Tales from the Darkside: The Yattering and Jack is set during Christmas & starts as a young woman named Amanda (Danielle Brisebois) decides to spend it with her father Jack (Anthony Carbone). Once at her fathers house she notices strange things, pictures have fallen off the walls, there are strange noises, smells & the Christmas turkey comes to life. A little demon called the Yattering (Phil Fondacaro) is responsible & has instructions from his boss in hell Beelzebub (Thomas Newman) that he must break Jack's soul & will so that he will renounce God & when he dies will go to hell where he will be damned for all eternity but Jack is a very strong willed person who won't be broken easily...
Episode 7 from season 4 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during November 1987 which I think was a bit too early for a Christmas themed episode but what do I know? Directed by David Odell the most interesting aspect of The Yattering and Jack is not that it features a half naked midget demon from hell wearing a dog collar around his neck & sporting two horns & a bad mullet hairdo, no it's the fact that acclaimed horror author Clive Barker wrote the thing based on one of his short stories. I suspect his involvement didn't go beyond the actually teleplay since the tone is far too uneven for Barker who likes his horror dark, Gothic & bleak. The S&M symbolism present in a lot of Barker's work is here, the leader of hell wearing a cape & a leather suit complete with silver studding & the Yattering wearing leather pants & a dog collar around his neck but as a whole the story isn't that great. At only twenty odd minutes in length there isn't enough time to develop the character's or the game of wills between the Yattering & Jack or the twist ending which one felt should have been much more darker & ironic than it came across. The Yattering and Jack is watchable I suppose but mainly for curiosity value as one of Barker's earliest screen works.
Like many Tales from the Darkside episodes The Yattering and Jack is set in one location, Jack's house. There are a few simple special effects, the dancing turkey looks a bit odd & I suspect if Barker was directing there would have been lots of blood, lots of twisted surreal imagery & a much more macabre atmosphere to it rather than the light comical tone that comes across as it is now. Typecast rent a midget Phil Fondacaro does OK but looks silly while the rest of the cast are unknown to me.
The Yattering and Jack is an average Tales from the Darkside episode, seeing as Clive Barker wrote the thing you have every right to expect more although I doubt the finished episode worked out as he had hoped.
Episode 7 from season 4 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during November 1987 which I think was a bit too early for a Christmas themed episode but what do I know? Directed by David Odell the most interesting aspect of The Yattering and Jack is not that it features a half naked midget demon from hell wearing a dog collar around his neck & sporting two horns & a bad mullet hairdo, no it's the fact that acclaimed horror author Clive Barker wrote the thing based on one of his short stories. I suspect his involvement didn't go beyond the actually teleplay since the tone is far too uneven for Barker who likes his horror dark, Gothic & bleak. The S&M symbolism present in a lot of Barker's work is here, the leader of hell wearing a cape & a leather suit complete with silver studding & the Yattering wearing leather pants & a dog collar around his neck but as a whole the story isn't that great. At only twenty odd minutes in length there isn't enough time to develop the character's or the game of wills between the Yattering & Jack or the twist ending which one felt should have been much more darker & ironic than it came across. The Yattering and Jack is watchable I suppose but mainly for curiosity value as one of Barker's earliest screen works.
Like many Tales from the Darkside episodes The Yattering and Jack is set in one location, Jack's house. There are a few simple special effects, the dancing turkey looks a bit odd & I suspect if Barker was directing there would have been lots of blood, lots of twisted surreal imagery & a much more macabre atmosphere to it rather than the light comical tone that comes across as it is now. Typecast rent a midget Phil Fondacaro does OK but looks silly while the rest of the cast are unknown to me.
The Yattering and Jack is an average Tales from the Darkside episode, seeing as Clive Barker wrote the thing you have every right to expect more although I doubt the finished episode worked out as he had hoped.