joan crazy & things turns spooky when she finds out there's no explanation for it & at this point Answer Me is quite gripping but the twist ending has to be seen to be believed, I'm sorry but the sight of a living telephone sliding across the floor trying to look menacing & then strangling someone with it's cord is a true laugh out loud moment as it's just so unintentionally funny, in fact I'd go as far as to say it's utterly hilarious. There's no explanation as to why a living telephone (snigger) would want to killer people but if there was that would also probably be downright hilarious.

Right, first off the constant loud shrill ring of the telephone really starts to become annoying after a while, don't forget there's no soft electronic tones here or silly mobile phone ring tones either. This one sounds like a school bell or something & it's just irritating so in that sense it works quite well in the context of the story, however that doesn't mean I want to spend 20 minutes listening to the damned thing. This one tires to be scary & spooky & until the stupid ending it did a decent job however the ending ruins everything good it had done until that point. Answer Me only features one person, the vastly experienced Marsh does OK I suppose.

Answer Me is worth 5 stars just for the hilarious ending, as for the rest of it there's little here to get excited about. Worth watching for the unintentional laugh value.

This episode had potential. The basic premise of a woman living next door to an empty apartment (but a phone that constantly rings) is somewhat interesting. And when she explores the noise, there is genuine tension and fear. But stupid script writing ruins any promise the episode had.

First of all, the woman readily admits to seeing things that would send most of us running in the other direction (e.g. "It's funny that the door slammed shut even though there is no wind;" "This door has serious damage to it that wasn't here a minute ago;" "The door opened by itself, without me touching it;" etc.). Given these supernatural phenomena, plus the fact that a woman committed suicide in the room, wouldn't she take some precaution before entering it? Maybe she could investigate in the day time. Or maybe she could investigate the apartment with somebody else. Or maybe she could TURN ON THE LIGHTS!!! Also, while in the haunted apartment, she decides to make numerous phone calls to the operator and gets into an argument over who has the power to disconnect the phone, and then they begin discussing the details of the suicide. JUST UNPLUG THE PHONE! The phone company doesn't need to be involved. Walk up to the phone and unplug it. Case closed.

Finally, showing the phone scamper across the floor like it's alive was just comical. If the director wanted the woman to get strangled by the phone card, he could've done it in a way that didn't look cartoony. Brave Little Toaster anyone?

Down on her luck English actress Joan Matlin (an excellent performance by Jean Marsh) lives in a sublet apartment in Manhattan. However, Joan starts to lose it because of a neighbor's constantly ringing phone. Director Richard Friedman, working from a quirky and compelling script by Michael McDowell, not only milks plenty of suspense from the unusual premise and claustrophobic setting, but also ably creates a strong sense of mounting hysteria that gets more freaky and unnerving as the plot unfolds towards a startling surprise downbeat ending. Moreover, the story offers a nice blend of sharp offbeat humor and absorbing mystery. A one woman show, Marsh's intense and energetic acting really keeps things humming. A neat episode.

Joan who is an English actress is subletting an apartment from her friend, while in New York. One night she is awakened but the telephone next door. This phone rings constantly, plus she hears loud noises banging up against the wall. When her friend calls her up one day, Joan explain s to her what's going on. She is then told by her friend and later land lord that the apartment is empty. Supposedly the woman who lived there strangled herself. When it keeps happening Joan goes over there, there is nothing there except a phone that is plugged in. She does everything to get the phone disconnected, but fails. She is to the point of losing her sanity, especially when she calls the operator for help. When Joan tries to leave the apartment she can't. The phone is like possessed and finally grabs her around the neck. The ending shows Joan on the floor with the phone-cord around her neck. This is a really creepy episode, in fact most of the episodes from season one are excellent. It's too bad you can't find shows like this on T.V. now.