Terror on TV revisits the most sadistic THE FLINTSTONES episode ever.
When Hanna-Barbera launched THE FLINTSTONES in 1960, it was an animated answer to pioneering television sitcom THE HONEYMOONERS, with Alan Reed’s Fred Flintstone and Mel Blanc’s Barney Rubble serving as prehistoric riffs on Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden and Art Carney’s Ed Norton.
And because of this, the show was a prime-time program designed for adults and their more sophisticated children, a fun, silly and cheeky send up contemporary American domestic working class life set in a fantasy Caveman world. As the song went, THE FLINTSTONES were a “modern stone-age fantasy”.
But like with all long running TV series, after a few seasons of repeating the same gags, the writers felt the strain and, in attempt to broaden their already healthy fanbase, the show started introducing oddball and decidedly juvenile (but still ample awesome) elements like aliens (The Great Gazoo, I’m looking at you), weird neighbors (The Gruesomes were essentially THE ADDAMS FAMILY) and, of course, kids, first Pebbles and then, Bam-Bam.
And in the midst of all these attention seeking stunts, the show itself got weirder and wilder. Sometimes it even got a bit…dark.
Witness the strange and sadistic season five episode “A Haunted House is Not a Home“.
This classic ‘Stones joint riffs on classic “old dark house” thrillers, exploiting hoary horror cliches to milk Grand Guignol laughs. And man, it is most assuredly a funny installment. But it’s also – by THE FLINTSTONES standards – rather nightmarish and when it kicks into gear, it’s rather relentless.
In fact, it’s kind of like a children’s precursor to THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE!
In it, Fred learns that his late,Great Uncle Giggles Flintstone (“He was a kook!” snarls Fred) has left him a substantial fortune. But when Fred and Wilma, along with Betty and Barney venture up to Uncle Giggles’ looming, crumbling manor to claim the dough, they learn that Fred will only inherit the cash if he spends one full night in the house, along with Giggles’ goonish and potentially homicidal manservant, gardner and chef.
Why homicidal? Because if anything happens to Fred, these three fiends stand to be the beneficiaries.
With a thoroughly freaked-out Betty and Wilma refusing to stick around, loyal pal Barney volunteers to keep Fred company. What happens next is a night of horror for both men. Framed pictures have moving, spying eyeballs. Evil warnings appear in alphabet soup. The help swing giant cleavers and stab with jagged daggers. And all the while the unrelenting cackle of the ghost of Giggles Flintstone pierces the air and shreds the nerves (actor Hal Smith has a blast with the character).
Now, “A Haunted House is Not a Home” isn’t a scary episode in the sense it won’t shake you up as an adult. But kids who caught it at the right time were no doubt on edge. It’s surreal and cruel. And the scariest part comes near the climax, when Fred realizes he’s been played and then loses his mind completely, going in for the kill…
Rare today is the children’s program in which murder and greed are the central themes. Which is what makes this episode so very special.
Here…watch it now…
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2699cd_the-flintstones-s05e07-a-haunted-house-is-not-a-home_tv
